./` Moving to the Country.... ./`

...gonna do a lotta campin'!

I'm sitting at the kitchen table and Diesel keeps bumping my leg with his nose.  Bump.  Bump  Bumpbump.  He's still wearing his camping collar from this past weekend... I can't help but wonder if the bumps are his way of saying: Let's go! Let's go! Let'sgo-let'sgo-let'sgo camping again!

Ok, so it's really me saying, Let's go!  But I can't help it - we have just too much fun when we go out to the Country.

Saturday morning started off right - with a big breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage, eggs and toast.  I 'cheated' this time an brought along my toaster from home - we learned last time we were up here with Dad and Bunny, that the oven in their camper does *not* do toast very well.  And with four of us (and two more coming) I knew I'd want an easier way to cook.  Diesel enjoyed a little treat from Grandma - as soon as we go there, she handed him a big rawhide bone... I think he was pretty much in Heaven after that!

nom nom nom

Two of Bunny and Dad's long time friends, B&G,  planned to come down this weekend as well.  They arrived late morning on Saturday and set up the Tent-mahal.  No kidding, you could be 6'5" and stand up without hitting your head in this tent (I should've taken a picture.)  They also brought along Churchill and Ivan - two very adorable, and grumpy, English bulldogs.

From left to right: B, G, Ivan, and Churchill

We were curious how Diesel would react to having two other unknown dogs around, but we soon realized we had no reason to worry - he did exceptionally well.  I'm not sure we've ever heard him so vocal, though - he was talking all kinds of smack to Churchill when he would get too close to Bunny.  Kinda neat to see the protective side of Diesel for his extended pack.  And of course, when Churchill decided he wanted to commandeer Diesel's Grandma-given bone....

The weather was absolutely beautiful.  Perfect for hanging up my new hammock and enjoying a lazy afternoon.  In fact, I think we all enjoyed that hammock.

Did I do that?

So, I mentioned our two visiting bulldog boys were grumpy.  And that might have been an understatement.  Ivan was not at all happy to be outside, out of the A/C, with the bugs, in the warmth, with Churchill... so he pretty much growled the entire evening.  And there were a few times that he and Churchill would go at each other (Diesel, of course, circling around the fight, whining, not sure what to do but certain he didn't want to get in the middle of it)  Each time D and G would break up the scuffle, take their respective dog, and things would calm back down.  Unfortunately, the last tussle of the evening did something to damage Ivan's back leg - he refused to walk afterward.  D&G packed up and left early Sunday morning (before any of the rest of us woke up) to take Ivan back home.  We were sad the trip ended that way for them.

The rest of Sunday was again, absolutely beautiful.  RDB and I packed up very lazily over the course of the morning, and he and Diesel took off for home shortly thereafter.  I  had the good fortune of having Monday meetings in Tyler, so I got to stay behind and spend a bit more time with Dad and Bunny.  It's not often that I get uninterrupted one-on-one time with Dad, so I was thrilled to be able to sit at the picnic table and just chat.  All to soon, though, they were packing up too, and I was heading to my home-tel for the night.

It won't be long till we're back camping again, Diesel.  In fact, we're going out again in just 3 more days.  One last quick photo, speaking of Diesel-- ever seen a dog do this?

Yep, that's our random Dobie.

For more camping photos, go here.

A Bunch of Firsts

We went out to the Country this past weekend.  Once again, it's awesome to head out where we have the place to ourselves (with Dad and Bunny of course).  Even though we've been there before - and will again twice more before summer - we had a bunch of firsts:

First flowers of Spring.

 

First time letting Diesel run free, off leash. Oh, he loooved it!

Ruuuun, Diesel, Ruuun!

First time Diesel met barbed-wire (in the dark unfortunately, we got there late at night, he had no clue - and he came running back to us immediately.)  I was very grateful for my doggie first aid kit and that he only got cuts on his nose and back.

First time taking Clyde the Big Truck out with our camper. Also, first time I drove the Big Truck.

 

That camper looks so tiny!

First time I drove the Big Truck, and got it stuck in the mud.  But I come by it honestly - from what Bunny says, it's a family tradition: Papa's gotten his truck stuck out here, Uncle Roy's gotten his truck stuck.. So has Dad.  And now me.  Huh.

 

Yep.  That's stuck.

First time our camper has been towed by a tractor.... that also rescued the truck from the mud.

Wow, look at those ruts....

 

Regardless of all those firsts, we had bunches of fun.  Diesel was all over every stick and pine cone that he could chew on, and it was a wonderful trip - even with the rain that caused the mud that got me stuck.  Yeah, the rain - I blame it on the rain.  :-)

For more camping photos, go here.

./` Over the River and Through the Woods ./`

OK, so not really Grandma's house ('cause, um, we have no kids yet) but it certainly felt like we were traveling out that far to get to M.o.M and Dad's property in East Texas this weekend.... I mean really, we missed the entrance gate to the property twice and Dad had to come escort us in on the tractor.

What? You thought I was joking?

It was a nice change from camping out in State Parks.  It was just RDB, Diesel, me and the 'Rents.  Dad has a travel trailer down there as a permentant home-away-from-home when he and M.o.M. (My Other Mother) go down to "The Country." 

"You see, the problem is..."

We weren't down there five minutes before Dad was 'fixing' stuff on our camper.  Since we got it, one of the back stabilizers has been half hanging off of it.  I figured it was a fix that ws going to require some welding (so RDB borrowed CJ's mini welder) but we just hadn't gotten around to it yet.  Dad crawled right underneathe as we were setting up and said, "Hey, it's just out of it's track - got a hammer?"  One hammer and two screwdrivers later (my srewdriver wasn't 'big enough') he and RDB had it back on track.  Lesson: Don't put stuff off - sometimes it's easier than you think.

I think one of the greatest things about being on private property is that you can get a bit of firearms practice in without having to pay range fees and the like.  I had bought RDB a .12 gauge shotgun for Christmas and he hadn't had the chance to fire it yet (living in H-town kinda limits where you can go shoot an empty oil can or watermelon, ya know).  Dad loved being able to show off one of his newest aquisitions - a .22 rifle.  I took 2 shots off the shotgun before I called it quits on that one - it has some kick! The .22 was much more my style.




Not a happy camper - Diesel hid under the camper
during most of our range practice. 

RDB lines up a shot while Dad looks on.
We were taking aim at an old oil container.



 

We were only down for Saturday night - it's about a 4 hour drive to get there - but it was worth it for the calm and quiet.  The stars at night, they were big and bright! (*clap*clap*clap*clap* Deeep in the he-aart of Texas!) Really though, with no ambient light or other campers and their tacky-lights on, it was beautiful and dark.  I think both RDB and I were wishing it wasn't so far away, we'd head out there every other weekend if it were closer.

Early morning is my favorite time.  Diesel's too.

For more camping photos, go here.