The world lost a great teacher yesterday. His name was Odie. Odie was a miniature Poodle, small in stature, but a giant in wisdom, philosophy and love.

I was his student for over twelve years.

Many of his lessons were about  Staying in the Moment. If you lose your hold on the moment, take a nap.

How things are communicated can be more important than what is said. For instance, never bite when a growl will suffice. Listen more, bark less. Wag your tail often.

Greet your friends joyfully.

Practice obedience when it is in your best interest. Occasionally break the rules.

Time for a long nap, my friend. We'll miss you.

Many thanks.

.

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Odie the Night Owl

Too bad that Odie is 12 years old and fixed … he got an opportunity to sow some wild oats last night.

We took a drive to the drug store and the Dairy Queen (gotta keep our figures up :-) and got home about 8 I think.  As is customary, when we get home and open the door, Odie jumps up and runs out to greet us.  That’s one thing I so love about our RV … open the door and a doggie pops out!

He’s usually right at our heels as we climb up the steps and enter the RV.  We just assumed he was.  At 1:30 in the morning, when I got up with something on my mind that I need to work out at the computer,  I heard a sound that I thought was Odie.  When I looked for him, he wasn’t there.  I heard the sound again, and again I couldn’t find Odie.  I finally opened the door … and a doggie popped IN!  OMG – we left him outside half the night!  He’s so quiet!  You’d think he would have barked to get in at some point in time. 

hmmm – or maybe he was having too much fun?  He’s not talking.

Kayaks get Wet!

And so do we.  And so does Odie!

 

We traveled into upstate New York .. started seeing hills!

 

We had reservations at Schroon River park.  It’s a good thing.  This place is full.  It’s crowded, but it’s pretty with lots of trees.  Here’s our site:

 

 

We woke up to a gorgeous day today .. so we asked about arrangements for paddling on the river.  What service!  Someone in the park drove us in our car to the put-in spot, then drove our car back to the campground.  So we got to float/paddle for about 3 hours and end up back home with our car waiting for us.

 

 

Lots of water in this river.  And, there was even some whitewater.  Odie had a few adventures…

 

 

But we always got him back!  That yellow life vest has a handy handle on the back.

 

To all our Doggie friends

This one was just too good not to share! To all our doggie friends living with us fuddy-duddy RVers who stay south all winter long. We're sorry you get deprived of all the fun that snow provides! I try to imagine Odie in this deep snow ... he'd be lost and gone! Actually - I think he'd stick very close to our ankles. He's only seen snow once and didn't much care for it. Not like this dog!

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Ho Hum, Florida

No, I'm not saying that it's boring to be back in Florida. We quite like the place! We're parked at Ho Hum RV park in Carabelle, Florida on the gulf coast. Right *on* the gulf coast!

When we ran into our friends Bob and Polly in Arizona - they told us they planned to do some workcamping next winter at a park called Ho Hum near Pensacola. As we were checking out the map of our route from Alabama - we said 'Let's get away from our old wheel ruts on I-10 and take the scenic route this time ... and, look! We could stay at Ho Hum and see what Bob and Polly are going to be doing next winter.' We splurged the $27 to park with our front windshield looking out over the beach. And, Odie just goes berserk running on the sand!

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'Taking the scenic route' ain't all it's cracked up to be though. Yes it was pretty, but it took us about twice the amount of time as the Interstate, and it was a lot more stressful. So nice to be seeing water again ... after 6 months in the desert! If I put the following picture into a blog post in November and told you we were in Montana ... I'll bet you'd believe it was snow?! These are the famous white, sugar-sand beaches of the Florida gulf coast. Lots more photos on our Picasa Web Album. You can click on any picture above to get there.

Odie writes back

For all those people who wrote "Get Well" notes, Odie has something to say:

Oh Boy! I like getting email - at least that's what Mom tells me it is. She's reading me notes from lots of people, some of whom I've never even met, telling me how much they like me and how they hope I'm feeling better. I'm not sure what they're talking about ... I feel fine. I sure like this 'dog food soup!'

Ever notice how dogs have extremely short term memories? "What's a 'yesterday?' So why do I remember the sleepless nights and all the money spent at the Vets? I'm just so glad he's feeling better. Thanks to Lynne for the term 'dog food soup' :-)

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Odie tries to Fly

Wow, I've only posted once this week. It's not that I haven't been writing at all. I worked for about two days on our newsletter, and I'm also working on an article for a magazine! Sometimes writing comes easy, sometimes it doesn't. If you don't subscribe to our newsletter, you just missed articles on 'How to Backup your Blog', 'Necessary maintenance on a New Computer', and Quick Tips on keyboard shortcuts for closing windows and filling out forms. Of course, you can remedy that situation by subscribing now! It's been a beautiful week here in Casa Grande. Blue skies and in the 80s during the day, 60s at night. Boring is good when it comes to weather! One thing I was a little worried about here at Palm Creek is Odie getting enough exercise. The last few parks we've stayed at had nearby trails up hills where we could take Odie off leash and let him run. Palm Creek is flat and very populated - meaning he needs to stay on leash all the time. So, we've been pleasantly surprised to find empty fields nearby and for an extra bonus, there's something that Odie likes to chase! Check out the video below.

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