I guess this breeder is now just going to ignore me. Even after I forwarded our previous conversation. A simple "we changed our mind" would have been nice. I was kind of counting on them to make up for the breeders I missed with the phone debacle. I am really glad I got a far more diverse sample pop than I had been expecting.
We grabbed Gavin again and brought him back to our campground. He and Darien played in the pool for hours. Misha (I hope I spelt that right) or 'Moth' from Chaz drove 3 hours, so 6 hours total!, down from Wisconsin to visit. Way to make us feel special :) She has THE most gorgeous basenji ever. Watson is so stunning, once again there are pics, you will all have to wait. We had a lovely visit whilst the kids splashed. Watson seemed horrified that people were chosing to go in the nasty water. Basenji's have very experessive faces.
Laura and I made poutine for the Smiths for dinner, we decided after last night's very American chili dogs we could share some of our national cuisine. We even managed to find curds, though they weren't quite right. The poutine ended up tasting pretty authentic and was met by approval.
Laura had a collar made for Smudge that says Cpt. Oblivious in a military style. Its fantabulous! I had a coupler made of the right length for my guys. Both of us are very excited.
Saying good bye is so hard. Darien kept hiding so he could stay with Gavin. Gavin kept sayign he could keep him it would be no trouble, no trouble at all..... All of us will miss their family very much (including the dogs) and were discussing ways and hows of coming back. (they would love to come visit us, but their dogs are not allowed in Ontario, and they have no one they trust to leave them with)
Sad and tired we return to the cabin. Tomorrow we head to Ohio. Not only are we sad to say good bye, we are sad our trip is almost over. We have met so many fantastic people and had such a great time we wish this could go on for the rest of the summer.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
day 20
Still no word from the last breeder...
The KOA people feel so bad about our neighbours they offer us one of the Kamping Kabins. Its tiny and cute (pics will be forth coming at some time) and has AC!!
Becca has a ton of orders to fill. I am surprised, though not sure why, just how many orders they get!! Their collars are awesome, so I shouldn't surprised. So we take Gavin with us to the local swim park. IL is strange; they have bodies of water but no one swims in them so they have oodles of swim parks. This one is small, a couple of pools, 3 water slides and a lazy river. But the cost of going to Splash valley is about 9 dollars a person, so it was very worth it. The dogs stayed at Becca's in the AC. I got quite the sun burn but it was worth it.
visited again for the evening. Becca watched Off Season (one of Dekka's movies) and liked it. Ben had a tick crawling on him, again it was the Canadians identifying the nasty insect lol. It was lovely to go back to a little cabin with ac to sleep.
The KOA people feel so bad about our neighbours they offer us one of the Kamping Kabins. Its tiny and cute (pics will be forth coming at some time) and has AC!!
Becca has a ton of orders to fill. I am surprised, though not sure why, just how many orders they get!! Their collars are awesome, so I shouldn't surprised. So we take Gavin with us to the local swim park. IL is strange; they have bodies of water but no one swims in them so they have oodles of swim parks. This one is small, a couple of pools, 3 water slides and a lazy river. But the cost of going to Splash valley is about 9 dollars a person, so it was very worth it. The dogs stayed at Becca's in the AC. I got quite the sun burn but it was worth it.
visited again for the evening. Becca watched Off Season (one of Dekka's movies) and liked it. Ben had a tick crawling on him, again it was the Canadians identifying the nasty insect lol. It was lovely to go back to a little cabin with ac to sleep.
day 19
We chill in Kankakee. The only attraction is Ben and Becca. Can't say we are enamoured of IL. We hang out all day at their house, we are introduced to their super secret collar lair :) Initation was HORRIBLE, but we can't tell (or else...)
Darien and Gavin are so similar its funny, they get along very well with bits of fight. After the fight a few min later they are thick as thieves again. Both are experts on everything, just ask them. Or don't they will still tell you, lol.
Emailed the breeder again, seems they forgot they were all enthusiastic to participate and forgot what this was about. We booked into a local KOA, our first of this trip. Its small and not exciting but the people are really nice. Laura and I go and set up the camp site leaving Darien with Gavin. We go back and have a lovely dinner with their family. Seems Aden is all interested in the "Canadians" having dinner with them again.
We get back to the KOA at about midnight and our neighbours are partying it up. Their dog is off leash and is under our trailer. Scared the crap out of Kat and freaked out Dekka and Smudge. They are burning what seems like pressure treated 4 x 4 posts and the smell is horrible. They partied it up till after 2am. :(
Darien and Gavin are so similar its funny, they get along very well with bits of fight. After the fight a few min later they are thick as thieves again. Both are experts on everything, just ask them. Or don't they will still tell you, lol.
Emailed the breeder again, seems they forgot they were all enthusiastic to participate and forgot what this was about. We booked into a local KOA, our first of this trip. Its small and not exciting but the people are really nice. Laura and I go and set up the camp site leaving Darien with Gavin. We go back and have a lovely dinner with their family. Seems Aden is all interested in the "Canadians" having dinner with them again.
We get back to the KOA at about midnight and our neighbours are partying it up. Their dog is off leash and is under our trailer. Scared the crap out of Kat and freaked out Dekka and Smudge. They are burning what seems like pressure treated 4 x 4 posts and the smell is horrible. They partied it up till after 2am. :(
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Day 18
We get up, due to the time change Laura tells me its almost 8 when its actually just almost 7. Oh well I start breakfast and get woken up. Sam stops by, he is a very friendly and surprisingly the two bags play trailer tetris fairly well.
We sample some of the rowdiest whippets I have ever met. The owner says they have a 'Greeting Disorder' as they are so excited to see new people. I covet his large male who is 2 and still very terrier like.
We then plan to meet up with Becca and Ben (from Chaz). On the way we stop at Amishland to do some shopping. There is pretty much no Amish in Amishland, its all nick nacks, a buffet and a tanning salon (Amishland makes me think tanning..)
We meet up with Ben and Becca, Darien and Gavin become instant fast friends and we hit it off with Ben and Becca. We get invited to stay the night, sadly this doesn't work out well as their dogs, particularly Ophie is stressed about dogs in the house. Speaking of dogs Dekka was in a crate and Luke came charging up to her, Dekka snarked and snarled, Luke loved it, play bowing and barking back. YAY barking buddies!! It was so funny, he was enamored and she was furious. Luckily Luke is as sweet and handsome as he is derpy.
We get to touch all the collars, fondling and admiring lol. I even get to see some of the customers stuff before they do :) Hey Charlotte.. I touched your collar before you :p
We have one more kennel to sample, but there is no hurry. We are hitting a CPE trial on the weekend. Ben and Becca are great so we plan to stay in the area for a couple of days to kill time, but will stay at the local KOA so they can get some sleep.
We sample some of the rowdiest whippets I have ever met. The owner says they have a 'Greeting Disorder' as they are so excited to see new people. I covet his large male who is 2 and still very terrier like.
We then plan to meet up with Becca and Ben (from Chaz). On the way we stop at Amishland to do some shopping. There is pretty much no Amish in Amishland, its all nick nacks, a buffet and a tanning salon (Amishland makes me think tanning..)
We meet up with Ben and Becca, Darien and Gavin become instant fast friends and we hit it off with Ben and Becca. We get invited to stay the night, sadly this doesn't work out well as their dogs, particularly Ophie is stressed about dogs in the house. Speaking of dogs Dekka was in a crate and Luke came charging up to her, Dekka snarked and snarled, Luke loved it, play bowing and barking back. YAY barking buddies!! It was so funny, he was enamored and she was furious. Luckily Luke is as sweet and handsome as he is derpy.
We get to touch all the collars, fondling and admiring lol. I even get to see some of the customers stuff before they do :) Hey Charlotte.. I touched your collar before you :p
We have one more kennel to sample, but there is no hurry. We are hitting a CPE trial on the weekend. Ben and Becca are great so we plan to stay in the area for a couple of days to kill time, but will stay at the local KOA so they can get some sleep.
day 17, through KY
Getting into KY was cool, we went through a long tunnel. The signs warning us about this tunnel started nearly 100 miles out with big red signs. Darien got some pics.
We miss TN already, but KY is nice. We got to sample more whippets, it was a bit of an ordeal for all concerned to co ordinate it, the breeder was off at a show. She was soooooo helpful though and got her dog sitter to meet us at her kennel. One of the young whippets grabbed my sample bag and tried to run off with it. Such gleeful whippets :)
KY had all these signs for "The Biggest Loser" show, even the businesses were encouraging contestants. It was bizarre. Laura also manged to explode a huge engorged tick in her face as we were driving, she was removing them off smudge. She had little black tick bits all over, ewwww.
We were to meet a fellow just in IL to pick up rubber crumb. This rubber crumb is for our agility equipment. It is very reasonably priced compared to buying it at home, but shipping is outrageous. So since I was going to be in the area I planned to pick up a couple of bags (where on earth would we tetris 2 50 pound bags of rubber bits?) The rubber place isn't open on the weekend so we need to meet up with him today. But then we had an issue.
Seems my wallet dropped out of my bag in a bathroom. We didn't notice till nearly 2 hours away when we went to get gas! We called the place where we stopped to use the bathrooms and luckily a staff member had found it. We had to back track to go get it. This put us really late. Luckily Sam, the rubber crumb fellow made it work, he found us a campground near him just the other side of TN/IL border that was near him. He would then show up at 8am to do the paperwork and sell us the crumb.
This turned out to be awesome as traffic made it even longer. Even with crossing the time zone in our favour we were running really late. We are driving along at just after 9pm almost out of KY when I look at the GPS. The GPS has little symbols that tell you what your next thing is, a T crossing, a left turn, a roundabout (which we have seen lots of)...
The GPS was showing me a boat. Yes a boat! Laura whips out the map and looking closely it seems the crossings are all ferry crossings. We are a bit perplexed as we have toll roads turned off. The good news is that this seems to be a free ferry, the bad news is it closes in 15 min and is 9 miles away on a twisty turny hilly road.
We make it. My car and trailer are "on a boat" Whoot.
I have no idea why they don't just make a bridge, the Ohio river isn't that big, and we have seen far more bridges over larger things in more out of the way places..
We made it to the camp site, set up and fall into bed.
We miss TN already, but KY is nice. We got to sample more whippets, it was a bit of an ordeal for all concerned to co ordinate it, the breeder was off at a show. She was soooooo helpful though and got her dog sitter to meet us at her kennel. One of the young whippets grabbed my sample bag and tried to run off with it. Such gleeful whippets :)
KY had all these signs for "The Biggest Loser" show, even the businesses were encouraging contestants. It was bizarre. Laura also manged to explode a huge engorged tick in her face as we were driving, she was removing them off smudge. She had little black tick bits all over, ewwww.
We were to meet a fellow just in IL to pick up rubber crumb. This rubber crumb is for our agility equipment. It is very reasonably priced compared to buying it at home, but shipping is outrageous. So since I was going to be in the area I planned to pick up a couple of bags (where on earth would we tetris 2 50 pound bags of rubber bits?) The rubber place isn't open on the weekend so we need to meet up with him today. But then we had an issue.
Seems my wallet dropped out of my bag in a bathroom. We didn't notice till nearly 2 hours away when we went to get gas! We called the place where we stopped to use the bathrooms and luckily a staff member had found it. We had to back track to go get it. This put us really late. Luckily Sam, the rubber crumb fellow made it work, he found us a campground near him just the other side of TN/IL border that was near him. He would then show up at 8am to do the paperwork and sell us the crumb.
This turned out to be awesome as traffic made it even longer. Even with crossing the time zone in our favour we were running really late. We are driving along at just after 9pm almost out of KY when I look at the GPS. The GPS has little symbols that tell you what your next thing is, a T crossing, a left turn, a roundabout (which we have seen lots of)...
The GPS was showing me a boat. Yes a boat! Laura whips out the map and looking closely it seems the crossings are all ferry crossings. We are a bit perplexed as we have toll roads turned off. The good news is that this seems to be a free ferry, the bad news is it closes in 15 min and is 9 miles away on a twisty turny hilly road.
We make it. My car and trailer are "on a boat" Whoot.
I have no idea why they don't just make a bridge, the Ohio river isn't that big, and we have seen far more bridges over larger things in more out of the way places..
We made it to the camp site, set up and fall into bed.
Day 15 and 16 'in the Holla'
I know I have been remiss in posting, its hard to catch up with spotty internet.
Met up with a breeder and sampled a lot of lovely whippets.
We then stopped to meet a friend of Laura's in NC before we trekked through to TN, She was lovely, the epitome of a southern hospitality.
After a cool drink, and learning what the trees we have been admiring are called (crepe myrtles) we are off again.
I REALLY wish I could upload pics with this connection. The road into Tia's place (where we were staying) was the most rustic lane way I have ever seen, with these signs saying "does anyone know you went this way" and such. I took pics, so you will get to see tall hese signs.
Tia and her family live in a Holler on the side of a mountain. What is a Holler you may ask? Its a group of homes on a property that you could "holla to each other from" in a depression on a mountain. We decided we wanted to live in a Holler. Her family is fantastic Darien loved hanging out with the girls. They have a huge pack of dogs, seems each house has a few. Kat was a little freaked out at first, but she got over it. These dogs had really good dog manners and there were enough of them to intimidate Dekka that she could be loose too. Once again I have pics I can't upload of us and all the dogs and kids strolling down to the creek to wade.
We decide to stay two days. We do ALL the laundry. Thanks Tia!!!!! which is soo needed as things still smell musty from the great rain in PA.
The next day we hang out again, its nice to plop down for more than a night, esp in such great company. We meet up with Renee (from Chaz) and her Fila Kharma. Both are cool and unique (one again there are pics) We also get our nails 'did'. The difference it seems between getting your nails 'done' and 'did' is about 30-40 dollars. Having our nails 'did' was ridiculously cheap here in Greeneville TN.
We are super sad to have to go in the morning, this place is just amazing and the people feel like family.
Met up with a breeder and sampled a lot of lovely whippets.
We then stopped to meet a friend of Laura's in NC before we trekked through to TN, She was lovely, the epitome of a southern hospitality.
After a cool drink, and learning what the trees we have been admiring are called (crepe myrtles) we are off again.
I REALLY wish I could upload pics with this connection. The road into Tia's place (where we were staying) was the most rustic lane way I have ever seen, with these signs saying "does anyone know you went this way" and such. I took pics, so you will get to see tall hese signs.
Tia and her family live in a Holler on the side of a mountain. What is a Holler you may ask? Its a group of homes on a property that you could "holla to each other from" in a depression on a mountain. We decided we wanted to live in a Holler. Her family is fantastic Darien loved hanging out with the girls. They have a huge pack of dogs, seems each house has a few. Kat was a little freaked out at first, but she got over it. These dogs had really good dog manners and there were enough of them to intimidate Dekka that she could be loose too. Once again I have pics I can't upload of us and all the dogs and kids strolling down to the creek to wade.
We decide to stay two days. We do ALL the laundry. Thanks Tia!!!!! which is soo needed as things still smell musty from the great rain in PA.
The next day we hang out again, its nice to plop down for more than a night, esp in such great company. We meet up with Renee (from Chaz) and her Fila Kharma. Both are cool and unique (one again there are pics) We also get our nails 'did'. The difference it seems between getting your nails 'done' and 'did' is about 30-40 dollars. Having our nails 'did' was ridiculously cheap here in Greeneville TN.
We are super sad to have to go in the morning, this place is just amazing and the people feel like family.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
day 14
Rolling Hills park is even prettier in the day light. We found a place to go swim, I am sad I didn't bring my camera,the shore was mostly sandy but there were sand cliffs between the land and the little beach, it was unique and picturesque. The lake was just cool enough to be refershing, the footing was sand and we didn't see another person. Really sad we are only staying one day. Though not so sad about leaving the ticks behind. Laura pulled over 30 deer ticks off me, and a few off Darien. They were soooo itty bitty and hadn't been attached long but still eewwwwwww. I guess I and Darien will be getting blood drawn when we get home. Laura had no ticks, seems they must have been on the tent and I had been the main tent taker downer today. Darien helped a little and ended up with little tick infestation. Pulled two ticks off Kat (the big ones with the long legs..) but the other dogs seem fine.
NC is gorgeous and the first place that doesn't look like home.
Drove south to Raleigh and found a Walmart. Bought a phone for cheap and some time, so now I have a phone again. Called breeders and got samples. Hooray!! Tomorrow we are off to TN.
NC is gorgeous and the first place that doesn't look like home.
Drove south to Raleigh and found a Walmart. Bought a phone for cheap and some time, so now I have a phone again. Called breeders and got samples. Hooray!! Tomorrow we are off to TN.
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