The Trip to Alaska Continues on Saturday

We came to the Sacramento area this particular time of the year to enjoy birthdays with my mom and dad.  Mom had her birthday on Monday, but we celebrated on Sunday…and although I had my camera out and even inside my sister’s house, I failed to take even one picture of the event.

I picked the above picture because it reminds me of my first dog, a family dog while the five of us grew up in Sacramento.  Her name was Snooper, but we also called her Snoopy.  A Terrier/Chihuahua mix, she was a smart dog.  Mom would send her down the hall to “wake up the kids” each school day, and she would run into each room barking, licking faces, and getting us up.  She hated people in uniforms…going after the mailman each day, the garbage men, the meter readers, and even my brother in his Army uniform until she realized who it was.  I don’t have a picture of her, but this picture to the right from the Internet gives you an idea of what she looked like.  So why the picture of the dog eating cake?  Because one Christmas Eve, mom had a freshly baked Pineapple Upside-Down Cake sitting on the dinner table, which was half gone when we got home.  Snoopy had jumped up into a chair, onto the table, and had eaten a good portion of the cake.

    

Of course, that was then…this is now.  Two dogs, Bubba and Skruffy.  They get their “Arny” treat in the morning around 7 am, and their “Sandy” treat in the afternoon around 4 pm (when she gets home). 

And of course, there is the “night night” treat each evening when normally Arny, but sometimes Sandy, gives them their nightly treat… 

…a small amount of Vanilla Ice Cream.  Then there are those family meals… where things mysteriously fall onto the floor, or a hand goes under the table.  Yep, they are spoiled little dogs when we visit Sacramento.  Took Bubba to the Vet today due to an ear infection, and the had gained 2-3 ounces...vet said he is the perfect weight.  Skruffy, well if we weighed her, she would still be over weight, but she has lost some of her back side due to the chasing of the squirrels.

The plan was for Marcia and I to take mom and dad out to lunch on her birthday on Monday, but unfortunately that “health bug” got to her, and we needed to postpone it.  Ever since she has been on her new medication for the Breast Cancer treatment, every so often she wakes up and just feels like Skata for a day or two.  Thank goodness it was only for a day this time, and since Arny had dinner planned for Tuesday for all of us (Fish Tacos by Arny, Lemon Shrimp by Marcia), we waited until today (Wednesday) to take mom out for her lunch.

   

Those who have been to one before know by the cell phone picture above just where she wanted to go for lunch…to the Spaghetti Factory, in Roseville.  The first Spaghetti Factory was opened in Portland Oregon in 1969.  Sacramento has had a Spaghetti Factory since the mid 1970’s, and I have been to Spaghetti Factory’s in at least three different states now.  Some are in old Railroad Stations, and I like these ones the best.  The one in Roseville is not an old station, but they still decorate it with a railroad motif.  Spaghetti all around excpet for me, I had Lasagna.  Marcia ordered a large order of Fresh Broccoli, which is lightly flavored with Mizithra Cheese, which she is “reaching for” in the above picture.  We came home with some of the Broccoli, a 5 oz container of the Cheese, and Marcia is so appreciative of Aunt Florence for turning her on to the Broccoli at Spaghetti Factory.

We leave on Saturday from Citrus Heights, headed to see my daughter Stephanie in Utah for a couple of days, then up to the Tetons, and over to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. By mid-May we hope to be in the Jasper / Banff area in Canada, and by June 1st, on the Alaska Highway headed north.