Sniff Sniff, Cough Cough, general update

   

We have all been there before … head is stuffed up and your mind is foggy, your ears feel like they are going burst, throat is sore, the cough, the sneeze, the sweating, the hot feeling, the cold feeling.   Started hitting me Tuesday and by Tuesday night I was down and out.  The waves of feeling good followed by feeling bad, followed by feeling good … you wonder if you are ocean beach with so many high and low tides.  Friday night is the first night without medicine, and things are calming down, but then a large wave hits and, well, we have all been there before.

Remember the sinkhole swallowing the car about 8 weeks ago? (800 feet from our front door, by-the-way).  Well, she was able to move back into her house this past week…..AND….

...Hyundai of New Port Richey replaced her car for her as a "gift" for all the "national publicity" that Hyundai got when her old Hyundai was pulled out of the hole.   Well, that’s not what they said, but I am sure that Hyundai Inc. chipped in on this too.  She sure was a happy, happy lady…out of the motel room and back home with a new car to boot.  Where did she park it?  In the exact place her old one was parked.  Oh, and he County is going to start work on the sewer project again starting Monday …. they promise not to pump as much water out this time .... and they still don't agree that the work and massive pumping of water had anything to do with the sinkholes.

Before I got sick I did have a chance to use the new camera a little bit.  Here is a picture of the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs, no photoshop enhancements at all.  Below is a close up of the boat and birds in the center of the picture with minor photoshop to adjust the brightness, and no tripod used either.

Yep, going to like this new camera a lot.  You might also notice the new header picture which is similar to this view, but it is a panoramic view of the area using the panoramic feature.  I really like this camera!

Here is a shot of the motorhome with the solar panel sitting inside the windshield.  It is enough to keep the batteries charged, as long as I don’t have lights on all night like I did a week ago.  Had picked up Bubba and took him there to give him his topical flea, tick & heart-worm medicine and then let it dry before I took him back.  I accidentally left the bathroom lights on …. the only lights that are not LED or florescent …. and there are four or five bulbs.  Well, I caught it early, but the battery did fall below 50% for around 24 hours.  Ran the generator for a few hours and got it back up to near 100%, checked it twice since then and all is fine.

Last Sunday night I took Skruffy to an area she like to frequent not too far from where we live and we saw this terrible situation going on.  Found out there was a wreck with a fatality on the nightly news, which turned into an even more tragic news on Monday morning.  First, there was a DUI wreck, the intoxicated driver was driving the wrong way along Highway 19 causing a three car wreck, the emergency vehicles responded.  As they were cleaning it up, a motorcyclist got into a wreck going the other way on the other side of the highway.  The wife of the tow truck driver, who was riding with him, got out to help the motorcyclist and walked right into the path of a SUV as she was crossing highway 19, and she was the fatality.  We did not hang around very long, and I “think” this picture was taken after the lady was hit crossing highway 19.

   

Friday night we had some good clouds for sunsets…I just wasn’t up to going out to where the view would be better …. just glad I was feeling good enough at that moment to go out and get what I got.

Skruffy’s New Trick (only trick?)

For those who have seen Skruffy eat her treats, which for the viewing audience out there in Blogland means “family members”, they know how fast and eagerly Skruffy eats her treats.  I think it is part of her “survivor instincts” with her being a “rescue dog”.  I can only imagine how hungry she got out there in the construction company yard where she ultimately was “saved from”.  

Here is an aerial of the construction yard with the numerous large trucks and tractors to “hide” under.  When I talked to them the day they caught her, after a few weeks of very wet, very stormy October weather, she just “jumped right up and into” workers pickup truck as he was ready to go home.  Thank goodness this worker was one who knew that the “lady at the library would find the dog a home”, and I am lucky that this same lady had picked me as the new owner.   Anyway, these construction men and women gave Skruffy her name…..I gave her the unique spelling of her name.  And if you know the story, “SHE” picked me just as much as I picked her.

So her new trick is this.  I lay out four pieces of her Beggin’ Strips out on the arm of the couch right next to the chair I sit at much of the day when I am on the computer (which is much of the day).  As you can see in the very first picture above, she will look at me, or look up (with her eyes on me) until I say, “OK!”, and she gets the first treat…backs off and eats it.  Now this is the part which those who know her won’t believe…that she actually “backs off” and “eats”, not her normal “one bite swallow and go after the next one” behavior.

   

Then she will patiently wait, most of the time, until I say, “OK!” again, and she gets the next one.  Now I have tried talking to Marcia during this time period and use the word “ok” in the conversation…..like, “Ok, what are we going to do today?”  She won’t move.  I have looked at Skruffy and said, “It’s ok baby girl.”, and she won’t budge.   “I have made a loud breath sound, and she will move her head until she realizes that I did not say, “OK!” and stops.   I have teased her a bit too much where I have to tell her a few times “OK!” before she will get the next one.

   

Here you can see that she is actually chewing her food, and when I said “OK!”, she got the next one.

   

Here you can see her normal, upright, watching me with her eagle eye awaiting my “OK!” before she leaps upon the final piece.

I was so proud of her, until this morning when she just couldn’t help herself…..as soon as I removed my hand putting the fourth one out she grabbed it and went right down the line until she had them all!   Well, I’d say her batting average is running around the low 800’s, which is way good enough to keep her on my team!