A Loaf of Sugar is fun to visit in Florida

It rained all day long here in Greensboro, Georgia. I didn't want to go out because I would get very wet and my back foot is also still sore. So I decided to just sleep and sometimes look out the window. I was thinking about places we had been before that was NOT wet and was nice to be in.

I remembered a place that Dad called the Keys. It was in Florida, not far from us here (in Georgia) as Dad reminds me. Dad said it was called Sugarloaf Key. It was down near the very bottom of the United States of America and on a small island or key. Scary to be on the bottom of such a large country. But there was nothing to fear, so I enjoyed it. I was also quite a young dog and nothing could scare me there, not even the big seagulls or the snakes.

We were on one of our EAST COAST trips, driving from Colorado in early Spring to Florida. We left the snow and headed for the warm beach and the big lake Dad called the Atlantic Ocean.

We visited my friends, Misti and Bogie (sadly he's not with us anymore) in Florida.

It was one of my first trips in the RV (the old one we had) and I really was excited. There were so many different smells and things to see. We visited a lot of places along the way. We stopped to see Mom's sister Teri and her dogs, Mysti and Bogey who lived in Florida. They were fun to play with. But they were so small I had to be careful not to hurt them. They reminded me of big snowballs because they were so fluffy and white.

You travel over many bridges over the big Ocean for a long time to get to Sugarloaf Key.

When we left Mysti and Bogey, we drove for a long time over the water on very very long bridges to get there. We decided to stay a whole month (Dad says April 2002) at the Lazy Lakes RV Resort on Sugarloaf Key (we never did see the loaf of sugar there!). They had a special price for April and Dad loves places with special prices.

We were right on the water at Lazy Lakes RV Resort in Sugarloaf Key, Florida. That was cool! Really!

It was kinda warm there but the wind was blowing and when I was outside (which I was much of the time) it was OK for me. Our air conditioner had broken and for a lot of the time we just had all the windows in the RV open day and night. It was the same day and night: warm and windy. I don't think the temperature changed the whole time we were there. (Temperature is the way humans talk about how hot or cold things are. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but humans are funny creatures and have strange customs you don't always understand.)


One of the neat things at the RV Park was that we stayed right next to the water. The RV Park was next to a little lake and it even had an alligator in it. An alligator was a scary animal that I'd never seen before. Dad said it ate dogs for lunch so I stayed away from the edge of that lake. I didn't want to BE anyone's lunch.

Mom and I walking along the little lake at our RV Resort (that's me in the back of the photo, but really ahead, as usual.)

Well, every day we walked around the lake a few times. I could go without my leash on the far side where there weren't any humans. It was really fun. A lot of other dogs had been there too because I smelled a large number of them. The lake had steep edges, so you couldn't wade in it without falling in and there was the alligator to consider, so I just walked along the path next to the lake.

I got to rest half way around the lake. It was hot there!

Sometimes Mom would walk me around the RV Park so I could smell the other dogs that didn't venture out next to the lake. The small dogs don't like to walk far and their owners sometimes can't walk very well, so there were a lot of other dogs to meet and smell in the park. Once, while on such a walk, I saw a weird looking stick moving around and pounced on it. It was in the bushes so Mom didn't see it at first. But then, Mom screamed and I threw the stick around in my mouth until Mom demanded I put it down. Besides, the stick was really long and wiggling and was kinda hard to hold. Mom told me later that it was a snake and snakes were something that humans were afraid of. She said some of them could hurt me and humans by biting us. Well, I was just a puppy, what should I know about snakes?

I had a nice place to lie under the shade of this big shelter.

This is my friend, the Great White Heron. He kept me company all day.

Most of the time I just laid outside the RV watching all the birds and the people. One very big white bird seemed to adopt me because he was always right next to me. Dad says he was a Great White Heron, but whatever he was, he was tall with a very pointy long nose and mouth, but friendly. He just liked to stand and look around too. Sometimes, he would dive into the water for a fish, but most of the time he just stood on one leg and looked around. I felt that if we could have talked we would have been good friends. He'd have stories about all the animals and birds that live on the island and what he could see from so far above when he was flying. I'd tell him about all our RVing adventures and about the snow in Colorado. But.. birds are dumb and can't communicate very well (except with loud screeches or whistles and who knows what they are saying?) So we just stared at each other and enjoyed resting together.

We took walks around the RV Park at night when the sun was setting. It was never cold at night.

Dad liked to drive around the island and he let me go with him. He would look for places that I could get out and run around without a leash. We found a couple places that had a lot of sand and water and bushes. I even got in the water a little. It tasted really strange. Dad said that was called salt water and it would make me sick if I drank it. Once a big dog ran after me, but he didn't catch me. You have to be careful in strange places. There are strange dogs there that aren't so friendly.

We walked around Key West and went to the very bottom of the USA!

Sometimes we would take a car trip to another island. There was a place not far on another island called Key West. Dad says it really was the bottom of the USA. In fact we took a picture at a place that said it was at the very bottom. We looked far out over the big lake that Dad called the Atlantic Ocean and couldn't see anything but more water (and birds).

We met a lot of people that were on this big boat (in the back of me) at Key West. They liked to pet me.

We walked all over that island. I was so tired and it was hot when we couldn't find some shade. Once we saw a gigantic boat that had millions of humans on it. Dad said it was like hundreds of RVs all in one boat going from place to place but on the water not on the land. (I don't know how they do that. I fall and sink in water without swimming real hard.) We met some of the people and they wanted to pet me (and did) and they were nice. A lot of them said they had dogs at home but they couldn't bring them on the big boat. I was glad to let them pet me. They said it made them miss their dogs, but it made them feel good too.

This island had too many humans on it for me and Dad, and it had even more birds. A lot of them (the humans) didn't smell so good, but many of them were very friendly to me. One lady at a store even offered me some water. I was very glad to have some because it was so hot there. I was glad when Mom and Dad decided to go back to the Sugarloaf Key. It was so much quieter and cooler there in the shade. It's nice to go back home, even when you aren't sure how to get there sometimes.

Well, we had a long way to travel to get back home in Nederland, Colorado so we left at the end of the month and headed back. We got to stop in a lot of places, but eventually when we got home it was good. It was even snowing a lot. It was a good change after the really warm weather in Florida to have the snow to roll around in again.

When we got home to Colorado it was snowing. A big change from our time in Florida. I liked it too!

Life's fun when it's changing. And it does change a lot for me.

Arf,

Reggie


http://www.lazylakeskeyscamping.com/

Choo-Choo North Shore Resort, Georgia

I've promised you that I'd share some of our RVing experiences at different parks so that maybe you'd know some of the good places to go too. So today, I'm telling you about the place we are staying right now, in the state of Georgia. Georgia is in the south of the United States according to Dad and their supreme leader is called Sonny Perdue, just like us. Probably a close relative to me!

Here's a picture of Donna and me from 2007 when we visited here before. I like it here.

We stayed here a couple years ago, so the smells are familiar to me. I remember that I liked this place, so maybe you will too!

We have been driving from California to North Carolina (this according to Dad) so that when we are in North Carolina we can see my big sister, Genevieve get married to Ronnie. But we are taking our time and staying in different RV parks along the way. We are staying in this place for 12 days.

The RV Park is on Lake Oconee and it has this beach thats fun to run on and splash in the water.

This place is on a big lake called Oconee. Dad says it is the second largest lake in the state of Georgia and only 60 miles east of a big city called Atlanta. Lakes are nice because you have a lot of water to play in and a long way to see around you, plus nice smells, especially the fishy smell. I like that. If I could find a dead fish, I'd bring it to Mom and give it to her.

Dad says this is an old courthouse in Greensboro, GA. I liked the grass on the lawn!

Yikes! I wouldn't want to spend time in this jail for humans in Greensboro, GA.

We are outside of the town of Greensboro. It's a nice place with old buildings, including a really old jail built of bricks and a couple nice parks where I can walk and sniff. Nice smells there!

We are staying at the North Shore Resort. See the choo-choo train car in the background?

The RV Park is called North Shore Resort. It's a big place (55 acres, whatever an acre is!) and has lots of places to walk and run. Dad lets me off-leash down by the lake where no one else walks or lives. There is a road that runs across the lake next to us that a big noisy machine called a TRAIN follows every afternoon. It makes a really loud whistle and makes a lot of noise with its engines. It's fun to watch. It looks like it is traveling on top of the lake. Its very long and a bit scary. At the end is a little house Dad says is called a Caboose. He says the dogs stay there.

There are cabooses and other train cars you can stay in here. Kinda fun to walk around them.

All of the buildings at the RV park are built with railroad cars just like those on the train we saw. There are cabooses, and freight cars all painted (according to Dad) a bright red color. He says that little kids like trains and its fun for them to stay in a caboose. He says that in addition to the places for RVs, people without RVs also stay overnight in the trains. They have beds and chairs. Sounds like fun as long as they don't make the loud noises that I heard the train make. It would be hard to sleep with all that noise going on!

Lots of hills for the RVs to park on next to the lake here. It'd be a fun place to stay a lot.

There are a lot of trees that make a lot of shade for us to walk in when its hot. We get hot walking because this place is on a hill and we have to walk up and up from the lake to our RV every time we go out. Mom says its hard to walk up hill but it's good for her heart. (I don't understand why, but Mom is usually right.)

I couldn't go into their play area, but they came to pet me. I like kids and they like me!

There are a lot of kids here on the weekends and they like to play in the playground. Dogs can't go in there, but I can watch from outside. The kids come over to pet me. They have something Dad says is called Miniature Golf where you hit a ball with a stick and chase it. Sounds like I'd like that kind of game. I like to chase balls too!

Mom plays with me sometimes outside our RV. I got this neat new toy and we played keep-away.

There are two big blue pools of water for kids to play in here called swimming pools. Kids are like dogs. They like to splash and swim in the pools. Except for the noise they make, you'd think it was a bunch of dogs. Some of them play with big balls in the pool and throw it with their hands to other kids. Us dogs use our noses but it's the same thing.

We take at least 2 or 3 long walks by the lake each day while here. It's a nice place to walk.

There are lots of dogs to visit too. I sit outside most of the day and many of them come to visit me. Mom lets us play sometimes on the grass next to the RV and I run around in circles as the little guys chase me. I let them catch me sometimes and lie down on my back. They like that. Only one problem. Two nights a big dog has left a pile of his stuff on our outside carpet. Maybe it's a gift for me, but Dad doesn't like it because he has to pick it up and wash the carpet. I must be asleep when he comes by because I don't ever see or smell him.

When the sun goes down over the lake, humans like to watch it.

I think you can come here too for a few days if you want. Just go to their web site and ask them. You'll like it here too, I'm sure. Tell them Reggie sent you!

Arf,

Reggie

http://www.northshoreresort.net/

Big Bend National Park

This week we are in the big country of Texas according to Dad. This is a big place and I know we have been here before. We are next to a really big lake of water (Lake Bridgeport) and it has been filling up all week with the rain we are having. So.. Dad has not been able to go out much for photography here. He has seen some Red Cardinal birds and Mockingbirds, but the weather has been very gray and not good for photographing birds.

Lupines at Big Bend National Park.

Dad reminded me of a place in Texas we went a few years ago. I really liked it so I would like to tell you about it now. The place is full of desert (called the Chihuahuan) and bare mountains again (like Arizona) but even more so. The mountains are taller and the desert was full of flowers that Dad likes to photograph, and there was a great big green river called the Rio Grande running through this place. It was called Big Bend National Park. Yep, one of those parks where I have to stay on leash, but Dad went out a lot in the car and took me with him, so I did get to see a lot of the park.

It is as far away from the big cities and traffic as you can get in the United States according to Dad. Lots of Jack Rabbits and Roadrunners though. Those are animals that like to run fast and who I like to chase. It’s my kinda of place (if I could chase them, that is). It is at the very bottom of Texas and is next to the country known as Mexico.

Our RV was in Terlingua, Texas not far from the West entrance to the Big Bend National Park.

We stayed in an RV park in a place called Terlingua, Texas, that had a lot of places to walk for me. It was a very big RV park too. There was a big hill nearby that Dad and I hiked every morning (without my leash) and you could see forever from there. I really like being at the top of a hill. I can run up and down the gullys while Dad walks carefully along the ridge. (remember.. he only has two legs, or what Dad calls two-wheel drive). My “4-wheel drive” allows me to be more sure of myself on rocky mountains slopes.

Dad and I took a hike every day and I got to run up and down the hills without a leash! Hurray!

We saw a Roadrunner bird. I wanted to chase him, but NO, I was on a leash again.

The first day we went for a drive and a walk towards the West to see the river. We saw a Roadrunner bird. Normally I ignore birds because they are so common and I can’t seem to catch them before they fly away. But this guy runs like I do (except he has 2 legs) and I still can’t catch him. I know I run fast, so, he must run a lot faster. He is a pretty bird though. Dad was able to get one photo, but not as many as he would like.

We visited this movie set. I didn't find Rin-Tin-Tin or Lassie's scent, but I'm sure that was Clint Eastwood I smelled!

We stopped at this place along the road that was used as a movie set in many movies about the wild west. There were a lot of small buildings next to the Rio Grande River. I could go on a leash and smell where other dogs had been. I didn’t smell Rin-Tin-Tin or Lassie, but there were some interesting smells there.

Mom and Me and the Rio Grande river below.

The next day, Dad and I took a long trip on a bumpy and dirty road called River Road. Dad likes the excitement of going on these backcountry roads where he sees no people or very few at least. I enjoy it too because usually I can get out without my leash. I would prefer to see more dogs, but I could smell and hear the coyotes in the distance. We can climb the mountains near us or walk down to the river’s edge and get wet (well, I get wet, but Dad watches).

We climbed to the top of a hill to look over the desert along River Road.

Dad was all excited because there were so many Prickly Pear cactus and other cactus in bloom. Remember, the cactus? Those plants you have to stay away from because they have little armies with spears that stick you if you get too close. Now they are using pretty flowers to attract humans so they can spear them. Sneaky little guys for a plant!

The prickly pear cactus was in full bloom along River Road.

There were also white and red and yellow and pink and blue flowers. Dad especially liked the Rose Prickly Poppy. It was the month of March and Dad said it was time for all the flowers to bloom. We didn’t see any animals, except a vulture and an eagle and a lot of Jack Rabbits, but it was a fun trip to take. Dad says some of the larger mammals you can find here if you wait long enough include whitetail and mule deer, coyote, mountain lion, black bear, and gray fox or javelina. We saw some javelina on the way into the park. They are small black pigs with long noses. They are also smelly! Dad says there are a lot of bats here. Those are NOT birds but fly like birds. They also fly with lots of friends so duck if you see them coming towards you!

I was able to find some shade behind this bush while I was waiting for Dad to catch up with me.

It was hot along the River road and when we occasionally walked and I saw a bush with a little shade, I liked to lie down and wait for Dad and cool off. Dad says it gets between 110 and 120 degrees F in June and July here. I’m not sure what F means, but the way he said it, I wouldn’t want to be here then.

I couldn't go, but Mom said Santa Elena canyon was awesome. Here's mom in front of it at Big Bend Nat'l Park.

Next day we all went to a place in the park that Mom called Santa Elena Canyon. It was a very narrow place where the Rio Grande river was able to sneak through the mountains. Dogs were not allowed to go into the canyon so I got to stay in the car in the parking lot under a shade tree protecting Dads camera gear, while they went to the canyon and took some pictures. (Dad did show me the pictures.) I guess it was really awesome. There were even humans on little rubber boats that were floating through the canyon. Mom said she wished I could have come with her but the National Park rules….

Here's me and Mom with one of the pointy mountains of Big Bend National Park

We went on several short drives and one was especially nice up to Chisos Basin. At the end there are places to hike and I smelled a lot of other dogs (finally). There are a lot of places to see in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend is a very big park to see. Dad wants to go back, especially in the spring time. So I suspect I’ll see you there if you want to go too! Let me know when and we can lift legs together!

Arf

Reggie

Deserts and Cactus in Arizona

Mom and Dad and myself have been in a very interesting area for the last few weeks. The air is dry and warm (for a change) and the plants here are very sticky. Dad calls it the desert. I think it means that all the animals have deserted it because it is no place for a smart animal to live. (Of course, many humans live here so I'm not sure what that means.)

Dad told me we are in the state of Arizona. There is a lot of sand here (that's white dirt that is very soft and can fly when the wind blows it.) It's also very hot on my feet when we walk around. (In fact so hot that my pads are hurting!) Dad says February and March is cool for the desert and we wouldn't want to be here in summer when it is much much hotter. I agree with him. My heavy coat would make it unbearable (or un-dog-able) to be here.

I decided to stay in the car at Organ Pipe Cactus Natl Monument. All those cactus hurt my skin!

Dad wanted to do some photography. I agreed to go along, but only if he would keep the windows down! We went to a place near another country called Mexico called "Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument." Dad says over 29 types of cactus grow here. Remember that cactus are the plants that give you much pain if you get near them or walk on them. They have little spears that jump out and poke you. I guess they are trying to keep humans and other animals from attacking them. They do a good job at that. I have no need or desire to get near them and I especially don't want to eat them.

Do these look like a Pipe Organ to you? Think of the sound it makes.

This is a large place with brown jagged mountains and large sandy deserts that are full of cactus. A special cactus found here is the Pipe Organ Cactus. It is called that because it looks like a big musical instrument that Dad says is called, guess.... a Pipe Organ. (I can't imagine a sound from such an instrument that is so big and ugly as this cactus. Dad says they are found in large buildings called churches where humans use them to wake up their God on Sunday mornings. Don't ask me more, I don't understand any of this.)

Doesn't this Saguaro look like he is reaching for the others? Wierd human-like cactus at Organ Pipe Cactus Natl Monument.

Another cactus that is here that Dad calls the Saguaro. It is a funny cactus because it looks like a big human with a small head or without a head. There are many of these and each one looks different. Some have two big thick arms and others have many arms like some type of scary monster. They are very tall, much taller than humans and they have those little spears that can stab you if you get too close. Dad says they live over one hundred years so that they can scare lots of generations of dogs!

Here's a Saguaro Cactus spear army!

We saw two Saguaros growing close that looked like they were hugging each other. Two arms from each growing around each other. Some have their arms reaching to the sky like they were pointing at some special stars. It was fun to poke my head out the window and see all the silly forms of this cactus. Dad says these are plants and that they can't see, think or move. I thought my life had it's boring moments, but geez.. I wouldn't want a life where you couldn't see, think or chase squirrels, that would just be too boring.

Another interesting feature of this desert is what Dad said were dry creeks. No water was in them, just lots of pebbles and sand. I guess sand flows in creeks in the desert. That's really weird. I didn't see any sand flowing or moving, but I suspect they move at night when humans can't see it move.

Mexican Poppies were the only wildflowers at this time.

There weren't many wildflowers around this time of year, but we did see a few Mexican Poppys. Dad said the colors were "popping" Yellow and Orange (whatever that means). He said in a few weeks this place would have a lot of colorful wildflowers. We won't be here then but it might be interesting to you if you come down here after me.

Picacho Peak in Arizona has a big pointy head and lots of Saguaro Cactus to see.

While we were in Arizona, Dad and I also visited a place called Picacho Peak. It was a big mountain standing alone with a very pointy head and was covered with Saguaro and other cactus. Dad says they have mesquite, Paloverde and acacia trees; Crucifixion Thorn, Ocotillo, cholla, prickly pear and of course, Saguaro Cactus. You can see the mountain very well from the highway called Interstate 10, but Dad wanted to get close so we drove to it and walked around. It's was one of those state parks that you have to pay to get in, but we got there before 8 AM and didn't have to pay (I think the human that collects the money was still sleeping). One of the cholla cactus attacked Dad and he had to pull the spears out of his shoes. Luckily I was able to avoid getting speared. It would have been a big job for Dad to pull out a lot of spears from my skin and I can't imagine how painful that would be. It's good to stay on the paths around here.

Lots of sticky cactus at Picacho Peak in Arizona.

I got pretty excited when I saw some Jack rabbits and quite a few little leaping and darting gray guys that Dad called lizards. You should see the Jack rabbits run! They leap really far and I'd probably never catch them. But, they would be quite fun to chase. Dad said I had to stay on my leash in the PARK. Oh well! Other animals he said we'd find if we stayed long enough were cottontail rabbits, Mule Deer, Javelina (big ugly pigs), Coyotes (my distant cousins), ground squirrels (fun to chase), pack rats (ugh they are yucky) and lots more types of lizards and even slithery snakes. There are lots of flitty little birds too. Mountain Lions, Bighorn Sheep and Coyotes have been observed according to a sign Dad was reading to me. Not sure I'd want to see a Mountain Lion.

This guy is flying hanging from a colorful sheet with a machine strapped to his back. Humans are so smart.

Motorized parasailing is where crazy humans strap a airplane on their back and fly dangling from a colorful sheet.

After Dad got plenty of photos of the mountain and cactus we went further into the desert and saw these humans flying. They had strange airplane propellers strapped to their backs and large sheets and when they wanted to fly they made these machines really noisy and ran real fast with them to get into the air. Dad said this was called Motorized Parasailing. They started to fly and went real high off the ground. I tried running real fast (without the machine) but couldn't get off the ground more than a few paw lengths or so when I jumped up. It looked like fun but Dad said there wasn't any machine that would fit a dog. So, Dad took a bunch of photos and talked to the guys on the ground about how it works and what it would cost to get a machine like this. He decided it was way too expensive and a little bit dangerous to be several thousand paw lengths above the ground hanging from a machine and a sheet. I agreed.

Organ Mountains in New Mexico don't look like the cactus but are named after the Pipe Organ too.

Later, when we were leaving Arizona we visited another place in the desert called New Mexico. There, we visited another Organ Pipe place. This time, the mountains were called Organs! They had tops that looked like Organ Pipes I guess. The Organ Pipe cactus and the Organ mountain looked no where near the same to me, but then dogs have more advanced eye sight and intelligence than humans so it makes sense to me that humans would get it confused.

We walked up this road towards the Organ mountains in New Mexico. My feet hurt!@

We were planning to visit an area there called Dripping Springs but a big sign said, NO PETS. It was another discriminatory sign against dogs. Some day, when I really become President, I'm going to make some of these Park signs read: NO HUMANS, DOGS ONLY! That'll show them how it feels to be kept out of places! Anyway, it was just a place with water dripping down from a cliff. Boring stuff to me, so no great loss. Dad was hoping to photograph it, but he can look at the pictures on the Internet.

Organ Mountains in New Mexico.

We are now in the middle of Texas next to a nice lake, called Bridgeport. It is a little warm here, but a nice cool breeze makes it nice for me to lay outside the motorhome in the shade, look at the water and rest from all the excitement of the desert.

Arf,

Reggie

Priceless

I overheard Dad and Mom talking about the operation to remove my missing testicle. They said I was doing a lot better. I'm still sore, especially when I just get up to walk, but I've got a good appetite now and except for my ridiculous hair cut, I'm looking good (if I say so myself). I would rate my doctor's as very good, except his hair cutting talent. They made me look like I ran into a large lawnmower.

What would Mom and Dad miss if I wasn't here anymore? Plenty!!!

Well, Dad was saying how the operation cost about $2000 in human paper money (including all the driving he had to do) and how many things he would have to delay buying because of it. It made me feel pretty bad that I deprived Dad of his new camera (poor guy only has 4 or 5 of them now). But don't get me wrong. Dad wasn't really complaining, just stating the facts about the consequences of Dr. Joe in Nederland NOT removing that testicle 8 and a half years ago.

So, I began thinking about what Dad and Mom would miss without me. It kinda made me feel good to know that I may have earned that $2000 and maybe quite a bit more.

Mom would be real Fat if I didn't take her on a daily walk.

What would Dad and Mom do if they didn't have ME to walk thousands of paw lengths or more per day (in human distances, that's 3 to 5 miles per day). Dad would look like a rolley poley ball and Mom would probably match him. Does Dad and Mom know how much it costs to go to human gym clubs? They should think about the amount of human paper dollars I've saved them each year just by keeping them exercising daily. Not to mention how many human years I've help add to their lifetime. What a deal! What's the value to Dad or Mom of living another 5 to 10 years? Priceless!

Dad would die early without those early morning walks with me. Notice our shadows on the other bank?

How do you put a price on the happiness that we've given each other? Every morning when I greet Dad and Mom in their bed and wag my tail and cry with joy, that's priceless!

Does Dad know how lucky he is to have ME, a dog, instead of a lazy cat to walk? Yesterday we saw a man "walking" his cat on a leash. The cat was lying down taking a long rest. For 10 minutes the man stood watching his cat lying down. What kind of walk is that? Dad, you should be proud and happy that I'm not a cat. Priceless!

Who would chase away those big ugly cows when we are traveling. ME, that's who.

Who would protect Dad and Mom from all the huge cows we see along the road as we drive? I bark and chase them away. They have never attacked us once. I can imagine the mess those cows would make in our motorhome if I wasn't there to chase them away. Priceless!

Dad might crash the motorhome if he didn't have ME as an excuse to stop at rest stops along the road. We stop to let me pee, but it really allows Dad to rest from the driving. What price is there on NOT crashing your motorhome? Huh, tell me! Priceless.

Who would be friends with Mom and Dad without ME? No ONE!

Mom and Dad, think of all the people I have introduced you to. You wouldn't have good friends like Steve, Karen and Casey without ME. In fact, I doubt anyone would be friends with you without me. Everyone stops at our motorhome to say hi to me. What price on good friends? Priceless!

What price does Mom place on just one lick in the face from me? Priceless!

Is there a price to the relief of stress you feel when you see me sleeping, or when you pet me? I don't think so. Priceless.

Who would Mom and Dad impress if they didn't have me to do my treat-tossing trick for their friends. When Dad places that treat on my nose and gives me a signal, it disappears into my mouth in an instant. He looks so proud and his friends clap and laugh. Priceless.

Who would snoop out the rare and exotic wildflowers without me? No ONE!

Who would protect Dad from the Bears when he photographs the wildflowers in Idaho? Dad would probably be eaten by the Bears if I didn't keep a sharp eye out for them. Priceless!

I watch out the windows on Dad's photo trips so we can get home without getting lost. Dad would be lost without ME!

Who would go with Dad on his photo trips and keep him company and help him find his way home? Mom doesn't go with him. A cat would shun his suggestion. Nope. It's ME again. I look out the window and make sure the animals don't attack us. I also keep track of the smells so we can get back if his GPS machine doesn't work. Priceless!

Who would protect Donna on her late night walks around the RV Parks? No one (but me)!

Who would dust the motorhome without my tail swishing back and forth all the time? Huh? I bet dust would pile up to the ceiling without my swishing tail. Priceless!

Who would let Mom and Dad know that someone was at the front door of the motorhome, or that a strange Dog was approaching the motorhome, without ME? Who would notify Mom when a dog appeared on the TV without me? Nobody. Priceless!

Who would protect the motorhome home in the dark and scary nights? I watch all night with my keen sense of awareness and make sure Mom and Dad know if someone tries to come into our motorhome at night. Priceless.


Also, who would protect Mom at night when she takes a walk in the middle of night? No one but ME again! Priceless!

Well, I hear that it is not human-like to praise yourself. I'm not human like, I'm a dog and have every right to say what I think about myself, right! So, you understand what I'm saying. I'm pretty valuable to Mom and Dad and without me, well, I shudder to think what they would be like.

All those future memories would be gone! Remember me as a puppy. I was so cute...

You also wouldn't have all the good memories and photographs yet to come when we can go out sniffing for squirrels and wildflowers, and all the mornings I wake you with my muffled cries. You'd still have my puppy memories, but there are many more to come. Could you put a price on those? Priceless!

All those future photographs without me? Nope. You'd need me!

Besides, who would write this blog?

Thanks to all of you that have wished me well in my recovery. I'm sure your wishes have helped me heal quickly. I'm hoping to be like my old self real soon (minus an overgrown testicle and missing some beautiful hair.)

Arf

Reggie