Berry Oaks

Hattiesburg, MS to New Orelans, LA

2012-01-12T19:44:00.000-05:00

Driving from our RV park near Hattiesburg, Mississippi to the Kampground of America RV Park in New Orleans, Louisiana was very pleasant. The 135 mile journey took a bit over two hours and with light traffic we arrived with nerves intact. Set up was easy and we settled into the evening planning the next day of sightseeing. We'll be here for a week so we are going to be able to see mostly everything we have on our list. Our walking shoes are ready.

Why Hattiesburg, MS?

2012-01-11T19:32:00.000-05:00

We've been asked why we wanted to visit Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Well, at first we did not plan on it, but because the Sugar Bowl and the Bowl Championship Series playoffs were both being played in New Orleans the week we planned on being all the RV parks were filled. Not wanting to remain in Pensacola we decided to go to the Hattiesburg area and explore that part of the country. It is also, relatively, close to New Orleans so we did not go too far from our original destination.

Hattiesburg is a fairly new city, founded in 1884, but is steeped in a lot of history. Click here for a short history of the city. It is quickly becoming a favorite area for retirement due to its climate and tax relief for seniors. We found the people here are very congenial and polite, more so. it seems, than other areas we have visited.

The downtown area's historic district is under renovation, but like so many downtown areas across the country, most businesses have closed or relocated to the malls on the outskirts of the city. The city is home of Southern Mississippi University and depends upon the college activity for much of its business. It is obvious the area is not economically challenged. There is lots of residence and business construction. The rural land outside of the city is mainly farm land. The rolling hills are perfect for the many dairy and cattle farms as well as the big cash crop of peanut farming.

One of our roaming journeys brought us to a working farm that also hosts festivals throughout the year. The Mitchell Farm is not only a farm, but a history lesson complete with a museum. I was able to speak with one of the Mitchell family and we discussed the possibility of there being a link to our Mitchell heritage since many migrated through this part of Mississippi. There may be a link very far back, but I could not find one before 1745.

We both agreed this part of the country is beautiful and would not shy away from settling here. But alas, there is so much more of this country to see. We'll keep this place in mind.

Pensacola, FL to Hattiesburg, MS

2012-01-04T15:00:00.000-05:00

Okatoma Resort and RV Park near Hattiesburg, Mississippi was our destination on Wednesday. The 200 mile journey took about four hours and was very enjoyable. The weather was outstanding (up to 65F) and the traffic was light. We will be here for a week while we explore this part of the Magnolia State. From what we have seen so far it is a beautiful area.

Pensacola, Florida ( Dec. 21, 2011- Jan.4, 2012)

2012-01-03T16:37:00.000-05:00

These past 3 weeks have, literally, flown by for us. It always does when we are here. The Oak Grove RV Park on the Pensacola Naval Air Station is one of our favorite places. This is the reason we chose to spend our holidays here. We have done it in the past and, hopefully, we can do again in the future.

Having been here several times we know the area fairly well and have seen all of the sights more than once so we took this opportunity to kick back, relax and eat some good seafood. Good strategy and it paid off.

As mentioned before the park is almost on the beach and is teeming with many different kinds of birds. I was fortunate to get some great pictures of many of them. The most elusive was a pair of great horned owls. Usually by the time they came out it was too dark to photograph them. One day, however, they started hooting before the sun went down and I was able to catch one of them perched in a tree close to us. They, along with a great blue heron, were among the park's "permanent" residents.

Within walking distance from the RV park is the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Always a great place to spend the day rambling through the exhibits. It is one of the most visited places in Pensacola and is open to the public. There is no admission. Close by is Ft. Barrancus. It is quite well preserved and is, also, free. Another free attraction next to the museum is the Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum. All of these sights are within a half mile of each other. If you are ever in the Pensacola area make sure you spend at least a day to see these great places. Note: they are all on the Pensacola Naval Air Station so proper identification will be required to enter the base.

So the Holiday Season is now over and it is time to move on. Next stop is the Okatoma RV Park and Resort in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Looking forward to the change in scenery.

Happy New Year from Berry Oaks

2011-12-31T08:31:00.000-05:00

We wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year. God bless us all.

Merry Christmas from Berry Oaks

2011-12-22T12:16:00.001-05:00

Ozark, AL to Pensacola Naval Air Station, FL

2011-12-15T16:34:00.003-05:00

Our next stop is the Oak Grove RV Park on Pensacola Naval Air Station (NAS). It is about 200 miles from Ozark, AL and took 4 hours. A very easy drive and our arrival sparked fond memories of past visits to this park. So far this is our favorite place to stay. We're to be here for three weeks and plan to enjoy every minute of it. As you can see in the picture below (we're located at the red arrow) we are very close to the amazingly white-sand beach which is common to the Gulf Coast. An added benefit is the O'Doodle Brothers are allowed off leash on the beach . They love this place.

One of the main attractions of Pensacola is the Naval Aviation Museum on the NAS. It is located close to the RV park and we will visit it several times while here. This is also the home of the Blue Angels, the Navy's precision flying team. They practice often and, since we are next to the runway, we get front row seats each time they take to the sky.

The city of Pensacola is steeped in history and has many museums relating to it. The city and the area is a favorite winter tourist destination so there is a lot going on all the time. Never a shortage of things to do or places to see. We've seen a lot during our past visits here, but there are always sights we have not seen. Always good to be here.

Doodles at Play

2011-12-12T19:03:00.002-05:00

We are at the Ozark Travel Plaza in Ozark, Alabama near Ft. Rucker. This is a very nice RV park and they have a great dog park. Here is a clip of Guinness and Rosco playing their favorite game in the park.

Big Decision

2011-12-11T11:36:00.000-05:00

Early October 2011-

Having finished with the house we had a big decision to make. We had plans, before we retired, to tour this country in an RV. Those plans were laid out in 2003, almost ten years ago. Needles to say we were ten years younger then. We laid the foundation for those plans after we had acquired Berry Oaks near Savannah, Georgia. We continued those plans with the procurement of our pickup truck and fifth wheel trailer. We were set. All we had to do was retire and sell our house in Maryland.

In 1786, the great Robert Burns wrote the poem, To a Mouse:

               But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren't alone]
               In proving foresight may be vain:
               The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
               Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]
               An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
               For promised joy.

This simple observation should always be considered when making any plans of any sort. I am sure Murphy's Law was inspired by this poem. Murphy's number one rule is "if anything can go wrong it will."

We retired in early May of 2007 and placed our house on the market shortly after. Alot of people say "timing is everything." In our case it surely applied. The housing market had just started to decline and, very quickly, crashed. We continued with our plans however and moved most of our household goods into storage in Savannah. We were confident we still could sell the house, but maybe not as quickly as before. This,also, proved to be incorrect.

Our plans had all hinged on the sale of the house in Maryland. This was not happening. The posts in this blog from May 2007 to now recap everything we have experienced.

All of that is history. The big decision we had to make now was whether or not we were able to continue with our original plans and did we want to. This was not easy since we both are feeling the ten years that have accrued upon us since our original plans were formulated. It took several days of researching, discussions and a lot of deep thinking to realize we did want to go ahead with them. Once this decision was made it was easy to lay out our future.

With the rest of our household goods placed into storage in Savannah, we hit the road south. Our first stop was to visit our cousin Ben in Raleigh, North Carolina. We spent several days with Ben and Jean with good visitation, good genealogy research and a visit to our ancestor's family burial site on what was the Fiddleton Plantation in Orange County, North Carolina.

Moving slowly south we arrived in Savannah in late October. We decided to stay at the Hunter Army Airfield's RV park since it is in close proximity to our doctors and other places we had to deal with. We both had complete physicals resulting in a complete healthy status and a green light by both our doctors to continue with our plans. Next we had the RV worked on and upgraded so we would feel comfortable starting our journeys without worry of problems. With all of this accomplished we moved on down the road to Holbrook Pond Recreation Area RV Park at Ft. Stewart to spend Thanksgiving with our RV family.

Thanksgiving dinner was taken with the troops in a mess hall of the 3rd Infantry Division. This is a tradition we having been doing for the past three years. It is so awe inspiring to sit with these young soldiers and their families. It makes us proud to be part of this extended family.

Our next stop was Ft. Benning near Columbus, Georgia. This and the next stop, Ft. Rucker near Dothan, Alabama, were planned so we could explore the areas and determine if we would consider settling in one or the other instead of the Savannah area. We stayed a week at each and did make the decision we would not reconsider leaving Berry Oaks near Savannah.

This brings us up-to-date as of today. We are staying at the Ozark Travel Park just outside of Ft. Rucker and are going to be hitting the road again on Wednesday (14th) for Pensacola Naval Air Station's RV Park for the Christmas Holidays. We have spent Christmas there before (2007) and loved it. It is, at this point, our favorite RV park.

So what are our plans after Pensacola? Head west. Tentative plans are for us to be on the road for a minimum of a year with our first leg exploring the southwest to the Pacific. From there it is up in the air. You'll have to stay tuned to see the rest.

From an old southern spiritual:

"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

September 2011

2011-12-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

It was now September as we sadly said goodbye to our children and headed west to Springfield, Massachusetts. Our final destination was Ft. Drum RV Park in Upstate New York. We decided to use the park as a base while we explored the Thousand Lakes region of Upstate New York.

Our one day layover in Springfield was with purpose. When we made the big decision to bring Guinness into our family, we researched a lot of dog training websites so we could be ready for his arrival in December of 2008. We found a particular website run by a man by the name of Eric Letendre who had been training dogs for over 20 years. He calls himself the Amazing Dog Training Man.

Eric had a philosophy on dog training we liked, positive re-enforcement. He, also, explains his methods in down-to-earth terms and, usually, backed up with videos. You can see for yourself at his website. Just click on this link: The Amazing Dog Training Man. Or just click on the picture in the left column. If there is a dog in your family and if you really care for him/her, then this is the place you need to go.

We had contacted Eric over the years and he had been very quick to respond to all of our concerns. Before we left on this current journey, we contacted Eric again and invited him and his wife, Rachael, to do an RV lunch with us. He accepted. We were thrilled.

We arrived at Westover Air Reserve Base, just outside of Springfield, and set up for a short stay. Eric and Rachael were to lunch with us the next day. We had noticed the area had been hit pretty hard from the remnants of hurricane Irene. Lots of flooding mainly.

Eric and Rachael arrived and after our introductions, we introduced them to Guinness and Rosco. It was almost as if Guinness knew him already. He loves everyone he meets and it takes a small amount of time to really warm up to someone, but in this case it was immediate. It was an extremely pleasant lunch and visit and we certainly appreciate Eric and Rachael taking time for us. They are very good at what they do. Thank you Eric and Rachael.

The next day we had a six hour drive to Ft. Drum. The weather was beautiful and we arrived with great expectations of seeing early fall weather and lots of scenic byways. We were not disappointed, however, the RV site where we were placed in was a bit odd. It was up against an old wooden barracks used for single soldiers. We had everything we needed, though, and it was quite, but still....odd.

We enjoyed exploring this part of the country. So many beautiful and interesting sights. The small cities, towns and villages were a photographer's and shopper's dream. We did little of each. We did drive a lot, though. That was a way to maximize our range during the short time we were there. Actually, shorter than we had planned. Tropical Storm Lee had been wreaking havoc over the south and was headed up the the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountain Range dumping tens of inches of rain in its path. We decided to head back to Maryland right away.

We departed Ft. Drum hoping we could make it back to Maryland before the deluge. We drove as far as we could before we had to stop for the night just a bit north of Scranton, Pennsylvania. We did not unhook from the trailer so we could get going early the next morning, but that proved to be too late. It started to rain just as we left the campground increasing in intensity very quickly. Bt the time we made it to Scranton, it was a downpour and it did not ease up until we got to York, Pennsylvania, some 160 miles south of our starting point. What should have taken us about three hours took almost seven. The rain was so hard our speed rarely got over 45 MPH on Interstate I-81. The rain, however, did not deter many, mostly truckers, from greatly exceeding the speed limit. I must say, this was one of the most harrowing and dangerous trips I have ever made in this country. In retrospect, we should have found a Walmart and waited out the storm.

We, finally, arrived back at our Maryland home base, still in the rain, late that afternoon. We were exhausted and our nerves were a wreck. We did nothing to unpack saving that for the next day. We ordered some subs and made it an early bedtime for all of us.

The next morning we unpacked the trailer and put it into storage, this time for a short time for we already had made plans for our next adventure. In the meantime we had a lot of work to do on this house.

Fast Forwarding to August 2011

2011-11-26T20:24:00.001-05:00

The latter part of May, all of June and July and most of August consisted of house maintenance and boredom for all of us. After starting to climb the walls of the prison we called our anchor home, we decided to retrieve our RV from the storage facility at Ft. Stewart and bring it back to Maryland. We took our Corvette trailer, which was stored at Aberdeen Proving Ground close to the house, and swapped it with our RV spot at Ft. Stewart. Now we were mobile again.

We started making plans for a trip to New England late in August. The main purpose was to visit our daughter, Heather, and her family then see some of New England we had not visited before. This was going to be difficult for we had seen most of that part of the country in previous journeys.

Our travels to Heather's home in eastern Massachusetts took us through central Pennsylvania, mid-state New York and Connecticut and across the Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate I-90. We departed Maryland a week early so we could spend a few days at another military resort on the New England Atlantic coast.

Fourth Cliff Recreation Area is located in Humarock, Massachusetts and is administered by Hanscom Air Force Base. Our site was over looking the Atlantic and was on the cliff some 80 feet over the beach. An awesome view.

The red circle is where our site was.

That's us on the left.

We spent just a few days here and moved down the coast about 30 miles to a Kampgrounds of America (KOA) RV park so we could be closer to Heather's house. We were starting to get concerned about a hurricane in the south. The forecast was for it to make landfall near New York City and come right across New England. Folks in the area were already staring to make preparations for this Category One hurricane. This did not deter us, however, from our visit.

We had an awesome time with our daughter and her husband, our two grandchildren, our two great grandchildren and our niece. They are really growing up fast. Made us feel older than we initially felt. We, also, had a chance to meet Heather's sisters family, Bonnie and Rob and their Labradoodle Tigger. Save the difference in their size, Tigger and Guinness could be twins.

Guinness is on the right and Tigger is on the left. Guinness(about 53 lbs) is a bit smaller than Tigger(about 73 lbs).

Our stay was delightful, especially the day we spent in my old hometown (well close to it), Newport, Rhode Island. I really had a good time flying kites with our great grand daughter, Kaylen. She is such a Sweetie.

We were scheduled to depart Heather's on Monday. The hurricane was looking as it was going to hit us on Sunday. We were all watching the weather and tracking the storm Friday night and it looked as if we were going to get hammered. On Saturday morning the KOA and all the other campgrounds in the state were ordered to shut down by the Governor. OK, so now what? Where were we supposed to go?

We called Heather and she suggested we come to her house and park in the driveway. That we did. It worked out great. We had our home next to hers. We were mostly concerned about that evening when we all had planned a big dinner with the whole family to include our niece, Tracy, and her family. Tracy had decided to brave the storm, no matter what, and venture to Heather's from the Providence area. Thankfully, the weather held off and we all had a great time. We enjoyed a lot of talk and the kids played and played. Sad to see them leave.

The next morning the storm was upon us. It was now downgraded to a tropical storm and had changed its course more westward. We had winds up to 60 mph and a lot of rain, but nothing too bad. It was actually a fun time. Kay and Joyce spent the afternoon in the RV watching Princess Bride and I enjoyed the rest of my family in the main house. We all had a FANTASTIC time. That evening we knew we had to, reluctantly, say our good byes the next morning. We tried not to think about it.

The storm was not that bad and no one suffered much damage, thank Goodness. The next morning we said our tearful farewells and we pulled out heading to Upstate New York. We made had arrangements to see someone tomorrow of great importance to us and, especially, Guinness. Sad to leave.

April-May 2011

2011-11-09T16:05:00.000-05:00

We didn't want to leave Pensacola, but we had a schedule to keep. We drove east on Interstate I-10 planning to spend several days at the Ocean Pond Campground in the Osceola National Forest. This is about halfway to our final destination of Waycross, Georgia. When we arrived we did not expect to find the campground full since it was in the middle of the week, but it was.

Most National Forest campgrounds, as did this one, have a rule limiting stays to two weeks. This one, however, did not enforce this rule. Not sure why, but it was obvious that the people occupying the sites had been there a very long time. This was evident by the construction of decks around the RVs and storage sheds on the sites. This wasn't a campground, it was a mobile home park. We registered our complaint with the Park Ranger, but did not expect anything to come of it. We now had to find a place to stay a few days.

It took only a few minutes to hook up the computer and do a local search for RV parks. We found a military park less than an hours drive so we headed for it. We had called and even though they did not take reservations they told us there were plenty of sites available.

This was an Air Force run park called Grassy Pond Recreation Area. It was a few miles south of Valdosta, Georgia only five minutes off of Interstate I-75. We picked a nice site, registered and set up for our three day stay.

We had not been to this area so we did our exploration thing. The area was nice and Valdosta seemed to be rebuilding itself into quite a nice little city. We took this opportunity to do some more relaxing and spend some quality times with Guinness and Rosco. They loved the wooded area we were in and enjoyed smelling and romping in the woods.

The days flew by and we found ourselves packing up again with a short trip to the Twin Oaks Bluegrass Festival in Hoboken, Georgia. This would be our second time attending this event. Last year we tried it and loved it. The event was so well organized and the people running it, attending it and performing in it were all awesome. We always have a great time here.

Our winter journeys all but about over we headed north back to Savannah. We had to get the trailer ready for storage after some minor maintenance and cleaning so we stayed at Holbrook campground at Ft. Stewart. We took a few day trips into Savannah, but mostly stayed in the campground working and trying to psych ourselves up to return to Maryland. We had been gone six months and the thought of returning was not good for any of us. It was something we had to do, though.

We stayed 10 days at Ft. Stewart before we, begrudgingly, returned to Maryland. We made the twelve hour trip without stopping overnight and rolled up to the house just before midnight. Guinness and Rosco were ecstatic and ran through every room many times. We were glad somebody was happy to be there. Several hours later we were all snuggled into bed and dreaming of the past six months. We came to the conclusion the next morning we all must have Gypsy blood in us for we would rather be on the road moving around rather than be anchored to one place. Maybe someday that urge will wane, but we immediately started planning for our next adventure.

We Love Savannah

April 2011 Continued.......

2011-11-03T13:38:00.000-04:00

The only convenient way to get from Gulfport, Mississippi to Pensacola, Florida, especially when towing a large trailer, is via Interstate 10. We do not particularly like to travel the Interstate highways, but in this case we did not have much of a choice. The traffic was light, even through Mobile, Alabama and we were able to reach our destination in a bit under three hours. We pulled into the Oak Grove RV Park on the Pensacola Naval Air Station just after noon and began our set up for our short three day stay.

This part of our journey had a final destination and date. We had to be at the Twin Oaks Bluegrass Festival by April 27th and we wanted to see a lot in between then so we decided to stay only 3-4 days at each stop.

We always like coming to this park for it is located on the beach and since it is on a military installation the public cannot get to it. It is usually quite deserted and they are pet friendly as long as they are on a leash. This gave us the opportunity to let Guinness and Rosco romp in the warm Gulf waters. There are not many waves here due to a barrier island a few miles away. Besides the beaches, the availability of fresh seafood here is awesome.

Our first stay at Pensacola was over the Christmas holidays in 2009-2010. We quickly found a seafood retailer who is renown for his fresh seafood. Joe Patti's has some of the best and freshest seafood on the Gulf coast. He ships everywhere and the lines are usually very long, but they have a great system and the wait time is normally no more than a few minutes.

They have a huge variety of seafood and most of it is caught in the past 24 hours. Turn-over is huge. We loaded up with shrimp, mussels, blue crabs, scallops and snapper. Fantastic. We'll be back here again, soon.

Next we stopped at the Destin Army Recreation Center in Destin, Florida. It was a quick 60 mile trip along Rt. 98 and we made short business of getting set up and out to explore the area. We were very impressed with what we saw and, again, the seafood, especially shrimp, was sold everywhere. The beaches in this area were fantastic and everything here was geared to a resort area. We were surprised, however, not to see resort prices very often.

The Recreation Center had its own marina and in the evening we were able to take Guinness and Rosco there to swim. Rosco did not take to it, but Guinness, the water dog, went right in. It was beautiful to sit each evening and watch the awesome sunsets.

Our final stay on the Gulf Coast was, again, in Panama City, Florida. We chose to stay on the west side of the city at the Panama City Coastal Systems Station, Naval Surface Warfare Center. The have a very nice RV park located on St. Andrews Bay. We lucked out and were placed on a site right on the water. What a beautiful view from our back window.

We had been to Panama City earlier this spring, but we did not get to explore the beach area west of the city. We took this opportunity to do that. Spring Break was in process and the area was over crowded with college kids. The police were everywhere and the prices were much higher than they were in March. We saw everything we wanted to see in a day and spent the next few days just relaxing. Our winter/spring journey was almost to an end.

April 2011

2011-10-28T15:13:00.000-04:00

It was a short 14 mile trip from the Big Biloxi Recreational Area to the Gulfport SeaBee Base. We like those sort of trips. The Navy campground was relatively new. The previous one was destroyed by Katrina as was much of the base. They have recovered very well, but that is to be expected with a military installation.

These military campgrounds are administered by the military service's Moral, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Office and are, quite often, much less expensive than a private campground. Their use is supposed to be for recreational purposes, but we have seen an increase in homesteading by both active and retired personnel. Some active duty personnel stay their entire tour in these parks which is some times up to three years. It is dependent the park's length-of-stay policy and all of these parks have different policies. One may say that is fine, but it really is not. These people are scamming the system. Active duty personnel are paid a monthly allowance for lodging. If there are not government quarters available at their duty station they collect this allowance. If government quarters are available they forfeit this allowance. This allowance is based on the location of the installation and is different for each grade. In Gulfport this ranges from $1077 per month for the lowest grade (E-1) to $2095 per month for the highest grade (O-7). The scam is these allowances are not forfeited, as they are supposed to, while staying in these government facilities. We have actually had some of these service members tell us they pay off their RV and still make a lot of money.

This practice is the fault of the individual MWR administrators by not imposing length-of-stay policies. A lot of these parks only allow 60-90 day stays with 60-90 days before they can return. These kind of policies allow legitimate use of MWR facilities as they were intended to be used. It was obvious this park in Gulfport did not have any such policy since 90% of the 68 sites were filled by homesteaders.

We stayed in Gulfport for one week and during this time we toured the coast from there to New Orleans. Our New Orleans day trip was the highlight of this segment of our journey. Guinness and Rosco went with us and were enthralled by the smells, sights and sounds of the French Quarter and the Mississippi river front. We definitely want to go back for a longer stay and see more of the city.

Our next few stops will be along the coast heading back towards Savannah. We were glad to leave Gulfport and do not plan on returning. Next stop will be Pensacola Naval Air Station's Oak Grove RV Park. This is our favorite place to stay.

Joyce, Guinness and Rosco on Bourbon St. in the New Orleans French Quarter

Joyce, Guinness and Rosco in front of Emeril Lagasses's restaurant NOLA in the New Orleans French Quarter

March-April 2011

2011-10-26T11:46:00.000-04:00

Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia-

........"The Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama covers 83,000 acres (340 km²), along the Alabama - Florida line in Covington and Escambia counties.[1] Topography is level to moderately sloping, broad ridges with stream terraces and broad floodplains.

The Conecuh Trail winds 20 miles (30 km) through Alabama's coastal plain. The trail was built by the Youth Conservation Corps. Each year, beginning in 1976, the young people of the Corps extend the trail through park-like longleaf pine stands, hardwood bottomlands, and other plant communities of the Conecuh National Forest.

The name Conecuh is believed to be of Muskogee origin. It means "land of cane," which is appropriate because the trail runs through canebrakes in several sections.

Situated just above the Florida panhandle, the forest has a distinct southern flavor of mist-laden hardwood swamps, pitcher plant bogs, and southern coastal plain pine forest. These hilly coastal plains are also home to longleaf pine, upland scrub oak, and dogwood, as well as an aquatic labyrinth of winding creeks and cypress ponds.

Clear-cut in the 1930s, the Conecuh was reforested with slash pine that reduced the number of nesting trees for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The forest is currently undergoing a reforestation from slash pine to the native longleaf. In time, this should increase the number of red-cockaded woodpeckers as the trees mature.".........

The end of March in this part of the country sees spring time early. The dogwood and azaleas were already in bloom and the birds and the bees, as well as all the other animals, were doing their spring time activities. Since we arrived on a Monday, the Open Pond Recreation Area campground was just about empty. Only three other RVs filled the seventy-three camp sites. Needless to say it was very quiet. The four days we spent there was very relaxing with daily walks on the trails, reading and playing with the boys. Finally, some down time.

Our next stop was another National Forest campground. Traveling a bit farther west into Mississippi, we stopped for another four days at the Desoto National Forest's Big Biloxi campground. Unlike the previous campground, this one was located close to major cities and busy highways. We decided to explore this area since we had been here before.

The countryside north of the Gulf was very impoverished. Not much to see or do outside of the cities of Gulfport and Biloxi. They, as the towns to their west along the coast, are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina Beach front property all along this section was completely destroyed. In many places the destruction went back from the coast by almost a half mile. Many have rebuilt or are in the process of rebuilding, but there are a lot of empty lots where homes and business once stood that now stand empty.

The beaches along this stretch of Gulf coast are beautiful and people were taking advantage of the warm waters and weather. We wanted to get a bit closer to the beaches on our next stop so we decided to stay for a week at the Navy's Construction Battalion (SeaBee) Base located in Gulfport, Mississippi. It was less than a mile from the coast.

March 2011 Continued

2011-10-23T17:24:00.000-04:00

Homosassa, Florida is a snow birder's paradise. The local population's age and the large amount of filled RV parks confirms it. We stayed here for a week and enjoyed exploring a part of Florida we had not yet seen. The Turtle Creek RV Resort provided us with a great base for our touring.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is the feature attraction of the area.

A huge fresh water spring feeds the river and attracts many manatee. The park itself is a refuge for the strange looking animal and they have a special tank they use for those that are sickly or wounded. When we saw the tank there were 5 manatees of different sizes and it was filled with cabbage heads, their favorite food.

The park boasts that all of its animals are native to Florida, except for one, a hippopotamus. Why, you may ask, is an African species found at a Florida park with all native wildlife? Well, Lucifer has lived there all his life. He was a big movie star when the park was an exotic animal park. Local residents took a special liking to Lu and often visited him between his many movies. When the park went to strictly native species Lucifer was bound for a transfer. You can imagine the demand for a 6,000 pound hippopotamus is not particularly high. When the locals caught wind of the intended transfer they put up a fight to keep Lu here. Needless to say their voices were heard and Lu was granted honorary state citizenship by the governor.

If you are ever in this area, this is a must stop. Plan on at least 4 hours for the visit.

Our next stop was Tyndall Air Force Base RV Park for another weeks stay. Tyndall is located on the southern city limits of Panama City, Florida and is the training center for the F-22 Raptor fighter jet. Again, our mission for the week was to explore the area. By the time we departed, mission was accomplished.

Panama City's claim-to-fame is its 27 miles of beautiful beach. They even have a beach dedicated for dogs. Way to go! We stayed pretty close to Tyndall and the city checking out the beaches and searching for good seafood. We took more down time than we had before. The RV park was big and very wooded so we walked a lot with "the boys". They loved it.

Speaking of the O'Doodle brothers, Guinness had the opportunity to swim and play in the bay across from the RV park. The water was quite calm and he did his favorite thing of swimming after a stick. The water was ocean water so very salty and he ingested a lot of it. When we got back to the RV, he became a bit unsettled. We guess the salt water played a number on his digestive system because all of a sudden he raced into the woods and began projectile expulsions and it wasn't from the mouth. This went on for more than an hour and we became very concerned. We made him drink lots of water to make sure he didn't get dehydrated. It took a lot out him and he didn't eat that night. He slept most of the rest of the day and all night. Next day he was fine.

Now it was Rosco's turn. The weather had gotten warmer and his long hair was making him uncomfortable. If you remember several posts back, his hair was extremely long (almost dragging the ground) and it seemed to be continuously growing. This is when he got his nickname as Fluffer Doodle. It was time, though, to do something about it.

...........................................BEFORE.............................................

Joyce had been a hairstylist in a previous life so she wanted to take a "whack" at it. She placed Rosco on the picnic table and got out the electric shears. It took almost an hour and a half but, the results were great and Rosco was ecstatic. He pranced, jumped and ran like he had been rejuvenated. Good job Joyce.

............................................After..............................................

Our highlight for this destination was the annual air show at Tyndall Air Force Base. It was an awesome event with the culmination of each days activities showcasing an exhibition flight of the F-22 Raptor. This is an amazing aircraft. It can, literally, go straight up and "HANG" in the air. No movement what-so-ever, then continue to climb at Mach speed. Watch this video:

Our time at Tyndall was very pleasant and we will return to that destination. Next stop is Conecuh (kuh-neh-kuh) National Forest in Alabama about two and half hours north west of Panama City.

Always in Catch-up Mode

2011-10-22T18:03:00.000-04:00

Seems like we are always in the catch-up mode. I was shocked to see our last substantial post was back in March of this year. Geez, that is, almost, inexcusable. Notice I said "almost". I guess the only excuse we can offer is the helter-skelter of our lives since that post. Best I can do is give a synopsis our adventure.

March 2011-

The trip to Mayport Naval Station RV park was without incident. We were assigned the same site as we had had the previous July when we were returning from Texas after adopting Rosco. It was right on the ocean at the mouth of the St. Johns river. A beautiful sight to wake up to every morning. As is always the case for that time of year the winds were constantly high. The temperatures, however, were very moderate so it was comfortable.

We spent most of our time exploring the area and eating awesomely fresh seafood. A highlight of our stay was a journey across the St. Johns river on a ferry. Rosco and Guinness, especially Guinness, did not know what to think. He kept looking, nervously, down at the water the entire crossing and was ecstatic when we drove off onto the dock. We took the bridge on the way back and he, I am sure, was very grateful.

Another highlight was visiting the Budweiser brewery in Jacksonville. It was a great experience and the tour was enlightening. Of course the free beer was good, too. The most memorable, though, was seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales. What an awesome exhibition. We saw the three trucks drive up, wagon and trucks unloaded and the horses tacked. That took the better part of an hour. Their exhibition included circles around the parking lot and photo ops for the public. How well behaved they are. Beautiful.

Our stay at Mayport Naval Station was short, but we packed a lot into the time we stayed. Our next stop was Homossasa Springs, Florida located on the Gulf Coast about 80 miles north Clearwater. On the way there, we stopped in Gainesville for a short and pleasant visit with our nephew. Stayed tuned for more.

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-04T07:24:00.001-04:00

Thanks to all of our troops and civilians who give their all in keeping us free. Please remember the meaning of this day and its importance to our freedom as individuals and as a country.

Our Latest Adventure Finally Begins

2011-03-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

I know, you ask "if this is our latest adventure, what was the last one?" OK..OK. Well, it wasn't really an adventure, more like a period of trials and tribulations. I'll go back several months so our time line here will be continuous. As you can see by our last few posts, save the last one (Mar 1st), all were regarding well wishes for you all during the Holidays. From there on nothing. Here's why.

All was well once we arrived at Holbrook RV Park on Ft. Stewart, Georgia. We, thoroughly, enjoyed the Holiday season surrounded by our RVing family. Thanksgiving was great as we ate our meal with the troops and their families on post. As last year, this is a very special time. The days leading up to Christmas was wonderful. We were able to enjoy the season's spirit in Savannah and the surrounding area. Much different than that of Maryland. It was really nice.

As Christmas came and went, we had settled into preparing for the New Year. Our plans were to depart Holbrook mid-January traveling farther south into Florida spending the rest of the winter there. On the evening of December 30th, those plans came to a screeching halt.

It was about 7PM when we sat down to enjoy a simple and quick meal of dirty rice and beans. On the second bite, Joyce started to choke. We had both immediately supposed she had aspirated some rice. She could not breathe and began choking more severely. I stood her up and performed the Heimlich maneuver on her with no results. Now chest pains were accompanying the choking and belabored breathing. Her skin coloring had turned chalky. I sat her down, ran next door to alert our neighbors and rushed her to the emergency room at Winn Army Hospital just a few minutes away. They immediately took her and administered oxygen which seemed to temporarily relieve her breathing difficulties and chest pains.
They preformed a series of the tests and once the results were back they diagnosed her as being in congestive heart failure. They quickly placed her in the intensive care unit and kept her overnight in an effort to stabilize her blood pressure and fluids.

I made it back to our RV around midnight and the boys were besides themselves with anxiety. They knew something was wrong and the absence of their Mommy was very disturbing to them. I got them up on the bed with me and was finally able to settle them. We did not sleep very well that night.

I brought Joyce back from the hospital around 10AM the next morning (New Years Eve) with an envelope full of instructions for further follow-up. She was feeling better, but very tired. The boys went crazy when they saw her. They would not leave her side for the rest of the day. The instructions called for extensive follow-up and testing with a cardiologist. Since I was already seeing a cardiologist in Savannah she chose to see him, also. So then it began, almost two months of continuous testing and doctor visits for the both of us. Me? Because this episode caused my already very high blood pressure to dangerously elevate creating great concern with my cardiologist. We realized we were going to have many doctor appointments and being so far away from our doctors in Savannah (70+ mile round trip), we reluctantly decided to move to the Hunter Army Airfield RV park (click here) in Savannah proper. This placed us within a few miles of our doctors.

To make an already long story a bit shorter, the final outcome for Joyce was the cardiologist disagreed with the army doctor's diagnosis of congestive heart failure. His testing showed her heart healthy and gave her a clean bill of health save some diet restrictions like salt, fatty foods, etc. He was at a loss as to what caused the choking incident, but he suspected it was due to aspirating some food which in turn brought on a panic attack. As for me, he was able to get my blood pressure under control by adjusting my medications. Just a few days after Joyce's final results, he told me the same thing and with the same diet restrictions. We can live with that. Easily.

This brings us up to today, our final day, for a while, here in Georgia. The day started with a light rain which now has stopped. It has become muggy and warm with threatening thunder storms. Typical spring day, even though it is not spring yet, here in the Georgia Low Country. Since we were able to get most of the outdoor preparation-to-move things done yesterday, today will be, mostly, indoors tidying up and putting things away. Our destination tomorrow is the Pelican Roost RV Park (click here) on the Mayport Naval Station just a few miles northeast of Jacksonville. Mayport is located at the mouth of the St. Johns River and is a very busy shipping area for both commercial and naval vessels. We'll be there a week before we move on to Homosassa Springs on Florida's west coast.

Our adventure finally begins. Look out Florida for here we come.

Fluffer Doodle

2011-03-01T12:53:00.002-05:00

I know it has been a while since our last post, but we'll catch up before the week is out. In the meantime take a gander at Rosco with his hair all grown out now. Our son-in-law says he looks like a running hairball.

Also, it looks like we'll have to take the O'Doodle boys to dancing lessons now.

Happy New Year

2010-12-29T08:27:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from Berry Oaks

2010-12-21T08:04:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from the O'Doodle Brothers

2010-12-18T14:46:00.001-05:00

Back in Georgia

2010-11-28T12:28:00.000-05:00

We made it back to Georgia on November 15th. We are pretty much settled into our RV life at Holbrook Campground here on Ft. Stewart. Lots of familiar and friendly folks here at this time of the year. We had our Thanksgiving dinner with the men and women and their families of the 3rd Infantry Division in one of their brigade mess halls.

We're not doing a lot at the moment except for fishing and visiting with our neighbors. We hope to carouse around Savannah a few times and make some day trips to see the Christmas decorations in the nearby small towns. This is relax time for us and by the time we move out on January 24th, we should be really recharged. Not sure where we are going from here, but it will assuredly be farther south.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T07:47:00.000-05:00

Whistling Acres Hermit (a cookie) Recipe

2010-11-18T13:03:00.001-05:00

This award winning recipe is posted in memory of its author Lois (Tutu) Brierley Bernier, grandmother to two of my beautiful daughters, Heather and Krystal. Enjoy.

Whistling Acres Hermits

Preheat oven 375

1 1/2 cup shortening
3 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
2 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
4 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup raisins

Cream first four ingredients. Sift together dry ingredients (not raisins) and add to wet ingredients a little at a time until well mixed. Add raisins and mix. Make two cylindrical strips of dough down each cookie sheet. Sprinkle tops heavily with sugar and press into dough with bottom of wet glass. Bake 12-15 minutes. Do not over bake. Remove from sheet when cool enough to handle.

Almost Migration Time

2010-11-09T11:35:00.001-05:00

Seems these past few months have dragged by. Since our last posted camping trip we have not done much other than work on this house trying to keep it up to sale standards. We did find time for another five day camping trip into the West Virginia mountains in early October. We stayed at the Trout Pond Recreation Area in the George Washington National Forest. As with our previous trips we started after the weekend crowd had departed. It was beautiful and refreshing with very few people. We so enjoy these kind of secluded adventures.

I took another short excursion with my cousin Jim shortly after returning from West Virginia. Jim's g-g-grandfather, like my g-g-grandfather, was a Civil War Confederate soldier assigned to the 9th Georgia Infantry Regiment. Mine was assigned to the 22nd Georgia Infantry Regiment. They both fought and were wounded on July 2, 1863 during the battle of Gettysburg. Jim's g-g-grandfather survived. Mine did not. We toured the battlefield on the first day and on the second day we walked the route the 9th Georgia took as it made its attack on the Union lines. This particular attack would be known as the Wheatfield, one of the bloodiest skirmishes during the three day battle. We both were awed by Gettysburg. It is truly Hallowed Ground.

We entered the Corvette into two car shows bringing home a trophy from one of them. The O'Doodle boys went to the last one and had a great time. This was their first show.

Now that fall is firmly entrenched we have been getting ready for our annual migration to Georgia. Our departure will be on November 14th. Our destination this year will be Holbrook Pond Campground on Ft. Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia. This is our favorite place to stay and it just so happens our friends, Lori and Dock, are the campground hosts. Oh yeah! Spinner is there, too. You remember Spinner (see Dec. 19, 2009 post). Guinness, Rosco and Spinner will have a ball. Our plan is to stay at Holbrook until mid-January then move on to Charleston, SC for several weeks. After that it is any body's guess. Probably into Florida or Alabama.

Speaking of Rosco, he has fully adjusted to our family now. It has only been in the past few months that he started to be completely comfortable here. He and Guinness are totally inseparable. They play and do everything together. It is great to see them get along so well. They both are very well mannered in public and we get a lot of complements about their demeanor.

Next post will be from Georgia. Can't wait.

A Day at the Bay For Guinness and Rosco

2010-10-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

This past July we took Guinness and Rosco to the upper portion of the Chesapeake Bay to swim. They loved it. See for yourself.

Cabin Fever

2010-09-23T14:22:00.000-04:00

And did we have it bad. We had to get away from this place for a while before we went stir crazy. We thought about where and decided to stay close. Cotoctin Mountain Park was our choice for this adventure. School is back in session so we departed Baltimore on Monday planning to return on Friday hoping that the campground we chose would be sparsely populated during the work/school week.

Cotoctin Mountain Park is a U.S. National Park so our senior pass gave us 50% off the fees. Another reason we chose it. Can't beat $10 a night. This park, also, is the home of the presidential retreat, Camp David. Our retreat was the Owens Creek campground located about a mile, as the crow flies, northwest of Camp David.

We arrived around noon after a leisurely hour and a half drive. OK. Nothing is leisurely about driving around here, but we did make it there without incident. Setting up camp was easy and quick. Before too long, the O'Doodle brothers were romping around the site. Unfortunately, they had to remain leashed at all times due to campground regulations. They did, however, get to go off leash for a few minutes each evening close to chase each other and burn some energy. No one was around so we took the chance.

The days and nights were cool and they flew by. On Wednesday, we made the short drive to Gettysburg and did a small bit of research. My cousin Jim and I are going there next month to see what both our great-great grandfathers saw when they fought there in 1863, his with the 9th Georgia Infantry Regiment and mine with the 22nd Georgia Infantry Regiment. That, however, is the subject of another post next month.

Our last day brought us rain in the afternoon and through the night. It was very heavy at times, but we endured it without any problems. We were lucky this time for it usually rains the whole time we are out. The boys took this time to lay back and relax. They both slept most of the afternoon and all through the night. Needless to say, the next morning they were ready to go.

Friday morning we packed up and were on the road by 10 AM. We took the back roads through the Maryland countryside to stay away from the Friday traffic around Baltimore. It took us a hour longer, but we enjoyed the slow drive and light traffic. The boys were extremely excited about getting home. They went to their toy boxes right away. They had their fill of camping for the mean time. The short respite did what we were hoping it would. We felt better all around and immediately started to make plans for our next adventure. Look out West Virginia for you are next.

From Then to Now-July Through Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-06T12:41:00.000-04:00

May through June was a blur. Before we knew it Independence Day was upon us. The summer was continuing to be hot and dry. We continued to stay close to home, but the urge to travel was nagging at us so we decided to do some camping during the week. It is almost impossible to get to a campground any where within 3-4 hours of here. Too many people, not enough campgrounds and now, the economy. Weekends are booked up months in advance. During the week, however, most campgrounds have room to spare.

We have been tent camping for many years and have all the equipment stored so we can just pack up and go. We also camp in our truck (see Oct 2008 posts), but with the Doodles that has become impracticable. Not enough room. Tent camping is becoming a bit hard for us, too. The tent, although it is quite large, does not have the room we need for the four of us, especially if the weather is bad. Finally, our bones are not as they used to be. How were we going to do this?

We decided to invest in a used pop up camper. We started looking and found the best place to shop was at www.craigslist.org. The campers on Ebay were priced too high. Craigslist had a good selection, they were reasonably priced and it was much easier to locate and speak with the seller. The one problem we did not expect was these used pop up campers have become a premium in the used camper market lately. The economy again. A camper would be posted and within minutes the seller was getting calls. Most were sold the day of posting. After trying and trying we finally located one in Pennsylvania. When we called the seller said someone else was on their way to pick it up. Missed again, but we did catch a break. The prospective buyer backed out and the seller called us back that evening.

We drove up the next morning and brought it back to Maryland. Great! It was perfect. A 1994 Coleman Destiny. This is the smallest model in the pop up series. It can sleep 6, but not comfortably. It can sleep 4 very well. Just right for the four of us. It took several days to re-arrange things, stock it it the way we wanted and to make some very minor repairs, but for the price, it was more than we anticipated. Now a test trip.

Locust Lake State Park lies in the Pennsylvania mountains just off Interstate-81. This was the destination for our shake down cruise. We were confident the two of us would be comfortable, but not so sure about the O' Doodle boys. Guinness has a lot of experience tent camping, but not Rosco. This would be different than in the RV where all the night time noises are subdued. It was going to be interesting.

We arrived mid-afternoon, set up and immediately got settled in. The trip was easy. We explored the area and we all had a great time in the mountain forest and fresh air. The temperatures were much cooler than in the Baltimore area and we all felt great. Rosco and Guinness were having a fantastic time. Rosco found he could follow a chipmunk, with his eyes, and he became fixated on that task for the rest of our stay. He loved it. Guinness had his ball and that is all he ever needs to be satisfied.

Of course, though, the Berrys are camping and what does that mean? Rain. We are rain campers. Just about every time we go, it rains at some time during the trip. Most often, all the time. We have gotten accustomed to it and we deal with it very well. The boys, however, are a different story. In the RV there is a lot of room and plenty of things to do on a rainy day. In a small tent camper there isn't.

It started to rain just after we all settled down for the evening, about 9:30 PM. It was a drizzle at first, but graduated to a tremendous downpour for the rest of the night. The boys settled right down, thank goodness, and immediately went off to sleep. They were exhausted and seemed very comfortable and the sound of the rain helped. We were up several times looking for leaks, but all was OK. Not bad for a 16 year old canvas trailer. The rain tapered off just before dawn, but it continued to drizzle for a while and the morning started off very foggy. The next two days were a repeat of the first. We were thankful the days were dry.

The O'Doodle boys camping

Time for nite-nite


I see you Mr. Chipmunk

Fresh mountain air makes me sleepy

The campground had 282 campsites and most were occupied during this particular week. We guess it was because it was only a week after the July 4th holiday and a lot of people were still on vacation. These campsites were very close to one another and that was our concern for the boys, especially at night. We did not want them to be barking all night at the noises in the park. We took care of that with our anti-bark collars. OK. Before you all get upset, these collars are NOT shock collars. These spray a fine mist of Citronella if the dog barks. A gentle "woof" will not set it off. They, obviously, do not care for the scent so they remain quiet when they have them on. The collars went on each night and they acted like angels. Anyone interested can check them out at the company's website (Click here) and order them at Amazon.com (Click here). We highly recommend them.

When we returned to Maryland we made a few adjustments to the trailer and then covered it until our next planned trip scheduled for the last weekend in July. During the following two weeks we stayed very close to home and, again, tried to deal with the mid-to-upper 90 degree weather. Again, it was cooler in Savannah than here in Maryland.

Lori and Dock are great friends and are full-time RVers. We spend winters close to them in Savannah and summers close to them here in Maryland. During the winter, they are the Ft. Stewart campground hosts and during the summer they kick back in the Pennsylvania mountains just north of Gettysburg and close to family. If you will remember (see our Dec. 19, 2009 post), their dog Spinner and Guinness are great friends. We had not seen them since they left Savannah in April, but this trip we would make up for that.

We wanted to try out another state park so we departed a day early to stay the night at Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania before heading to Lori and Dock's campground. The state park campground was OK, but not great. Most Pennsylvania state park campgrounds do not have many amenities like water or electricity. Their bath houses are OK, but most are worn and need repair. This one did have electricity, but water had to be hauled in from several locations throughout the campground. And that is OK if you are expecting it and prepared for it. We were. It was quiet for there were very few people camping on this Thursday. A lot of state parks in this country are extremely over regulated. Usually pets and alcohol are always listed as a no-no and the rangers patrol for violators. They do not look for the drugs, just the wine coolers and kitties or puppies. Our tax dollars at work.

Arriving mid-morning, Lori met us and showed us our campsite for the weekend. Neat. It was under beautiful trees and beside a mountain creek. Good sleeping for all. The weekend flew by. Lots of good food, good drink, great weather and great company. Guinness, Rosco and Spinner ran free and had a great time. When we started home Sunday morning, they were exhausted and slept all the way back. Now comes the rest of summer.

August started off like July had been, hot, humid and little rain. We did nothing of particular interest. Our time was taken up by vet and doctor appointments, house and yard repairs, keeping the boys exercised and occupied and more house repairs. Do you see B-O-R-I-N-G here? Very. We did attend a Bull Roast with friends one Saturday evening and had great time, but that was it for the month.

Well here we are, Labor Day 2010. The past week and a half has been rather difficult. Joyce, Guinness and Rosco are fairing well, but I suffered a rather sever knee injury around Aug 26th and have been nursing it ever since. This has put us behind schedule in our house repairs, but we are almost there. What comes next?

Not sure. A couple of small things planned. Maybe. Stay tuned and see.

From Then to Now-May through June

2010-09-03T13:20:00.004-04:00

Wow! What a summer it has been. As mentioned in the last post, things have been going non-stop since we departed Berry Oaks at the end of April. Retired life is supposed to be easy going, but I guess it is what one is involved in that makes one's life slow or fast paced. We'll have to look closely at what we are doing and consider readjusting our involvements. That will come later on this month, but for now here's what went on from the end of April to the end of June.

Departing Berry Oaks - April 27, 2010

We spent a total five months on Berry Oaks and we knew we had to return to Maryland in the spring to take care of the house. We were not happy about that. It took a week to police and pack up everything we had put in place to make us feel at home here in Georgia. We could not leave anything for it would be gone when we got back. Everything went into our storage facility in Savannah.

We decided to take a few days off before we headed to Ft. Stewart Campground to attend a Bluegrass festival being held in southeast Georgia. Hoboken, Georgia, a small crossroads town, is about 15 miles east of Waycross, Georgia and about 15 miles north of the great Okefenokee Swamp. Several times a year the population of this small town triples with the Bluegrass festival events held at the Twin Oaks Music Park. The event area has a covered stage with room for many attendees under and outside the stage area. What was most amazing about this place is it has camping hookups (water and electricity) for 875 RVs at very reasonable rates. It was huge.

We departed Berry Oaks on April 27, 2010 and stayed our first night at Laura Walker State Park. The next morning after a short trip (10 minutes) we arrived at Twin Oaks and were greeted by a staff of awesome country folk. They guided us to our spot and we began to settle in.

The festival went from Thursday evening to late Saturday night. There were a dozen or so groups performing throughout the weekend and we were pleased to be able to see each at least once.

The entertainment was great and the atmosphere was very family oriented. We will return here often.

We returned to the Ft. Stewart campground on Sunday and began making preparations to put the trailer into storage for the summer. While cleaning the trailer's roof it came to our attention there was a soft spot near the rear. Not good. The next morning we brought the trailer to the Camping World in Savannah to have them look at it. Not good again. It seems the seals around the ladder had been leaking for a while and water had gotten under the rubber roof and rotted a portion of it. The whole rear laminate had become detached, also. Definitely not good. It would have to be repaired soon.

We went back to Ft. Stewart and hurried our preparations for returning to Maryland. On Friday morning we packed up, dropped the trailer at Camping World and headed up I-95. It would take several weeks for the repairs. The trip back was uneventful. Once the trailer was repaired I returned to Savannah (alone), put it into storage and drove back to Maryland.

Once back in Maryland our time was consumed with putting the house back into shape after the terrible winter they had experienced here. We were sad having to be here and Guinness was upset as to not being able to stay outside a lot. We began to discuss adopting another Doodle as a playmate/companion for him hoping to make it easier on him and us. After looking through many websites for rescues, we came across a three year old male Labradoodle residing in a foster home near Dallas, Texas. We talked it over, made some calls and decided to do it. We had been stationary for three weeks and we were eager to be back on the road.

We considered driving straight to Dallas and then back, but we came to the conclusion it would be better to take our time and not put too much stress on the new Doodle right away. We drove back to Savannah, stayed a few days at the Ft. Stewart campground and headed to Dallas on May 31, 2010. Our intention was to pick up our new addition on Friday, June 4th, however, the foster home had something come up and asked us the day we left for Dallas if we could pick him up on the 3rd. We said yes. That was going to be a long drive in two days. We stayed the first night in a small and very quiet RV park in Marion, Mississippi which was about half way to our destination in Denton, Texas. The next morning we were on the road early and made it to Dallas just at rush hour. What a horrible experience that was, but we were pumped for the next day and pulled into the RV park in Denton and relaxed.

________MEET ROSCO___________

Hi All!!

Rosco is a small (35 lb), charcoal, male, 2nd generation Labradoodle. He was put up for adoption by the family who raised him due to health problems with one of the family members. Like Guinness, he has a wonderful disposition, well mannered, loves people, especially children and other dogs. He is a perfect match for for the three of us. We, especially me, were worried about how he would get along with Guinness and how he would take to our life style of traveling. We were about to find out.

We remained in Denton that evening and started out for San Antonio, Texas the next morning. We planned to stay at a campground down the street from my brother, Don, for a few days. On the way we stopped and visited with a dear friend, Jean, for several hours then made our way to my brother's arriving around 4 PM. Not a bad trip comparing it to the previous days of travel.

We kicked back for several days, letting Guinness, Rosco and my brother's dogs romp through the house while we all drank a lot of Shiner Bock and ate, ate and ate. Thanks Bro. It was good to see the family again.

Monday morning we started the return trip to Savannah this time, though, taking our time. We wanted to make sure Rosco was comfortable traveling and being close to Guinness. It turns out he was wonderful on both counts. We traveled in 4-5 hour hops staying the first night in the Cagle campground in the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas. Staying off the main highways, we found ourselves at Chicot State Park in Louisiana the next night. Our next destination was the campground at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. We had stayed there before and we had liked the location right on the beach on the Gulf of Mexico. We figured on staying there 3 days before continuing on. Guinness and Rosco loved the beach. It was Rosco's first time and he was very wary of the water, however, he slowly got to like it.

What is this place?

Rosco's first swim

Guinness the Water Doodle

Ahhhh! The Dog's life.

Next was the Atlantic coast. We stayed at the Mayport Navy Station RV park outside of Jacksonville, Florida for three more days before we made the short trip back to Savannah. We had stayed here, also, and liked the setting. Different than Pensacola, but very interesting because the Navy ships come into the station right in front of the park.

Navy Tugboat

See Rosco? This is how it's done.


We love this life.

We only stayed two days at the Ft. Stewart campground. We wanted to get that 12 hour drive back to Maryland over with as soon as possible and get Rosco settled into the house. We were concerned about him being in the truck for that length of time, but he took it like the little trooper he is. We believe the several weeks he and Guinness were in the RVs tight quarters made a big difference in their getting along. They took to each other right away and have since become inseparable.

The few weeks remaining in June were taken up with the house and the Doodles. The house has been a big pain since every time we turned around something is breaking. We remained close by and tried to suffer through the summer days. Long and hot. It was actually warmer in Maryland than Savannah. Go figure.

Next post: July through now.

Catch up time.....Soon

2010-07-06T08:19:00.000-04:00

Things have been absolutely mayhem here. All is OK, but just proceeding at such a rapid fire pace that we have had little time to do anything but keep up day-to-day. We will start catch up posts, shortly. That is if things do not escalate again and the creek don't rise.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2010-07-03T10:03:00.000-04:00

Fence Project

2010-04-19T16:37:00.001-04:00

Berry Oaks has about 900 feet/274 meters of road frontage on a private dirt road. The two drives accessing Berry Oaks are protected by cable gates.

No real security other than to keep the trash dumpers, lovers, and hunters out. Oh! I also should mention the ATV's or commonly called 4 wheelers here in the Low Country. They are the ones that rip up the land. Usually they are younger people with little regard for others property or privacy. Local law enforcement have quite a problem with these intruders.

Recently, the local power company came by and cleared their power line easements along the road. In our case they virtually destroyed our frontage by knocking down trees and opening large gaps in the brush that protected the land from entry, but that is another story yet to be completed.
We were left with three entry ways, besides the two drives, large enough to drive a pick up through. With us living here, we have not had a problem, but when we leave the word must go out and the parties begin. Luckily we have neighbors who look out for the land while we are gone. I had to, however, block the gaps to keep vehicles from entering them.

After considering options I decided the least expensive way was to make our own fence. We only need it to last a year or so until we can erect a permanent fence along the property line. I chose to make the fence of fresh pine. We have an abundance of young pine trees here so I picked five that were obstructing the drive and the power lines. Once felled, I cut them to length. We needed eight fence poles and eight rails.

I used the thicker tree bases for the posts and the upper thinner sections for the rails.

Digging the post holes was the easier part since the soil here is all sand.

I used a hand post hole digger and dug all eight holes to a depth of 2 feet/0.6 meters in a half hour. The posts were 6 feet/1.8 meters each.

Once the posts were set in the holes, filled and tamped, we placed the rails, two per section, and secured them to the posts with 1/4x6 lag bolts. All in all it was a day and a half worth of effort.

The pictures show the results. We are, now, somewhat secure from the marauding hordes until we return in the fall.

An Amtrak Odyssey

2010-04-08T17:52:00.014-04:00

I had to make a quick trip back to Maryland to return Joyce's car. Taking advantage of the journey, I loaded it up with as much as I could so we would not have to bring it back next month when we return to Maryland for the summer. While I was there I made a quick dusting of the house and a quick pick up of the yard then prepared for my return trip to Savannah.

I had hoped to take a military hop from Andrews AFB to Charleston and then Amtrak to Savannah, but due to ambassadorial events that could restrict access to the base passenger terminal when I needed to leave, I decided to take the Amtrak Palmetto train from Baltimore to Savannah instead.

I began my trip with a ride from my neighbor to the Maryland Area Regional Commuter train station at Martin Airport in Essex, MD, about 6 miles away. I hopped the 7AM train to Baltimore's Penn Station and awaited the departure of the Amtrak Palmetto (#89) at 8:54AM. It was on time and my odyssey began.

The journey from Baltimore to Savannah is about 12 hours if all goes well. It didn't. We were on schedule up to Petersburg, VA., but once we departed the station, the conductor made an announcement regarding speed restrictions resulting from the hot weather. It seems all of the rails south of Washington D.C. are owned by CSX Corporation and Amtrak, when on their rails, must abide by their rules. CSX had issued a speed restriction beginning at 1 PM through 7PM. This meant to use we had to reduce our normal speed of 80MPH/129KPH to 60MPH/96KPH. This would cause a delay in route from that point on getting us into Savannah about an hour and half late. Not too bad. Oh well, Mother Nature strikes again. But wait! Not so quick!

Resigned to a late arrival most passengers, including myself, called ahead to alert those necessary about the delay. All was well as we pulled into Fayetteville, North Carolina. The train remained in the station about 10 minutes and as it departed we noticed a number of police officers converging on a large man on the station's platform. In the few seconds it took to leave, we saw the officers surround the man and try to take him into custody. Oh, well. We all have seen something like this before. A few moments later we heard that this man had been waiting for his girl friend and as she departed the train, he noticed her turn around and waved at a passenger in the train. The passenger waved back. I guess that is all it took for the man in question boarded the train, went through the cars, found the man and punched him in the face. Some of the passengers came to the aid of the stricken man as the, let's call him the Perp, tried to leave. By the time he did get off the train, police had been called and several were waiting for him on the platform. His girlfriend had gone and he was left with the police officers as company. He was quit irate and began to get pushy. That is when we pulled out of the station. We saw the man who had been punched later on and his right eye was swollen shut. On to Savannah. But wait! Not so quick!

We had traveled about 30 minutes from Fayetteville and were passing through the small town of Pembroke, North Carolina when everyone in our car heard a loud muffled thump followed by an immediate stopping of the train. The conductor came on right away and told the passengers that the train had a difficulty and they were going to inspect it to make sure it was still travel worthy. Uh Oh! I had been on an Amtrak train before that had a similar problem (and sound). It had been an electrical cable that had come loose between the cars and had to be replaced with spares they carried. Not too bad. But wait! Not so quick!

Word spread quickly through the cars that we had hit someone. Several people in the last car (I was in the next to last of 10 cars) tried to get off the train and help the victim, but the conductors quickly stopped that effort. In retrospect, if a train had run over someone there would be no use for first aid. Anyway, several of the train staff had already investigated and we were quickly told their had been an "accident" and the police had been called. We would be delayed for a short while until they arrived. Somehow I did not believe it would be just for a short while.

The police arrived quickly as did the fire and rescue. Additionally, quite a few civilian personnel arrived at the scene. They looked very "official". After about an hour the conductor came onto the intercom and updated us on the situation. It seemed a local had been lying on the tracks and the train struck him/her. The person had been thrown up under the train and had ricocheted under the cars. That's the thump we heard. By the time the train had stopped, what was left of the victim was behind the train. No one could see out the back of the last car. All for the better I suppose. The police would not release the train until after they investigated completely.

We were finally released and our journey resumed. By this time it was past the 7PM speed restriction and we were able to continue the trip at the proper speed. The conductor came on the intercom again shortly after we started to move and explained what had happened in detail. He was audibly shaken. The delay was not all due to the police investigation. The train's engineer had asked to be relieved. Completely understandable. Also, Amtrak senior personnel were on the site along with a replacement engineer and had to be briefed as did the replacement engineer before we could continue. The rest of our journey was without incident. We arrived in Savannah at 12:34 AM.

I had been in touch with Joyce through the whole odyssey and made sure she was updated on our progress. She and Guinness had arrived at the Amtrak station in Savannah an hour before our scheduled arrival of 9:03 PM (she wanted to drive there before it got dark). When I got off the train Joyce and Guinness were waiting on a bench for me a short distance away. They both recognized me right away and Guinness went ballistic with joy. After he calmed a bit I was able to get a kiss and a brief hug from Joyce before we headed back to Berry Oaks (around 1:20 AM).

Don't confuse this with Homer's Odyssey ( I'm sure you won't), but it is one of my very many odessi. Home and safe. Heading back to Maryland for the summer in mid-May.

Click on this link to the local news report on the Amtrak incident: Amtrak train kills man in Pembroke

The Making of a Shillelagh-Part 3

2010-03-23T17:05:00.003-04:00

Many do not know the origin of the Shillelagh other than it is an Irish icon. Claims bounce back and forth between Ireland and Great Britain as to who made it and used it first, but most authorities give the Irish credit for its invention.

"Sticks have been used as weapons since fighting began, however the skilled use of hardwood clubs by the people of Shillelagh led to these clubs to be called Shillelagh's by Richard II in 1395. With the dispersion of these peoples through the ages the term Shillelagh spread throughout Ireland and the new world in reference to a weighted fighting stick. The unique qualities of these sticks were first developed by the Siol Ealaigh people of this region more than 1200 years ago.

When it became illegal for any Irish person to carry a weapon their Shillelagh's were often elongated to appear as a walking stick but were just as effictive a weapon when the need arose. These irish who emigrated to America enjoyed the right there of all men to carry arms and Shillelagh's became very promenant in the faction fights in the turbulant years of the young United States. Many Irish Americans can remember this kind of Shillelagh in use or will have heard stories about them while most English and Irish people will remember them as walking sticks or lucky charms from home." ---Olde Shillelagh Stick Makers, Shillelagh, County Wicklow, Ireland.

These sticks are of all designs. It is the maker who decides what it will be. This design is primarily for walking, but can be used in the traditional manor as a weapon for self defense, if ever needed. Not its intention, but what is tradition if not to replicate it?

The carving phase is now finished. This was fairly easy, a bit time consuming though. The hardest part was making the wrist strap hole at the bottom of the stick. The same knife used for carving made the hole. Since the knife had only a half inch long awl and the stick is almost an inch wide, careful measurements were taken to assure the holes on each side would line up. They did. Next will come the smoothing phase. This will be interesting. Stay tuned.

The Making of a Shillelagh-Part 2

2010-03-22T15:14:00.000-04:00

Had some free time today so it went toward the Shillelagh project. It was determined the handle would be sort of form fitting to the hand. A sharp knife was used to carve the finger and palm impressions. This will give the handle a comfortable grip and a bit of style. Not sure what the end of the handle will look like yet. Once the handle is finished, the whole project will be smoothed out for finishing.

The Making of a Shillelagh-Part 1

2010-03-20T18:38:00.000-04:00

In the spirit of our last post, I wanted to do something a bit different with the enormous amount of time on my hands. HA! If you believe that, I have a few bridges I would like to sell you. Since we were under the weather on St. Patrick's Day, we did not attend Savannah's gigantic parade so we opted to watch it on TV. Coverage was excellent and we probably got a better view than had we been there. It was three hours and fifteen minutes long from beginning to end and well worth every minute. Hopefully, next year we can see it in person.

For those who have ever attended a good St. Patrick's Day parade, a majority of the entries are families whose ancestors originated in Ireland. They form in family groups and walk the parade route waving and showing their pride as an Irish descendant. Many of the parade walkers carry the traditional walking stick known as a shillelagh (usually pronounced shill-lay-lee). For more history of the shillelagh, click on this link: Irish Culture and Customs. Many of those who carried the shillelaghs had one feature about them; they were all different. It was obvious some were store bought, but most were hand made. All of them, however, were very attractive.

I did some research and found many web sites explaining how to make a shillelagh from scratch as did the Irish so many years ago. I decided to try my hand at this art craft. Knowing the wood used was not readily available here in the Low Country of coastal Georgia, I looked for a wood that would be comparable to the oak or blackthorn tree used in original shillelagh construction. Our most common small tree/large bush here is the Mayberry (Vaccinium elliottii). Mayberry is, actually, a blueberry bush that grows very large, up to 10-15 feet. The wood is light and very hard so it should make a good substitute. During the process of clearing Berry Oaks, we have cut many of these bushes. I looked in our pile of brush and found the best piece. It had been drying for several months so it was perfect.

First, the protruding branches were cut off with a small buck saw so the piece would be the approximate size necessary. The handle is a bit big, but it can be carved that down to a good size. A measurement was taken of the arm at a 90 degree angle to the ground. Several inches were added to assure it could be trimmed, if required, later on. Most important, at this phase, is to have enough wood to work with. You can always cut it, but you cannot add it back on.

First the bark was shaved from the piece. This was easy since it had been drying for several months. Next the excess remaining bark was scraped with the pocket knife resulting in a some what smooth surface. The pocket knife will be the only tool used for the remainder of this composition. The term composition is used for it will be a work of art.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Signing off from Berry Oaks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T09:07:00.000-04:00

Enough Already...

2010-02-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

Enough of the cold weather that is. The past few days have been moderating, but it is still dipping into the freezing temperatures at night. It looks like, however, there will be a warming trend over the next week or so. Hope it continues and the forecasts are correct. Dealing with the cold weather in your home is not like dealing with it in an RV, especially, if you are boon-docking it. These things are not made for sub-freezing weather.

Guinness and Joyce saw a beautiful red fox run through the glen early this morning. Guinness pined for 20 minutes wanting to go out and play with him. Not a good idea. If he had been off-leash when he saw him he would have been chasing him through the woods trying to catch up with him.

Brush clearing is progressing. Each day we (mostly Joyce's effort) clear a small amount and burn it for warmth. Makes for a good afternoon as it gets cooler. As it gets more open, we are seeing more wildlife venture in and around us.

We took a Foody Tour last week. We will make a post about that soon. It was awesome, lots of fun and very filling.

We continue to hang out here in the low country woods. Birds are becoming more active and we see, maybe, an early spring here. Well deserved, we are sure. Hope all is well with everyone out there. We think of y'all often.

Snow? In Savannah? Geesh!

2010-02-13T15:43:00.002-05:00

But it was gone by the next morning. Whew!

I Guess We Did Go Far Enough South.....

2010-02-06T06:39:00.011-05:00

Back in Maryland they are getting hammered with a blizzard. It is the same storm we had yesterday as a rain event. They are forecasting up to 24 inches or more for the area. Whew!!! We feel sorry for our family, friends and neighbors back there.

Click here for pictures of storm results.

Quickie Update

2010-01-30T17:45:00.002-05:00

All is well. We have been working hard on making some small improvements to the homestead here. Made some small excursions around the local area. The weather has gotten warmer, but the rain continues at least once a week. The rivers are swollen and have been since we arrived in November. No luck on selling the house in Maryland yet.

I made a quick trip back to Maryland a few weeks ago to pick up the Tracker, check on the house and pick up a few things we needed. Used the Space-A (Space Available) military hop to get back there. That was an adventure all in itself.

Plans are to head back to Maryland late April or early May for the summer. This all depends whether or not the house sells. If it does, we'll be here for our forever.

We didn't move far enough south...

2010-01-10T08:58:00.003-05:00

...and I don't think that would have helped much with the coldest winter on record in the South. It was 17F/-8.3C this morning. Our fresh water pump froze so I'm trying to get that thawed out. No pipes busted, thank Goodness. The trailer was built to withstand freezing weather. All the water pipes are flexible and are insulated. The water pump is under the galley sink and enclosed from the living area so I had to open it up to get it warm. The gas furnace in the trailer and a small electric heater keeps us toasty warm in here.

High for today will only be 42F/5.5C, but we are in a warming trend. By Wednesday morning the temperatures should not dip below freezing anymore at night. For a while, anyway. Hmmmm....maybe Puerto Rico would have been a warmer destination. Wonder how we can get the trailer there? You listening, Hector?

What's The Deal With Jack Frost....

2010-01-03T09:46:00.005-05:00

...and with this global warming crap? It was 21F/-6C when we got up this morning. The highs today, and for the next 4-5 days, are going to be in the mid-40s with the overnight lows in the mid-20s. That is almost unheard of around here. But, on the upside, no snow or ice.

Happy New Year!!!!!

2009-12-31T17:00:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T08:09:00.001-05:00

Best of Friends

2009-12-19T16:07:00.002-05:00

Spinner is a re-homed Jack Russell Terrier and his new home is with our friends Dock and Lori. Spinner and Guinness have become best of friends and love playing together. We had a visit from Dock, Lori and Spinner today and after playing hard all afternoon, Spinner and Guinness decided to put together a picture to wish everyone Merry Christmas. They're in the spirit, too.

Another Good Day

2009-12-06T17:07:00.005-05:00

Every day here is a good day. Some are just better than others. What makes one better? Well, maybe we were more productive that yesterday? Maybe it was warmer? Maybe we just lazed around? No matter, all days are good here.

We woke to a temperature of 33F/0.5C. That is very cold here. We already knew of the freeze warning so we made our preparations the night before with our plants and other things regarding the RV's safety. Some hot coffee and a great cheese omelet and bacon breakfast made the start of our day hearty.

I was off to Lowe's early to pick up a few things to finish the electrical upgrade for the RV. We currently have 20 ampere service and the RV requires 30 amperes. The breakers had tripped often this past summer and had continued to do so since we arrived last week. To correct the problem I needed to add a 30 ampere breaker to the main electrical panel and install a 30 ampere connector for the RV electrical cable.

With all the materials in hand I began the installation. Keep in mind my entire adult life has been working with electricity, of one form or another, and I was very careful with the installation and made sure I followed the local electrical codes. I took my time and after an hour or so we had our full electrical service. That made it a good day in itself.

Meantime, Joyce had been doing some more clearing and burning and in between she made sure Guinness was getting his exercise. Once I had finished with the electrical upgrade she asked me to sit and rest for a while. We did that while sipping a small adult beverage in front of a nice fire she had made in our block fireplace. It was almost 4 PM and the temperature was already dipping back into the 40s. Nice and warm, dog at our feet, sun going down and we are here.

Now isn't that another good day? Every day is a good day here.

Dibilitated Doodle

2009-12-03T18:10:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was an all day rain. Guinness was cooped up in the trailer except for the times he had to go out to potty. He was very good and took advantage of his down time by sleeping most of the day.

This morning, however, was a different story. The day broke clear and crisp and all he wanted to do was run and play. Well, we accommodated him. Between our chores, we threw his ball and Frisbee many, many times. We had to make him take breaks which he does on command and needs, for he does not know when to stop. By the late afternoon, he was running and jumping noticeably slower and with more effort. Good. He needs and enjoys the exercise.

He'll sleep well tonight.

Living Large

2009-12-02T11:14:00.005-05:00

We are pretty much set up the way we want. There are a few more minor things we need to do, but for now we are comfortable. From now on we will be just doing house keeping, brush clearing and relaxing.

The weather has been great with the highs in the 60F-70F (15C-21C) range and the lows at night in the 40F-50F (4C-10C) range. During the cooler periods and at night we have a small electric heater that works quite well in our small space. This saves us from using the RV heater which runs on propane. Electricity here is much cheaper than propane and almost one quarter the price as electricity in Maryland. We still keep it cool (62F/16.5C) and wear our sweats in the evening.

We are having an all day rain event so we will be having a down day and just do some reading and listening to some quite music. Even Guinness is enjoying the relaxing.

We're Home!!!

2009-11-28T17:02:00.003-05:00

Finally. We departed Maryland early on the 22nd and arrived at the Ft. Stewart campground late the same day. We spent the week with our friends and made preparations for our move back to Berry Oaks at the end of the week. We and five other couples from the campground had our Thanksgiving Day meal with the troops of the 3rd Infantry Division at their mess hall on Ft. Stewart. What a treat to share that special day with those amazing soldiers.

This morning we packed up and made the 35 mile journey to Berry Oaks and began setting up. Our friends, Dock and Lori, helped us with that chore and made it quite a bit easier. We are pretty much set up, but we still have a day or two to get where we want to be. More to come when we get there. WE"RE HOME!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T07:59:00.004-05:00

On The Road Again...

2009-11-21T12:10:00.005-05:00

Oh how we love to be on the road again,
The life we love is seeing what's
around the bend....
We love being on the road again.

In Preparation For Next Month

2009-11-16T08:29:00.002-05:00

I was never a politically correct person. Maybe this is the reason I did not advance farther while working as a civil servant, but so what. I did not throw away my principals just so I could be seen as one who did not offend everyone. That being said, the following video is exactly how I feel on this subject. If the reader thinks they will be offended, do not play it and go to another blog, otherwise, enjoy.

I Feel Fiesty Today

2009-11-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

Thank You

2009-11-11T08:00:00.002-05:00

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

A Useful Factoid today: according to the Census Bureau, there are "over 23 million veterans in the U.S." Find one. Shake a hand, give a hug, buy them a cup of coffee. Any little thing to say "thank you for your service."

Another Surprising Genealogical Find

2009-11-05T12:02:00.002-05:00

The last post dealt with the Berry clan finding a cousin who is quite famous. This came as a surprise to almost all of us, although, many had it in the back of their minds simply because he is a Berry. The same question has been asked on our mother's side for the Mitchell family.

The Mitchells of this line were early settlers of Georgia. They had come from Orange County in North Carolina in the late 1820s with the aspirations of getting land that had just opened up in the Cherokee and Creek Territories. The Government had taken the land from the Native Americans and made it available through land lotteries. The Mitchells got some of this land and settled in and around Fayette and Henry counties. It seemed the Berrys who migrated from the same area in North Carolina and at the same time received land there, also. It was not frowned upon at that time for cousins to marry one another, especially if the cousins had different family names.

Fayette and Henry counties are due south of what now is the Atlanta Metropolitan area. Our parents and their parents grew up in these counties and after their marriage began their family there, too. There were many stories from the Mitchell side that a famous person was a distant cousin of theirs, but no one could prove it so it largely went as wishful thinking. During my early research on the Berry side, I found an ancestor, a great-great grandmother who was a Mitchell. It seemed odd that both sides of our family had the same Mitchell name, but at that time I dismissed it as coincidence. That was until this past January when I decided to see if there was some sort of ancestral link there.

I began with the information I had gathered through several years of research and information my cousin Fred had provided me. Through Ancestry.com I was able to prove the Mitchell lineage back 6 generations. In doing this, I was able to match a Mitchell grandfather to both of our parents. It turned out they were fourth cousins and did not ever know it. This, again, was not uncommon.

During this process of building the Mitchell family tree, I came upon an unexpected correlation within the family lines. Our parents shared the same great-great-great grandfather, John Hinchey Mitchell. Their great-great-grandfathers, Jonathan and Thomas were brothers. While researching John Hinchey Mitchell, I became aware of his siblings, one in particular named William Mitchell. While William is a common name, it rang a bell in the back of my mind so I began to build a tree for his descendants. Bingo. I found it. William's son Isaac, had a grandson by the name of Eugene.

Most of the Mitchell clan in Georgia were farmers. We knew of no one who had risen much beyond that. Some had begun their own businesses, but none became big captains of industry or extremely wealthy. One Mitchell did, however, make herself quite infamous by writing a book. It was Eugene Mitchell's daughter. Her name was Margaret Mitchell and the book was called "Gone With the Wind".

Let us hope our next find and/or surprise will remain those who have become prominent. But I suspect there are some scallywags in the group, too.

Withdrawn From Contest

2009-11-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Regrettably, I have had to withdraw from the contest. Hopefully, I will re-enter in a later one. Thank you all for your support.

I have entered the "Cutest Labradoodle Contest." Please vote for me. You can do that by clicking on my picture on the left. It will take you to the voting web page. When there click beside my name and then click the red "Vote Now" button. This contest lasts for the whole month of November so I need you to vote often. You can vote every two hours. I am already in the lead, but I need those votes to stay there. What if I win? I get my picture on the page and two bags of doggie treats. And how I love those treats. Thanks for your support.

Surprising Genealogical Findings

2009-11-01T07:34:00.012-05:00

As most of you know, I am very into, not obsessed, with genealogy. I have spent quite a bit of time researching both sides of my family. My cousin Fred got me into it first with research he had done on our mother's side, the Mitchell family. Later on my cousin Martha, whom I first met in 1990 at a Berry reunion in Georgia and the first family reunion I had ever attended, got me into researching my dad's side. I was amazed at the complexity of it all.

Many years later and with little progress I received an email from another cousin, Martha, who was a Berry family researcher in Georgia. Georgia is where my family came from. During the depression, our parents traveled north looking for steady work and found it in Manchester, New Hampshire. Manchester was where I and my younger brother were born. My two older brothers had been born in Griffin, Georgia. At the time Martha contacted me, I had no idea from where my Berry ancestors had originated.

Martha mentioned another family reunion in Cullman, Alabama and gave me another cousin, Jo, to contact. I did and both I and my brother made arrangements to attend. While at that reunion, Jo mentioned a reunion near Hillsborough, North Carolina. Hillsborough, it seems, was close to the original home site of a Robert and Elizabeth Berry. These Berry ancestors were thought, at that time, to be the originating ancestors of all our Berry families. She gave me another cousin's name, Ben, to contact there.

We attended the event with Jo and other cousins from Georgia and I heard of a Berry DNA Project that several of our cousins had participated in. I made arrangements immediatley to join this project. I was the third participant from this Berry line. Since then, nine more participants have joined and the results from these findings have drawn together many lines of Berry families to the one Robert and Elizabeth Berry of Orange County, North Carolina.

The DNA method is a finalization step in genealogy. It validates the research one has done. It does not take its place, however. One of the participants of the project came to us as a very big surprise. Most of the children of Robert and Elizabeth Berry migrated south through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and west to Texas. Descendants of one of their children, though, chose to migrate north through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and west. It was from this line our DNA participant claimed to be from. With the research they had available, they could only go back a few generations and were not able to connect with any distant ancestor line. Until the results of the test came in. They matched our Berry family line and it was proven through combined research they were the descendants of Robert and Elizabeth Berry. This participant was born in Moline, Illinois. This was in the direct migration path of these Berry descendants. The big surprise was his name: Ken Berry

Ken, our entire Berry family is proud of you and your accomplishments.

In the next few days I will go into another surprising genealogical find in our family.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2009-10-31T08:22:00.008-04:00

MySpace Graphics hosted by MySpaceAnimations.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Guinness.

2009-10-25T09:28:00.034-04:00

One year ago today our Guinness was born.

"I've never had cake before. Awww...Mommy made a special doggie birthday cake for me.. M-m-m-m"

"I like this birthday thing. When's the next one?"

Then and Now.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUINNESS!!!!!!!!

GOTCHA - Well most of ya.....

2009-10-20T11:35:00.004-04:00

It has been almost thirty days since our last post. The last one and several previous ones were regarding musical abilities. I wanted to see how many of our viewers, and there seems to be quite a few, would catch the peculiarity in the last one. I had seen the "Extraordinary Musical Instrument" earlier this year so I posted it for your pleasure and as a test. Only two of our viewers caught it. This is NOT a musical instrument at all. It is a computer animation. It does seem real, but if one looks very close, it is too real and too perfect. When I saw this myself I believed it was real, but after several viewings I became suspicious and went to Snopes.com and it was listed there with the following comment:

The device depicted in this video does not exist, at the University of Iowa or anywhere else. It's an example of a computer-animated music video, this one entitled "Pipe Dream" and taken from one of several similar segments on a DVD produced by Animusic. An excerpt of the original can be viewed on the Animusic web site.

Hooray for the two who questioned this. I will not reveal their identities, but those who did not question it know who you are.

Computer animation has become a large part of movie making today. Many real-life things can be created that are simply amazing. I have included one here made for a commercial. The actors are real babies, but only pictures of their faces were made and integrated into the animation. Enjoy!

An Extraordinary Musical Instrument

2009-09-23T13:34:00.002-04:00

This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa. Yes, farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see, it was WELL worth the effort. It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

While We are Remodeling...More of the Good Stuff

2009-09-21T20:44:00.002-04:00

Again, there are so many good grass root musical groups. This one is a group of Moms and Dads in the Midwest who are preforming at a local festival. Tell me if they aren't committed to their passion: music.

While I'm on the Subject...Music That is

2009-09-18T08:10:00.004-04:00

There is a lot of musical talent out there, everywhere. The Voca People, from the previous post, are from Israel. Another group, this time from Great Britain, perform in a different way to achieve the same results, just plain great music and entertainment. Listen and watch carefully. Again, enjoy.

Musical Berry Interests

2009-09-16T18:56:00.008-04:00

As many of you know my brother Don and I were raised as musicians. Our Dad loved music and, I guess, we inherited that gene. We are so thankful our parents gave us the opportunity to enjoy that artistic talent. I am sure it played a major part in our success in our later lives. To a point, we still dabble in the musical world. I ran across a group that exemplifies musical talent to the highest. They use their own voices with no other accompaniments. Enjoy this.

Back and Under Pressure

2009-08-23T18:21:00.007-04:00

We got back late Thursday night. Friday was a wash as all three of us were beat from the 14 hour trip. Saturday was putting everything away with hopes we could get it done before anyone called to show the house. No one did. Today was outside work prettying up the yard. Two months played havoc on it. Still did not get everything done so will have to finish tomorrow. No one called. Next will be some work on the inside. All of this brings to mind a song by the famous band Queen. Take a minute and enjoy it.

Almost Time to Go Back

2009-08-14T11:40:00.024-04:00

We have been just cooling our heels since our last post. It has been very hot. The best time to do anything is early in the morning. Mostly we are doing some brush clearing, tidying up the area and some dog training. Once in a while we will venture out for a ride or a day trip but we have kept those to a minimum for the past month and a half.

Early in July and through the latter part of the month we had a rain shower mostly every afternoon. That would cool things down a bit and make the temperatures for sleeping just about right. This picture is a view out of our back window just after a storm. The latter part of July through early this week, however, was very dry and some times the temperature, here on the lot, got up to 107F/41.7C. That made it about 101F/38.3C in the trailer. The heat was probably harder on Guinness than us for he did not understand early on how to cool down. He learned quickly, though, and started to take siestas in the afternoon. At night he would come alive....very alive.

We did take a day trip to Jekyll Island beach, about 2 hours south of here. We traveled there because they allowed dogs on the beach. Our local beach at Tybee Island, 45 minutes away, does not allow pets of any kind at anytime. Guinness had not been to the beach since our outing at Dewey Beach for a Doodle Romp back in late April. At that time he was kind of wary of the water and the sound of the waves. If you look at our last post, he fell in love with the water last month. We have taken him back to the river several times and he has become very comfortable with swimming.

We arrived at Jekyll Island beach early (9 AM) and the water was like glass. No waves to speak of and the water temperature was very warm. We had Guinness on his long leash (50 ft./15m). When we got on the beach he was like a little kid seeing it for the first time. He loved it. Once we settled we went straight to the water. He wasted no time. He went right in frolicking and swimming. We had a ball for him to fetch and that was the game for the rest of the morning. He hated to leave. So did we, but by 1 PM, we had had enough.

In late July, we were able to make contact with a family who adopted one of Guinness' siblings. Her name is Lucy. Lucy's family lives about 2 hours from us in South Carolina and we made plans to go there for a brother/sister reunion. When we arrived, Lucy and Guinness did not seem to recognize each other. We had hoped their would be some sort of recognition, but there was none that we could see. Lucy was the last of nine in the litter and is quite a bit smaller than Guinness. This did not deter her, however, from making sure he knew this was her house and she was the boss. He gave her the space she needed and after a while they seemed to accept each other very well. This was very obvious when we departed for Lucy's mom was holding her as Guinness got in the truck and she seemed quite distressed that he was leaving. All in all it was a very pleasant experience and Lucy's family was exceptionally gracious and hospitable to us. The quintessential southern family.

This coastal region has excellent opportunities for the freshest of seafood. There are many shrimping companies close by and most sell their catch right off the boat. It is typical to get a pound of fresh, live shrimp, of good size, for $2.50-$4.50 per pound. We have taken advantage of that many times. Blue crabs are also abundant here. Joyce, being raised in the Baltimore area, loves here steamed crabs (covered in Old Bay seasoning of course). Over the past few years it has been difficult to find crabs in the Baltimore area that would not empty your savings account. That story is different here. Blue crabs are abundant and inexpensive. We get a dozen of mixed sizes for $10.00. Large males are $15-$18 a dozen. We have had several crab feasts of our own in the past month or so.

Being alone on this land is so peaceful. This is the first chance we have had to be here for any length of time. Prior to this we have not seen any wildlife other than a few birds and an occasional squirrel. There a tons of deer in the area and they remain elusive, although we did see one when we first arrived. Lots of fresh tracks every day, but they come through here at night while we are asleep. A raccoon has raided our trash area so we now hoist all trash into a tree until it is time to dump it. Armadillos are around, but they also come out at night.

Joyce put up a hummingbird feeder and has attracted a gathering of the tiny aviators. They are a hoot to watch. We see several hawks in the area and hear them quite often. Turkey vultures are a very common sight, also. One of our regular visitors is a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers. These are very large birds and are very loud when calling to their mates. They are beautiful. The most exciting visitor was a large Barred Owl. The picture is the best I could get with the camera I had. He sat in the tree and watched us for about an hour. He/she was gorgeous.

Next week we will be heading back to Maryland. Our efforts will be to get the house sold. We will try to do some upgrades, but they will be very limited. It doesn't seem very many homes are selling in our area yet.

Our next big trip is in October when we attend our first Army Security Agency-Philippines reunion. More on that later. The next week will be spent getting ready to pack up and head back. Ugh! We hate this part. Some day soon, though. No more heading back.

Guinness' First Swim

2009-07-17T19:28:00.007-04:00

If you have been following Guinness' progress you might remember his aversion to going into the water. We had hoped he would, early on, be attracted to it due to the Lab in him. He had the retrieving part down real good, but, over the months, continued to dislike going into water. We worked with him over the following months and in late spring he finally started to venture in, but we believe it was still too cold for his liking.

Today we took him to a small recreation park, Morgan's Bridge, on the Ogeechee River, just 4 miles from Berry Oaks. Very convenient. It was quite warm, 97F/31C, and we hoped the lure of the cool river would overcome his fear of it. We put him on a 50 foot/ 15 meter long leash so we would have some control over him, yet, he would also have some sense of freedom. He is getting to like his freedom.

Once we were ready we led him down to the concrete boat ramp and up to the river's edge. I started to walk in and by the time I was up to my knees, to our surprise, he leaped right in and started to frolic around. Wow!!! He loved it. I immediately looked around for a stick to throw (his weakness). Finding one, I threw it in close to the shore and he went straight for it bouncing through the water. He brought it back and dropped it wanting to go again. I obliged him, again and again and again.

After a few minutes, I started to throw the stick out a bit farther and farther. Then it happened. Guinness went after the stick which, by this time, was over his head. He started to swim!!!! Those big webbed paws and his strong tail took over. He was elated. Once he returned he started to jump and became so excited he almost forgot his stick. Almost. From that point on he was like a small child at the beach. You have to drag them out.

His first few tries at retrieving the stick was a bit clumsy. He went under a couple of times, but only for a second or two. I had his leash tight and if there was a hint of trouble, I would haul him in, but no....he, very quickly, became the accomplished swimmer he was born as. And my goodness, can he swim.

We gave him a half a dozen turns of this new found play time ranging 15-20 minutes each making him take a 10 minute break in between. He was insatiable. Finally, we had to call it quits for he was struggling to bring the stick back. Of course, he did not want to quit and just like a small child we just about had to drag him out of the river.

Once he was dried off he sat and watched the other people at the park. He loves to people watch. We packed up and made the 5 minute trip back to Berry Oaks where he immediately, after a washing off and another drying, went to sleep for almost two hours. Talk about whooped. During that time I took the pictures and video that we had taken and put them all together in a short video that I have posted on You Tube (see below). We hope you enjoy it at least a fraction of how we did today. Woo Hoo!!! He's a swimmer.

Independence Day

2009-07-11T09:51:00.016-04:00

To most of us Independence Day is July4, 1776, the day our wonderful country declared its independence from a tyrannical government. Many of us, at one time or another, experience our own personal independence day. This year we were blessed to have our own day followed by our country's Independence Day.

We departed Maryland in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, June 30th. It is a long ride for a straight through drive, but we made it to Savannah around 4 PM. We had a lot to do before we could settle down so we got right to work. First we had to stop by our household storage facility to pick up our 5th wheel hitch. We leave it here so we don't have to store it back in Maryland. Also, it is heavy and makes a big difference in the weight of the truck.

With the hitch on board we headed for the Ft. Stewart campground where we have stayed many times. We quickly checked in and went to our campsite. We dropped off the utility trailer (see previous post), unloaded the truck bed and installed the 5th wheel hitch. We then drove the half mile from the campsite to the 5th wheel trailer's storage area and hooked up.

The last time we had been here was back in early January. We had winterized the trailer so we had to now de-winterize it, unpack the truck and arrange the interior of the trailer. Our intention was to fit-up the trailer and get it ready to move to Berry Oaks, about a 30 mile trip from the campground. We planned on doing this on Friday, July 3rd. By the time we managed to get things a bit organized it was 9 PM. We had been up since 2 AM. We were all tired. We hit the sack without eating dinner. Too tired.

Wednesday was devoted to stocking and organizing the trailer. Thursday was a day of working at Berry Oaks to make sure we could get the trailer up into the property. It took about a half days work to clear some brush, but it looked like it would be pretty easy to get in. Tomorrow would tell if we were right. We returned to the campground and tried to make final preparations then relax a bit, but we were to excited and could barley sleep. All this time, Guinness was going with the flow.

Guinness is a riot. If you remember, his first home away from his mother and siblings was this trailer. He spent his first 5 weeks with us in it. He got very comfortable and made it his new home relatively quick. Then we moved back to Maryland to a big empty, cold house. He made that adjustment, too, in time.

We were curious as to how he would react to the trailer after being away six months. When we set up in the campsite, we let him in and watched. He seemed to immediately remember the trailer and the campground and when he first went back into it after those six months he knew he had been there. After a few minutes he settled right in and found some of his old favorite positions and places. He loves it, still!!!!!

On Friday morning we rose early and went straight to work after a hearty breakfast. Joyce set up the inside for travel while I worked the outside. We made sure the fresh water was topped off since we will not have a fresh water supply at Berry Oaks. Once we were all set we hooked up and went through our towing checklist. After pulling out of the site we headed for the campground dump station to evacuate the waste tanks. Besides not having 1.) fresh water we also do not have 2.) a waste area to evacuate the waste tanks. More about these two points later.

It took about 45 minutes to reach our destination once we were on the road. Berry Oaks is situated on a dirt road about 200 yards from a paved 2 lane road. That paved two lane road intersects with I-95 about 15 miles away. When we arrived at our driveway, Joyce climbed out to guide me in. Entering was fairly simple and we pulled up on the slight hill ready to position the trailer. We had previously surveyed the area and picked the spot where we wanted to land. This was based on several things, most importantly, the ease of situating it.

It took quite a bit longer and with more effort than we had anticipated, however, we were finally successful. I unhooked, leveled the rig and made a basic setup. Joyce would finish up and I would go back to the campground and pick up the utility trailer. Before I could get back to Berry Oaks, though, I had to first go to our household storage facility and pick up a few things.

The storage facility holds many of our useful things for the trailer. There is a 5500 watt generator (no electricity on Berry Oaks although it is wired for it), a portable waste water tank for dumping, several camping items to include water cans and a screen house as well as some other smaller items. Once I had loaded all of this onto the truck and trailer I headed back to Joyce and Guinness. It was now close to 4 PM. and I still had a lot of work to do.

I arrived back at Berry Oaks close to 5 PM., unloaded the generator and other items, then went to work hooking up the generator to the trailer. Did I mention it was 100F/38C? Seems like we are completely wet from the time we get up to the time we go to bed. I finished up what I had to do and called it quits for the evening. Joyce prepared a light meal, we dined, then took it easy for a hour or so before settling in for the night. All the time Guinness was exploring his new home. We did not let him off the long leash yet. Later.

Finally!!!!!! Our Independence Day. We are home and not relying on others to provide for us while we are here. We had been working toward this day for years and it is finally here on July 3, 2009.

We woke the next morning, after a restless sleep, to our Nation's 233rd birthday, July 4, 2009. I started the generator and we made a fantastic breakfast of eggs, scrapple and coffee. We cleaned up, took water saving hot showers and prepared ourselves to work outside to clean up the area and continue our site set-up. It was a long hot day. The temperature peaked at 101F/38.3C. We all three took it very slow and drank lots of water. We did work hard, however, and the heat took its toll. We quit early, made a few drinks and relaxed by just listening to the quiet.

Guinness was affected by the heat more than we were and we had to make sure he did not over exert himself and drink plenty of water. Fortunately, he drinks on command. That was the easier part. Keeping him settled in the heat was not so easy. All he wanted to do was play. We let him off the leash for a few periods of time, but since we could not keep our eyes on him constantly we had intervals of leash time.

We do not let Guinness off the leash hardly ever, especially at our home in Maryland. Just too risky. He knows to stay in our yard, but if sees a neighbor's child ( he loves children) he would rush to them, even across the street. Not a good idea. He is unaware and unafraid of cars. So we keep him leashed.

After another light dinner, we sat out front, listened to the distant fireworks and waited for darkness to fall. The mosquitoes are not as bad as we expected. In the past they would eat us up even with bug spray. This year, even after all the wet weather, they are scarce. Not to say they are not here. We have the bites to prove they are. But we can take it. We are hearty people from hearty ancestors. Guinness is a little wimpy, but he is learning to be a semi-self sufficient woodsy dog. Joyce had six two foot sparklers so she put them out, lit them and we sat in the dark celebrating our independence along with our Nation's birthday. Off to bed.

The next few days consisted of more clearing, cleaning and situating. Oh...plenty of play time with Guinness. We are now letting him off the leash more, but only when we have full sight of him. He loves it off the leash. He can run...run...and run. He loves to explore and smell everything. He now knows this is 'his" place and he makes it known.

Guinness knows how to cool off....

We had started to run the generator every night since there was hardly a breath of a breeze inside at night. That made for very fitful sleep for all of us. The generator allowed us to run a fan and that made things so much better. What wasn't better was it was costing us a fortune to run it that long. It will run 13 hours on 7 gallons of gas. We were running it at least that long during the day and at night. That equated to about $18.00 a day in gas. We could stay at the Ft. Stewart campground for $10.00 a day. Not very cost worthy so we decided to have the electricity turned on. The next day, Wednesday, they turned it on and now we have electricity anytime at a very inexpensive rate. The generator goes back into storage.

Besides having the electricity turned on, Wednesday was dump and fill day. Remember I said we did not have fresh water or any where we could dump our sewage? Well, we have the means, but it takes some effort. We have a 42 gallon portable dump tank that sits in the back of the truck. We connect a sewage macerator to the waste tank outlet, turn it on and it pumps out our waste water to the tank. Nice and neat. Next we load a 45 gallon fresh water bladder onto the utility trailer with two additional 7 gallon water cans. Now off to the local truck stop where they let you dump and fill for free. A 34 mile round trip though. At the truck stop it take less than 5 minutes to dump and clean the waste tank and about 10 minutes to fill the fresh water containers.

When back at Berry Oaks I pull the utility trailer up close and place a fresh water pump in the bladder. This fills the trailer's 50 gallon freshwater tank quickly and empties the bladder and part of one water can. Voila! Done! All the comforts of home.

Well, that's where we are to this point. We intend to work around Berry Oaks a bit, but mainly we want to relax. Maybe do some fishing, hiking, beach time, reading, you know, the things retired people are supposed to do. Look for later updates. I am sure the adventures will continue.

Our Trailer Project

2009-06-25T16:05:00.018-04:00

Most of you know we love camping. We do it all, primitive, traditional, up-scale and RV type (if you can call that camping). We have a small utility trailer that we sometimes use for extended camping trips. It was purchased from a dear Army friend in 1969 and we have had it ever since. In 1989 I refurbished it for the first time. It really needed it by then. Didn't do too much. Painted the frame, new lights and wiring and new wood. Well, it was time again to do a refurbishing job so I made sure I took my time. We wanted something that would stand out a bit.

I started by stripping all the wiring and wood from the frame. I then wire brushed the entire frame, painted it with two coats of primer and then three coats of Rustoleum. Next I replaced all the wiring and added new LED lights. For the wood I used exterior plywood for the deck and pine for the sides. I made the front and back removable for flexibility. All of the wood was stained with exterior "natural" stain for longevity. I repacked the wheel bearings for safety. Once the wood was cured and dried I then, today, put it all together. The pitures below shows the results. Can't wait to do our first camping trip now. Guinness loves it.

" I really need a face lift."

Click on "Play" below to see results.

Flag Day

2009-06-14T18:23:00.009-04:00

Today is Flag Day. Wear it, wave it, display it proudly. It is YOUR Flag.

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-25T14:10:00.005-04:00

Please....take a moment and thank those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us and our country. These individuals, from the conception of our great nation to the present, served our country with honor. And, also, thank those who have served, no matter in what capacity, those that are serving and those that will serve. They are the cornerstone of this great land and we owe every one of them the deepest gratitude and respect.

Guinness' Six-Month Update

2009-05-05T15:02:00.016-04:00

Guinness turned six months old on April 25th and he is doing great. He has done a lot in the past few months and continues to be quite the character. He still has his puppy qualities, but he is slowly growing out of them. During a visit to the vet Monday, he tipped the scales at 45 pounds and stands 24 inches tall (at the shoulders). This is about a big as he will get.

His visit to the vet yesterday was for the inevitable surgery dogs his age go through. OUCH!!!!! He braved the visit and surgery well, but, when home, became very lethargic and in obvious discomfort. He slept well after taking a strong pain pill, but today seems in more discomfort than yesterday. He is sleeping a lot and that seems to comfort him. The next few days will be the worst,

but we are sure he will get through them fine in spite of the cone collar he is wearing.

Over the past month he has attended two Doodle Romps. Doodle Romp??? This is where owners of Doodles bring their dogs together and let them play. It is amazing. The first romp we attended was in the Richmond area and was held in the back yard of a Doodle owner. About 25 Doodles and their owners attended and romped for hours in the warm sun. It was hilarious to watch these dogs run, bark, wrestle and do every thing a group of small children would do. Check out the Richmond Doodle Romp below.

The second romp celebrated Guinness’ 6-month birthday. It was held at Dewey Beach, Delaware, a very dog friendly place. Since the weather was supposed to be great we decided to make it weekend of camping. We set up our camp at Delaware’s Cape Henlopen State Park. This park is a beach environment and everything was sand and pine trees. Very nice, but for the cost ($32/night) it could have been better maintained (mainly in cleanliness). We all had a great time and it seems his wariness of the ocean has disappeared. He loved the waves and the sand. We did notice, however, he did not particularly associate with the other Doodles too much. There was one particular Doodle though he took to right away. It was another Labradoodle. All of the other, near 100 Doodles, were of other mixes, mostly Golden Doodles. After speaking with the owner of this Labradoodle we found this is a trait of the breed. They like to associate with their own breed. Very strange. Regardless, the weekend was awesome and we were exhausted by the time got home Sunday afternoon. Check out the Dewey Beach Doodle Romp below.

We know Guinness loves the outdoors, especially, the woods and open fields. We took him recently to a rails-to-trails park and made a 3-mile trek up and back. This trail is all wooded and is adjacent to a small river. Again, we all had a great time and are looking forward to repeating that adventure. Since we love to ride our mountain bikes, we are looking for a bike trailer so we can all enjoy that experience. More to come on that.

With the weather getting warmer, we intend to make some trips in the convertible. He has taken one small trip in it with the top down and enjoyed it, but we were concerned about the wind in his face. More specifically, the risk of something, like a bug, hitting his eyes. We took care of that. We found a small pet shop in Lewes, Delaware that sells Doggles and we tried them on. He did not mind them and found he could stick his head out the window and enjoy it. What a dog.

Not sure what our next adventure will be, but it will certainly include all three of us. Stay tuned.

Should anyone be interested in a chocolate Labradoodle similar to Guinness, Mountain Creek Doodles just delivered a new litter of Guinness' brothers and sisters yesterday. Check them out on the link on the left side of this page.

2009-04-30T16:31:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to us!!

The Great Philly Cheese Steak Tatse Test

2009-04-14T16:44:00.017-04:00

Last month we were looking for something to do during the week. We wanted a one-day event and did not want to spend big bucks. We talked about it for a while and then remembered something we had seen on TV. That was what we needed to do while we are still here in Maryland.

We often watch the Travel Channel and the Food Network. Both of these have run programs regarding the continuing competitive battle over who has the best cheese steak in Philadelphia. Two cheese steak provisioners in South Philly, Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks, have been battling out for the title of "best cheeses steak" for many years. We decided to take the taste test ourselves.

It was an overcast day and quite chilly, but the excitement of actually doing this taste test made the 2 hour trip well worth it. Guinness loved the city and the excitement on the streets, although, he did not participate in the taste test. No human food in his diet.

The video following is a record of the test:

Polar Plunge

2009-04-03T14:19:00.012-04:00

While we were in Florida over the Christmas holidays, we gave Guinness his first experience with water while we were on an outing to Camp Blanding's Kingsley Lake. He had just turned 2 months old (almost 9 weeks). There were no waves at all on the lake and the water was quite warm. He was very wary to get close to the water, at first, but after a lot of coaxing he did venture in. He seemed quite frightened of it and did not stay very long. Remember,though, he was very young.

The next attempt was two days later at Kathryn Hanna Park in Jacksonville . This was different in that it was the Atlantic Ocean and there was sand and waves. The waves were not big, but they made noise.

He would not even get close to the water this time. The noise of the waves and the water going in and out troubled him. He loved the sand though.

Three days later we took a day trip to Daytona and were able to get onto the beach. The waves were a bit bigger and noisier and his fear of the ocean was more evident. Again, he would not go close to the water. The sand was his only interest. This was very disappointing to us for he is part Labrador Retriever and he is built for the water i.e., very muscular and web feet. But, as mentioned before, he still is a puppy. Time would tell.

This past week we took advantage of a rare warm, sunny day and went to the family park at Aberdeen Proving Ground here in Maryland. The park is located on the upper portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The water is slightly brackish and very clear. This particular day the temperature was hovering in the mid-sixties with a slight breeze blowing keeping the waves to a minimum. Even though the water was still, it was quite cold (about 48F/9C), however, this did not seem to bother the mighty Guinness.

Although there was relatively small amounts of sand, he found what there was and went crazy in it. He then went up to the water and became enthralled with it, however, like before, did not go in. After a few moments, I found him a stick and began playing fetch with him. He loves this game. Playing for a few minutes I then threw the stick into the water far enough from the shore so he would have to go in to retrieve it. He did, warily at first, but each time afterward he did not hesitate. This was a good sign.

Once we returned home, he was drained (as we were) and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. Can't wait to see what his next adventure brings.

Phase Two

2009-04-02T08:52:00.009-04:00

We have been trying to sell our home since 2007. We all know the economy, especially the housing market, is crap. Our retirement plans have been on hold because of our non-ability to unload this place. We chose to "Sell By Owner" due to the higher cost of realtor fees. Now it is time to suck it up and get the H-- out of Dodge.

So who do you turn to first when you have a problem? Family, of course. Our daughter, Christine, is a real estate agent here in Maryland. She gave us a great deal and, last night, we listed it with her and her company, Keller-Williams. Hopefully, this will move the situation along so we can get on with our second life instead of being here in purgatory. We'll keep ya'll updated.

Old Friends

2009-03-14T13:56:00.004-04:00

About 25 years ago, I met Dave and Rocco at work and we quickly became close friends. After retiring several years ago I had not had the opportunity to meet with them and chew the fat, shoot the bull, etc., etc. We have kept in contact though through email, our blogs and the occasional phone call. This past Friday we made the opportunity and met for lunch. We had a great time and I am sure we will get back together soon.

Between us, Dave, Rocco and I have close to 100 years of service to our country. We are proud of that service. We would not have had it any other way.

Then and Now

2009-03-03T17:05:00.004-05:00

There have been several requests to show how Guinness has grown. I found a picture I had taken on December 22, 2008 and compared it with one taken today (March 3, 2009). Seventy days and 24 pounds later(32 pounds now)....and still growing. But not much more. We expect him to be 35-38 pounds.

A Day In The Snow

2009-03-02T16:15:00.004-05:00

A Guinness Update

2009-02-19T17:18:00.009-05:00

Guinness was 16 weeks old on this past Saturday (Feb. 14th). He has been growing like a weed (28 lbs.) and his personality is slowly changing from a puppy to an adolescent. He is constantly showing us how intelligent he is by learning new requested tasks (my termi-nology for tricks) and figuring things out for himself like opening his crate door when it isn't locked and digging through his toy box for that certain favorite toy and then, when he can't find it, thinking about it for a minute and remembering where he put it. Really amazing. He so wants to please and seems put out when he doesn't.

His vet visits, from the start, have gone extremely well. Because we travel so much, he has been to three vets since we adopted him into our family on December 11th. All three vet offices have fallen in love with him (as everyone who meets him does). He has been extremely calm, even with some of the most indigent procedures. Not once, in all of his shots, has he ever whimpered. This has impressed everyone. His fourth vet will be visited next week for his pre-operative exam. This operation will be the one where he loses his ...well ...you know ....OUCH!!!! This will put him in a slow and easy mode for about a week.

As mentioned before, he loves his toys as well as his playtime. We truly hope this is one thing he will never outgrow. His favorite exercise is, what we call, "fetch". I believe he relates to it as retrieving the downed game and bringing it to his hunting partner. He is part retriever, remember? As many times as we can, we will bring him to a small field in back of our home and throw a ball. He runs as fast as he can to retrieve it and runs lickety-split back to us with it. He then drops it in front of us and waits for another throw. This will go on for about 30-45 minutes until one of us get too tired. So far, he gets tired first, but we are very tired also. Another favorite is his bedtime playtime. This is where I get on the floor and play with him like another dog. No toys. Just him and me. I growl and pinch and grab and roll with him, just like a play partner would do. I do this to replicate doggie-on-doggie playtime. He has learned not to bite and to play easy. I did this by "yelping" if he bites and then stopping play for a few seconds. If he gets too rambunctious, I will grab him by the scruff of his neck (gently of course) and shake him a bit and growl in a very low tone. His instincts kick in and he tones down. Never, never have we punished him or hit at him. Dogs do not do that to one another and neither should we. During this playtime, I have had to teach him how to bark and growl. We even howl together. Maybe one night he and I will go out and howl at the moon. Our patience and raising techniques seem to be paying off. Guinness is a loving and gentle dog to everyone, especially us.

Now....he still is a puppy....remember? He still has some biting problems.... well...not really biting, just mouthing and nipping. He has, however, stopped the biting quite a bit. This is very obvious. He still has a mistake every now and then. He has learned to ring the "Potty Bell" when he needs to go out, but when he gets too excited, he forgets and "dribbles" before he can get to the bell. No problem. From day one, he has been better than we expected with his house breaking. He is still afraid of the dark, somewhat. We are trying to reassure him of this phobia. Lastly his biggest problem is separation anxiety. This is our fault. We did not leave him alone enough early on. We are working on that.

Our favorite trait is his sleeping habit. Every night around 9 PM, like clockwork, he will get up from where ever he is and go to the bedroom door. If the door is closed, which it usually is, he will return to wherever we are, lie down and go to sleep. After a few minutes one of us will ask him, " Want to go night-night?" He then gets up and follows us to the bedroom where his soft crate is, gets in, plops down with a slight groan and goes right to sleep. The next morning around 6 AM, again like clockwork, he will start to wake up. It takes him a while to wake up and he really doesn't start to get active until after 9 AM. Not a morning dog. Neither are we. Fits right in.

All-in-all, Guinness is doing great and has brought a new light into our lives. We understand he is a dog and treat him that way. We do our best to give him the direction a dog needs. In return, he gives us the unconditional love that he is most capable of. A perfect match. Some trials and tribulations, but absolutely no regrets. Ever.

Busy Weekend

2009-02-16T18:16:00.006-05:00

This was a weekend of many events. Most notably, it was Valentine's Day on Saturday. Besides it being Valentine's Day, it was also Joyce's birthday. It was an open house weekend for us. It was the weekend that heralded the opening of the NASCAR season with the Daytona 500 on Sunday. And our youngest daughter, Veronica visited us.

The weekend started out not-so-good with Joyce very ill with some sort of a stomach bug on Saturday. Happy birthday, Honey!! We canceled the open house for that day. Veronica came in during the afternoon and we steamed some shrimp for dinner. She brought her dog, Gizmo, and he and Guinness visited. Gizmo is not a puppy and was not in the mood to do puppy things like Guinness wanted to do. Guinness learned real quick to give Gizmo his space. He did real well.

On Sunday we set up for the open house and Veronica headed back home. No visitors on the open house, the Daytona 500 was cut short by rain (Matt Kenseth won it), and we were exhausted...all three of us.

North to...not Alaska...Massachusetts

2009-02-13T14:27:00.022-05:00

Our first away time since we returned from Georgia this past Sunday through Wednesday. We decided, on a whim, to run up to Massachusetts to visit our daughter and her family. We left Sunday morning and visited my Army buddy, Jeff, in New York. Jeff and I go way back to this month in 1968 when he arrived in the
Philippines and became my roommate for almost two years. We have been great friends ever since.

Monday morning we continued our trek to Massachusetts and arrived at Heather's home mid-morning. What a warm welcome. The biggest event was her dog, Bear, a two year old Golden Retriever, and Guinness. They were both extremely excited about each other and hit it off tremendously. The only down-side to the trip was Guinness had developed car sickness and we had to stop several times both Sunday and Monday to clean up. Hope he grows out of that.

Heather arranged a casual dinner that evening and both of our grandchildren were there as well as our great granddaughter. To make things more homey, our newly found niece and her children attended, also. What a grand time. We are so blessed.

Guinness and Bear were awesome with their socializing. It took a day, but by the time we left Wednesday, they were playing and acting like they were life long puppy mates. Guinness whined when we left. He missed Bear.

Even though the trip was short, we had a great time and were saddened when we departed.

I'm a Woodsy Sorta Dog....

2009-01-22T16:37:00.003-05:00

Labradoodle? Don't Even Think About It.........

2009-01-20T16:07:00.007-05:00

I was a twinkle in Mommy's and Daddy's eye way before "they" thought of getting one.

Sadly, Heading Back to Maryland

2009-01-05T17:06:00.005-05:00

We are headed back to Maryland tomorrow. We are all very sad. The past two weeks have just flown by. I will catch up on the posts when we get back. Sigh!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T13:38:00.009-05:00

First Big Outing

2008-12-22T17:55:00.007-05:00

The weather here in Jacksonville has been awesome. It has been in the mid-to-upper 70s since we arrived last Friday. Today was a cold spell with a high in the 50s. Tomorrow in the 60s then the rest of the week in the 70s again. We can handle that.

With a clear, crisp day we decided to take an outing to Jacksonville Landing (click here). This was Guinness' first big outing. We were interesting in seeing how he would react to the new sights, sounds and, generally, another new environment. And, boy, was it different.

It being Monday, and with traffic very light due to holiday vacations, there were very few people downtown and on the Landing. We parked close by and packed Guinness into his carrier with a blanket to keep him warm. He doesn't take to the cold very well, yet. We don't blame him.

The Landing's boardwalk goes along the the St. Johns River and has many attractions along the way. Lots of office building contribute to the people out around lunch time. Guinness wanted to greet everyone who came along and most who came along wanted to greet Guinness, too. They cooed over him and thought he was so adorable.

His first experience was with a half dozen seagulls sitting on the river railing waiting for handouts. They were quite used to humans and did not fly away as most do. Guinness was entranced by these big birds. Within a minute or so, several dozen pigeons showed up on the railing to vie for any handouts. This really amazed Guinness. All was well until something spooked the pigeons and they all flew of at once followed by the gulls. Scared the beejeezus out of Guinness, but he watch them till they were out of sight.

The rest of the outing was all sniffing, watching, and a bit of whining. He was obviously overwhelmed and we decide to cut the walk short. Not too much all at once. He slept all the way back to the trailer and then some afterward. More adventures to come.

Jacksonville is a beautiful city in the downtown area. We were pleasantly surprised with the ease that we could get around. It is a very clean city, but of course, we have not seen the whole area yet.

Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS JAX) is the Navy's largest air station. It is a hub-bub of activity and is organized very well. Lots of excitement with today's announcement that an aircraft carrier may be home ported at Mayport Navy Base on the other side of Jacksonville. All of the carrier's aircraft will be housed at NAS JAX.

Tonight an the next few days, until after Christmas, will be low-keyed for us. After that, we will take day trips and see some friends who live close by. Hope everyone has their Christmas shopping done. We already have our little present.

Gilligan's Island Redux

2008-12-19T18:45:00.003-05:00

The S.S.Minnow went on a three hour tour and ended up doing three years on TV. Our trip to Jacksonville was only a 2 1/2 hour tour and it wore us out for the next day or two. Nothing exceptional, just the lack of sleep, the holiday traffic on the "Highway of Death" (I-95) and setting up again. We both need some sleep.

A Week of Interesting Adventures

2008-12-18T17:33:00.012-05:00

It has been a week since our last post. Wow! A whole week. Seems like only several days. I must say this past week has been very... well... interesting. Most of our time is consumed with Guinness. Most of our time? Should I say 24/7? We have decided that having a puppy like Guinness, a very smart puppy, is like having a newborn baby. A new born baby, however, wears diapers. I guess we could put him in diapers, but we see that as a cop out.

He sleeps well and, from day one, through the night with only one outing per evening. No accidents there, yet. His house breaking is progressing. He is not there, but better each day. He has picked up the "sit" command very well and the "no" exceptionally well. His play time is a ball for both of us. We sit for hours watching his antics. He is such a comic. We are truly blessed with Guinness. He has filled an empty spot in our lives and his unconditional dependency on us makes us both realize we still have something to give in these later years.

He is definitely going to be an outside type of dog. He loves it in the woods and he is great on his leash, even when squirrels are around. He is getting very used to the truck and looks as if he will love traveling. That was one of our concerns since we are always on the go. And did I mention he has grown a bunch just in this past week? His little harness is already tight and we had to let it out. This past week has been very interesting.

Besides tomorrow being a new day it is going to be a new environment. Schedule calls for us to be up early, pack up, hook up and travel to the Jacksonville Naval Air Station RV Park in Florida. That will be our home for the next two weeks. It will be a test for Guinness. New everything except his home on wheels.

It has been an excellent time to introduce him to things. Here at Ft. Stewart the 3rd Infantry Division was having their annual Brigade Competitions. This pits the Division's three brigades against each other in what the do best. Shoot. Shoot all kinds of things to include BIG cannons. Oh! The ranges are only a few miles from us. So....lots of big noises. He got used to them real quick. When one of the cannon volleys go off in the middle of the night....not a budge. He ignores all the small arms firing. Such a trooper.

Weather has been great. The past few days have been close to 80F/26C. Looks like it will be that way fro the next 3-4 days then a cold spell.....down in the 60s. Na-a-a-y-y-y. Gonna hate to go back north again.

Hope all is well with everyone. We are doing fine. Hopefully, I will update a bit more frequently from this point on. Tally Ho!!!

Guinness is Home!!!!!!!

2008-12-11T20:13:00.006-05:00

Yep, home safe and sound. We departed for Simpsonville, SC this morning at 6 AM to pick up Guinness. Simpsonville is the home of Mountain Creek Doodles. We stopped a few places to do a bit of shopping before we arrived at Mountain Creek, but we were on time for our scheduled 12 PM pick up. After spending some time with Robyn, Tom and Guinness' Mom, Lucy, we headed out in a terrific downpour. Made no difference. Guinness was with us.

The trip back took almost 6 hours. The rain stayed with us all the way although not as bad as the first couple of hours. As we were passing through Clinton, SC, we heard on the radio there was a tornado on the ground a mile or so from us. We were on I-26 heading east and the rain was so hard most people were pulling off the road. Even the truckers. I have been through some heavy rain while driving over the years, but this had to be one of the worst. It kinda let up after we passed Columbia and continued as light rain the rest of the way. Something to remember the day by.

This puppy is awesome. We have a doggy booster seat between us and he spent half of the trip in the seat and the other half in Joyce's lap. About two hours into the trip he lost his fear and became very curious of the surroundings. He started watching the trucks and cars passing by.

We stopped several times and each time, once he was placed on the ground, he did his potty and was ready to get back in the truck. What a trooper and traveler. He is going to do well.

When we got back to the trailer, Joyce gave him some water and dinner. Potty again. Man these little cuties go often. Just as I remembered my kids doing.

There has been lots of play time and several naps. We are about to wake him again and walk him a bit for his last nightly excursion before bed. We put him in a small harness and he has already adapted very well to a leash. I am sure he will be up tonight and we have prepared ourselves for that. We intend to take him out every 3 hours or so. Now the training begins. We are so happy.

Tomorrow's the Day

2008-12-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

When we arrived here in Savannah, we had several things we had to accomplish before we could pick up Guinness. We were able to do everything in several days and that left the rest of the week open. We called Mountain Creek Doodles to see if we could pick up Guinness before Saturday. They are a busy family with 17 puppies to look after, not to mention two young children in school. We just received a call from them (8:45PM) and they asked if we could be there at noon tomorrow, Dec 11th. Think we'll sleep much tonight?

It is a four and a half hour drive to Greenville, SC from here so we want to be on the road by 6 AM. Not a problem. Calling for stormy weather tonight and tomorrow, but who cares. We're going to take lots of pictures of the event so look for them soon. Whooo Hooooo!!!!!!!

Honey...We're Home

2008-12-08T15:40:00.004-05:00

Seems that way anyhow. We started out for Georgia yesterday at 4:30 AM and arrived at the Ft. Stewart RV park at 4:15 PM. Traffic was light and the weather clear and cold. We had to stop at our storage facility to pick up our 5th wheel hitch and a few other items and then to the RV storage to hook up. The RV storage is adjacent to the RV park. Once we hooked up we went to our assigned pad which was directly across from the pad we had this past summer. You remember, the one with all the rattlesnakes. Also, the one that had the over-hanging tree that destroyed our awning. Well, the curse of Pad #3 still haunts us.

Our assigned Pad #2 is very hard to get into because the way the "engineers", gimme a break, designed it. To get in, you first have to pull part way into Pad #3, remember the rattlesnakes, and then back in. Well....no problem. Pad #3 was empty so we pulled part way in and lined up. Whoops!!! Big problem. Since we left last August, the "engineers", gimme a break, put in new electric pedestals. A big improvement over the electric boxes that were laying on the ground. These pedestals accommodate electric, water, telephone and cable TV. But, the only thing they hooked up was the electric. They left the water spigot laying on the ground.This is a "government" installation, remember?

You getting the picture yet? Water spigot on the ground. Me into the site trying to back a 34 foot trailer into a pad that is designed for a 12 foot pop-up? And it is almost dark? You got it. Ran over the spigot and broke it off. Water, water everywhere and not a drop for anyone occupying pad #3.

I finally got the trailer onto our pad and went to the camp host to explain the situation. Thank God he was reasonable and sympathetic. In fact, he called the Ft. Stewart plumbers and they came out to shut off the water on the pad. All it cost was the campground without water for 30 minutes and a red face. No eggs were thrown. Today, they came back to put another spigot in. On the new pedestal???? Gimme a break. That job is for someone else. The curse of Pad #3 goes on.

We spent today setting up and calming down from the previous day. Twelve hours on the "Highway of Death"(seen that analogy before?) and the events that followed wore us out. The next few days will be trying to relax, getting things ready for Guinness and generally enjoying the Christmas season. More to come.......

2008-12-04T05:18:00.002-05:00

Nine days and counting.

Another Puppy Video

2008-12-02T12:26:00.006-05:00

Mountain Creek has placed another video on their web site. It is so wild. Guinness is in there somewhere.

2008-11-30T16:29:00.011-05:00

It has been rainy and cold all day. Was a good day to kick back. Veronica and Brandon left early this morning and we just relaxed after that. They wore us out. Guess we are not as spry as we once were. Oh, well.

We spent yesterday morning at the Anne Arundel Youth Football Associations' 2008 Championships. Why you ask? Well, one of our grandsons, Shane, was playing in one of the championship playoff games. He plays in the 80 Pound League and is an offensive tackle. These kids were awesome. The parents were going wild. Closing my eyes, I could see ourselves at a high school or college football game. And to top it all off, they played at the U.S. Naval Academy Stadium in Annapolis. It was a clear, crisp day and the excitement was everywhere. Quite the event. They lost though. But they played one heck of a game to try and beat their opponents. As they grow older and if they keep up their training, they will be awesome in high school and college. What was more amazing was how their coaches talked to them. I can see why they are a championship team. Great kids and terrific coaches.

We now have a match to the name Guinness and a puppy. This is a picture of him at 4 weeks old. He was 5 weeks old yesterday. We made the decision today and, at present, we pick him up at 11 AM on December 13th. The excitement mounts.

2008-11-28T07:57:00.007-05:00

Today marks the official beginning of this years Christmas Season. OK, call me politically incorrect, insensitive, whatever, but I refuse to use the term Holiday Season. To me it has, and will always be, the Christmas Season. Since today is Black Friday(click here to see the origin of the term), and we live near a large shopping mall, we will make sure we stay off the main roads today. Hopefully, we will have no need to go out at all.

Our Thanksgiving, yesterday, was very quiet for the two of us. We spent the morning preparing the turkey breast and other fixin's, ate an early meal, then relaxed with some reading, soothing music, some internet research and James Bond movies. Today and the rest of the weekend, however, will be a bit livelier when Veronica and Brandon show up this afternoon. Just gonna hang out and do some cooking.

Our excitement, being generated by the upcoming arrival of Guinness, has brightened up our Christmas spirit quite a bit. He will be five weeks old tomorrow and we will take him home with us two weeks from that. Our house looks like a pet store with all the toys, wire and travel kennels, and other puppy items about. We have also been watching every episode of Victoria Stillwell's It's Me or the Dog airing on the Animal Planet channel. This woman is amazing with her knowledge of training dogs. We'll make sure we post how Guinness' training proceeds. Did I mention we are excited?

We are making final preparations for our annual trip south next week. Most items have been gathered. Just need to wash and prepare the truck, load it and hit the road. Not going to be a camping trip like Maine/Canada was. It will be more comfortable this time. We'll pick up the fifth wheel where it is stored in Georgia, stay there for two weeks, head to Jacksonville for two weeks, back to Georgia for a few days, then back to Maryland. That is always the hardest part. Maybe we can get there permanently by next spring.

2008-11-26T11:48:00.000-05:00