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Hope all is well with you and yours. It’s been a while. Summer was a blessing and a curse: We received a wonderfully productive monsoon that blessed us with much needed rain, but the humidity! Oh my! The wind! Good grief! Our little Q Town got hammered with damage; trees down, trailers blown over, washes impassable. Tyson Wash on our end of town was closed four different times. They’d just get the mess cleaned up and holes patched and in would roll another storm …

But another summer is gone. Fall is here! Cool nights perfect for good sleep. Warm days perfect for getting caught up on all the things left undone during the heat of summer. THIS weather is why we desert rats stay.

I never did get those promised posts/photos on Mesa Verde National Park and the Aztec Ruins accomplished. The heat saps me of all ambition and I’ll just leave it at that. While the cost of everything has gone up, up, up The Chiweenie Brothers and I have resigned ourselves to the very real possibility that we may have to spend ANOTHER summer here on the homestead in 2023, but we’ll manage if that does happen. It’ll be ugly, but we are learning how to deal with it.

In the meantime, we’re hoping some very local mini adventures may be on our agenda and worthy of sharing with you, and it might be fun to relive some of our past travels and also share those with you. Not every one, of course, but those that were special in one way or another. Before we do that, though, here’s a run down on what’s been happening in our little piece of Arizona.

. One especially viscious monsoon thunder storm threw a bolt of lightning that must have been cloud to cloud and right above our kool cover. Close enough that the strike and the thunder were at the same instant and loud enough that it broke the ear drum of my left ear. It’s healed and no damage done, thankfully, but I think in future I’ll pass sitting out in the Arizona Room watching the storms.

• It took four years, but I finally saved up enough moola to get the front of our lot fenced. It’s not completely finished yet, and I’ll spare you the details, but it will get done at some point and The Chiweenie Brothers will have more room, a safe area, to get in some good exercise.
• The cacti and shrubs are looking fantastic after all the monsoon rain. 4 1/2 inches in total—the average is 4—and I have several big tubs filled with rainwater that was caught from roof runoff with which to pamper my potted plants and hopefully grow a few greens this winter.
• I took and passed the ham radio test so now have a small handheld unit and am getting involved in the local ham club. We’ll be able to communicate if the grid ever goes down, and it will come in handy while traveling.
• Fries had some trouble last year with a lump on his back and one under his right eyelid. The vet said they should go away after a round of antibiotics given when Fries’ foot became infected after stepping on a thorn from a fallen mesquite tree branch, but that both lumps would probably return. They did and Fries had surgery to remove both. Dr. Montgomery said the challazion under Fries’ eyelid was the biggest one he’d ever seen. Glad that’s gone. He was such a good patient. He didn’t paw at this eye much and couldn’t quite reach the stitches on his back so he wasn’t “coned” but for just one day. We’re both grateful for that! As you can see, not much happened this past summer. Too hot and humid and the littliest movement caused drenching sweat (YUCK!!), but we’re busy now that the weather is cool playing catchup. Best part was the visit from my oldest son and his lady the first part of November!

Happy trails and keep those tails wagging,

Shawna

July 2, 2022.  Greetings from hot and humid Q! I imagine you have figured out that there will be no summer travel this year. Here we DON’T go again. Like many, gas prices are keeping our wheels from turning, and honestly it’s a bit depressing, but it is what it is so we’re making the best of it.  Lots of hours spent by the cooler working on office-type stuff for me, lots of naps for The Chiweenie Brothers. They are already the most bored doggies in town.

The routine has become to be up very early before Mr. Sunshine even appears and get chores done. Once that sun is up and the day gets hotter (mid-80s and above are the night time lows) it’s impossible to do anything physical without becoming drenched in sweat. Icky!!

After the chores I have a cup or two of coffee then get by the cooler for the rest of the day. I’m not working on just one thing; going back and forth with a couple hours here, a couple hours there, then on to something else has worked out best.  I tend to keep my head down and elbows up until something is finished, but these projects are too large and I think I will actually enjoy the process if I don’t work on each individual job straight through from start to finish.  That’s the reasoning anyway.

One thing that has been sorely needed is time spent going through my files on the laptop and doing some housecleaning and organizing.  I’ve ignored that mess for far too long.

Another project in progress is removing the blog posts from 2DogsTravel. Nope, not giving up the blog—we’ll eventually get back out there I hope–but it was getting too large and was going to cost me several hundred dollars to buy additional space.  I still refuse to monitize it, so I figured by removing old posts I could basically just start all over with the amount of space and continue on. 

The search feature on the blog doesn’t appear to have been used much, and with the ease of pulling up information on the internet kind of makes my search feature redundant. Of course, if you do have questions that are on a more personal experience basis, just give us a shout. I’d be happy to give you my opinions, experience, views on any place The Chiweenie Brothers and I have visited.

Our individual blog posts will be printed out, the coordinating photos found and prints made, and I will eventually have a nice printed record of our travels.   I do have to say, the ones that have been completed have been so much fun to do. I am currently working on 2019, our New Mexico State Park circuit and it’s been like living it all over again. It has sure shown me how numerous the grammatical mistakes were when trying to get those posts on the blog when tired or whatever —- Editing one’s own work is not a good thing!

The other big project, or I should say a continuing project, is my family genealogy.  I bought a six month subscription to Ancestry when they had a sale, and hit the jackpot after the first couple of days.  One little piece of info got me past a brick wall, and I ended up being able to take my paternal grandmother’s line back six more generations.  I’m going through printer ink like’s it a margarita printing out all those citations! LOL.

Back to the old blog posts.  As I pull each post off the blog and place it in a word document I read it, of course, and fix all the errors.  Then I go into my photo program and find the corresponding pictures to go with that particular blog post.  The blog post is then printed, the photos needed to go with it are placed in a folder so I can order prints all at once when I get a half or the full year finished.  The blog post and copies of the photos are then removed from my laptop and stored on a thumb drive.  The only reason I am telling you all this boring stuff is that during this process I found the lost photos of the Aztec Ruins, Dawson Cemetery, Mesa Verde National Park, and our stay at El Vado and Navajo Lakes.  They were tucked in a folder with the name El Vado and Black Eared Jack Rabbit.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to find those photos. All this time I thought I had accidentally put them in the “trash” and they were gone forever.  Soooooo…….

I am thinking this summer I am going to do re-posts of those trips that will include the photos and leave them on the blog until we get back to traveling then we’ll start anew.

Hope you have a fun, safe and sane Fourth of July.  Let freedom ring!!  Woof, woof from The Chiweenie Brothers and hugs from me.

October 20, 2017. After talking to a couple of people at the Woof Bowl I decide to drive out to Bottomless Lakes State Park. We are in no hurry to arrive in Q (Quartzsite) as it is still way to hot there for this girl. 

Honestly the scenery is such in this part of New Mexico that I am not really interested thinking it will be a disappointment, but the  doggie moms and dads say it’s beautiful, and doggie moms and dads should know!

Heading west through town we turn left on 2nd street. You can’t miss the brown sign with white lettering. Twelve miles out of town we come to the turn off that takes us the park. The scenery is changing. 

We arrive at the entrance to park

and a bit farther along come to the “iron ranger” and pay for two nights. $20. There are restrooms, water, covered picnic tables.. We don’t need electric so no sense paying for it. Showers are available on down the road in the “fancy” part of the campground. 

Other than raccoons trying to make off with my almost-full airtight 12 pound tub of dog kibble  (the second night they must have brought in the big guy because that tub of food was 20 feet from our picnic table!) and what I swear were wild pigs nosing around in the middle of the night it was quiet and peaceful.

The bottomless “lakes” are beautiful and the photos do not do them justice. It was impossible for me to take photos showing the gorgeous walls of the pools and the pools themselves together as it is straight up and down or close to it and without wings …

The wild Chiweenie Brothers have to check it out and it doesn’t bother them in the least that it’s STRAIGHT DOWN!

The colors are entirely different at different times of the day and at what depth of the wall the photos are taken.  

Mirror Lake below

This was the only angle I could get on Mirror Lake. The top pool would be the right one, the one that supports fish, and the bottom one is the left side, with the high saline content.

After two lovely nights here we are up early and we head westward once again. The only for-sure thing on our itinerary this day is to make it to Tinnie, NM and stop by a little Baptist church pastored by a young man’s uncle the boys and I met at the Woof Bowl.  If you are so inclined prayer for this young man, John, who has some major health problems he is dealing with would be wonderful. I know he would appreciate it. 

Thanks for stopping by 2Dogs! We appreciate you coming along on this big adventure with us!  Hugs, Shawna

CURRENT READ: When I’m Gone by Emily Bleeker

WHAT’S IN THE NIGHT SKY:  November will have the full moon called the Hunter’s Moon.  Mid-November will bring the Leonid Meteor Showers.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi! Thanks for stopping back by. We are at Roswell’s dog park, The Woof Bowl, located in the city’s sports complex. While the last post was short on pictures and long on words, today will be the exact opposite.

The boys enjoyed their play time! I hope you enjoy the photos!

 

 

The boys meet some new friends

Thanks coming along on our big adventure. Hugs, Shawna

Clovis, New Mexico also has a dog park, and I am beginning to think I am getting senile because, yes, I left the camera in the van. AGAIN!!  The boys had a ball and when they were tired out we stayed in the van to nap enjoying the large beautiful shade trees.

I get busy trying to catch up on posts and look up at one point and notice it’s getting dark. Uh-oh, this isn’t good. I don’t drive at night if I can help it and in a strange city … The boys’ dinner will be late because we need to get out of here.  It was by pure luck and a faith that He would get us there we find Walmart. Yes, another night boondocking in Wally’s lot. This is getting old, but it is what it is, and at this point time we don’t have a choice. Momma is not driving in the dark and it’s getting dark fast.

It’s Thursday, October 19, 2017 and we are up early, I grab coffee at McDs and we head to Roswell.

I love their Main Street on the western end.  These streetlamps line both sides of the street

That’s it!  I have way too many photos to show you in the next post because by golly I REMEMBERED MY CAMERA AND WE FOUND THE DOG PARK in Roswell so in the interest of keeping posts from becoming too lengthy I will keep this one short.

Thanks for stopping by 2Dogs! Hugs, Shawna

Or so sang Terry Stafford in 1973 and George Straight in 1983. Amarillo is where we are headed. I have researched dog parks and Amarillo has two.  Little did I know they would be so hard to find, but eventually I do and the boys spend a few hours in the afternoon running off some energy. I was too tired and mentally stressed from that windstorm at Lake Meredith to remember to bring the camera, but trust me, the boys had a ball.

After a boondock night in Walmart’s parking lot we go back to the dog park (and AGAIN I forget the camera!!) and then head to Palo Duro Canyon. It isn’t very far from Amarillo and the drive through the United States’ second deepest canyon doesn’t take long either.

Never mind the dog nose art, please!

Fries is duly awarded with this guy making Beep! Beep! sounds in the tree (:-)

And he obligingly drops down to the ground and allows me to take a couple more pictures of him before hiding in the brush.

After making the loop through the canyon we head back to Amarillo and the boys get another run through the dog park which I miraculously find again. And leave my camera in the vome. Again.

We spend another night in Wally’s parking lot and we head out early for New Mexico. Westward ho!!!

Thanks for following us on our adventures.

Hugs, Shawna