Kentucky – Mermaid on a Raft

The darkest day of the year.

01/10/2023 Oh 2022, what a year you were. I certainly do not want another year like last year. It did us both in with a variety of curveballs we didn’t expect. We managed to get through them, but it wasn’t easy or fun.

Walt, the miserable wretched RV from hell.

01/04/2023 One year ago we were existing in Walt, the RV that nightmares are made of. I honestly don’t know how I did that from September 1 to Feb 17th. At first, it was fun, but after 2 weeks, it was hell on earth. I know, I know, I should be grateful to have a roof over my head, and I was. For a few days. It was really hard with 4 good-sized dogs and the never-ending mud. The dogs were so good and just rolled with whatever was happening. It still was a very long 5 months.

We’re pretty well situated here right now. The weather is changing, below freezing, then 60 degrees. We’ve had some rain and that brings mud, but nothing like last year at all.

We are still walking the dogs every morning. Often Bill wants to wait until it warms up and they have a really hard time being patient. Personally, I would rather get up, get dressed and walk them, then come home and have a cup of tea and breakfast. Not Bill.

I was excited to get ready for Christmas. I had to order a new fake tree because when we left Az, I donated my tree to this guy who helps people who don’t have trees. I gave him all my ornaments too. (I had just bought them for Christmas 2021.) I think I was mentally hoping for a real tree once we got in the house. Needless to say, we didn’t get in the house for Christmas 2021 and we didn’t have a tree while we were in Walt. I was quite optimistic (overly) because I ordered 2 sets of mercury glass ornaments for a tree we never got.

There were no live trees being sold in our “town” this past year so I ordered another fake one from Amazon. We put it up and I decided it was too small so we returned it and I got a larger one that was partially flocked.

This is before we added a ton more lights.

I dug my decorations out of the containers they were stored in (since we left Washington in 2013). It was like Christmas for me, I honestly forgot what I had.

I got my crafty on and made some paper bag snowflakes. They were actually fun and not hard to do at all. I hung them in the 4 dining room windows and then we added lights and garland. It looked really nice, especially at night.

The hardest part was cutting through 7 thicknesses of lunch bags.

No pre-planned design, just cut as you go.

I hung them with clear elastic thread, not the best but it’s all I had.

Bill and I have not purchased gifts for each other for several years. This year he decided to buy me gifts. On a day he wasn’t home, my first gift was delivered. It was not in another box like it was supposed to be. I knew right away that I was getting a new Canon photo printer. YAY! Except now I had to buy him gifts. Bill is really hard to buy for because if he wants something, he buys it. I must have been complaining about what to buy him because he sent me a message with Amazon links in it for what he wanted. I bought him everything on the list except underwear because it wasn’t Amazon Prime and I am not paying for shipping. I did buy him a few other things that I thought of on my own.

I baked way too much over the holidays. I made almond biscotti dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes, molasses cookies, ginger cookies and coconut macaroons. I ate a good portion of everything, it was ridiculous. I made a nice container for the UPS guy and for our neighbor who lives alone. We still had too much.

Christmas was hard. We had to put Gringo down on Dec. 21, the darkest (literally and figuratively) day of the year. Horrible horrible thing to have to do but we decided to do it out of love for Gringo. We both wanted him to be pain-free and that was the only solution. I can’t write anymore about him, it’s still too soon. Our hearts are broken.

We did get an inch or 2 of snow, the dogs were happy playing in it. It was so cold out (below zero) that the ground was frozen and we had no mud, for a change. The temps were crazy cold and with the wind, it was downright bitter, but it didn’t last too long. Pretty soon the temperature was 60 degrees and sunny. I’ve been told that February is the month for winter weather around here. Last year was a blur so I don’t really remember.

Such a pretty view from where we walk the dogs.

I’m currently on the hunt for a new pair of boots. I wear my ugly muck boots daily but I wanted a pair of boots to wear when I go places. Just typing that sounds ridiculous because I rarely go anywhere. Anyhow, through Amazon you can do try before you buy if you’re a Prime member. With try before you buy you can get 6 pairs of boots or bras, tops, swimsuits, whatever, sent to you, keep what you like and return what you don’t want. If you return within 7 days you don’t get charged. Well, I got my first shipment of 6 pairs of boots and didn’t like any so I returned them and ordered 6 more pairs. I liked a pair of Ecco but not enough to spend close to $200 on them. I returned them all. I ordered a pair of boots from Born and I could hardly get them on. I wear an 8, I swear they were a 6.5. Ridiculous, I returned them. Then I ordered 3 pairs from Zappos. The first pair are Cole Haan and they’re really nice but I can feel the stitching inside the boot when I’m wearing them. That’s a no. I’m currently awaiting on UPS for the other 2 pairs. If I don’t like any of them I might as well wait until next fall. This is what buying boots when you live in podunk Burkesville is like. Frustrated.

Update: UPS brought the other 2 pairs of boots today. They both hurt my foot. The left boot is fine, unfortunately, I still have the R foot to deal with. I’ve had 2 surgeries on that foot and it’s been in flip-flops since 2013. It feels very foreign to wear a closed shoe other than my Skecher slip-ons, which are stretchy. I feel doomed. I’d like to keep these boots but I’m afraid to. What if they don’t stretch out and I’m stuck with boots I can’t wear?

Second update: All 3 pairs are being returned to Zappos and I ordered 3 more pairs. The saga continues.

Bill baked some focaccia bread and I made an olive tapenade for it. I can eat that as a meal, it’s that good.

Totally forgot to put rosemary on the bread before we baked it.

This is another Christmas gift Bill got for me. It fits nicely over the tub and holds all kinds of things, especially a wine glass.

With the crazy warm temps my tulip, daffodil, iris and hyacinth bulbs are sprouting through the soil. I hope they’ll survive if we get another cold snap. I’m really looking forward to planting more this year, we got such a late start last summer.

And that’s a wrap. I have nothing of interest to tell you. We (as in Bill) will start painting the inside of the house, soon as I pick out the colors. I hate doing that because colors are never really what they seem. If I choose a paint color and he paints and I hate it, too bad so sad for me.

Thanks for reading.

RIP my sweet boy. 4-15-2015 to 12-21-2022

Let it snow

12/01/2021 Happy December. I can’t believe it’s almost the end of 2021. On Dec 5, it will be a year that Bill and Highway arrived from Roatan. Seriously it seems like months. Crazy how the older I get, the faster the time goes by.

We are getting close. The house should be finished by the end of this month and we are hoping to be in by New Year, Christmas I doubt will happen. Regardless, I have started buying stuff that we will need. Remember, we brought NO furniture.

There is a store in town that has some antiques, I found a cool bench and 2 dressers there. One dresser we will refinish because it’s gorgeous solid oak, the other is maybe cherry but not in great shape. We’ll fix it up and I plan to paint it for the guest room. I decided that old furniture restored is much better than most of the furniture available today. The dressers both have dovetail drawers.

Not sure if I’ll paint this or not, but it’s for the porch. We’ll make a cushion for it.

I’m still buying glassware, although I told myself I was done. HAH. I found these pieces at different stores and some on Etsy.

It was 25 degrees the other morning. It made for a nice crispy crunchy walk. The dogs are super invigorated in the cold weather.

The following photos I took up on the hill where we always walk. I used google lens to figure out what they are. They’re called ice flowers. The “flowers” are actually ice extruded from the stems of certain plant species. They only last until the sun comes up. They occur when the air temp reaches freezing before the ground is frozen. Water in the plant escapes through tiny cracks in the plants and then freezes in gorgeous strange shapes.

This is what the forest floor looks like.

These are so cool, sorry for all the photos but I’ve never seen anything like this before. Obviously, I’ve not been in the woods early enough.

This may be a type of epimedium, growing wild in the fields.

I really don’t know, but this may be a type of wild Tradescantia?? These are all in our fields.

Bill got a new toy. It has a brush hog/mower, bucket and a box blade. He’ll use this often here.

The dogs know we have a mouse or mice. Highway already got one outside and I couldn’t get him to drop it. Bill tried too but the damn dog ate it rather than give it up. Disgusting. We have traps set under the drawers but these are very smart mice. I hate the damn RV.

They spend a lot of time on the bed looking out the window. We’ll never have nice bedding.

I’ve been on a roll making cards, up to 40 so far. I am so looking forward to having a scrap room again!

The other morning Bill walked the dogs with me and it’s a damn good thing he did. This is the first I have ever seen chem trails out here.

They were everywhere and we are 2 hours from any major airport.

This particular morning Gringo caught the scent of something and he took off towards the top of the hill with Barrio and Max (who has lost 15# in 3 months) hot on his trail. Highway was with us. When we got up to where we saw them running Bill said, “Oh Shit.” The 3 boys had jumped over the 3′ wire and barbed wire fence. Barrio and Max were right on the other side. Gringo was nowhere to be seen. We couldn’t find any holes in the fence to get them through so Bill crawled over it and handed the dogs to me. Before we had the 2 over Gringo came back. They couldn’t jump back over because there was a steep hill behind them. These dogs will be the death of me.

One morning I got up and as usual, was going to let the boys out until Bill said we had a problem. The neighbors’ cows had wandered into our field. The cows are not the issue, the way the dogs react is the issue. Bill went to get Mike and he and Bill got the cows back in the right field.

Mooooooo. The cows are fascinated by the dogs and vice versa. Maybe we should let them be friends.

We got a small turkey. Since the oven has never been used, we decided to cook this on the grill. I DO NOT want to clean an oven in the RV.

This is called spatchcocking. Bill cut the spine out and flattened it. It took about 1hr 45 min to cook a 10# bird. It was really good.

We were going to invite Mike (the guy with the cows next to us) but we weren’t sure it would be good and had no clue how long it would take. Bill took him a heaping plate of food later on that day.

Tomorrow I am going to the metropolis of Bowling Green. They have a 72 vendor antique flea market and many other stores that I want to go to. I should probably spend the night so I can shop for 2 days but my car only holds so much.

Today was the first day Bill and I left here together in 3 months. He wanted to run to Albany electric and I wanted to ride along. The dogs knew and Highway started panic howling like a banshee getting an enema. It is not pretty and I can not stand it. We put a crate in the RV and put him in it and we took the other 3. They were really good as usual. After we left Albany we drove out to Dale Hollow Lake. It is so much larger than I thought it would be, 28,000 acre lake. I would like to go back and spend a weekend there. Better yet, get a pontoon boat and enjoy it as often as possible.

But first, A HOUSE.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. XOXO

Stuck in limbo.

10/4/2021 It was one month on October 1 that Walt and the family pulled into our little slice of paradise. It is gorgeous here, I love the location, not super impressed by the grocery and shopping options but I knew that before moving here. It is what it is.

The guy we hooked up with before arriving has proven to be amazing. There is nothing Aaron doesn’t know how to do. He did the concrete floor for the shop (with Bill’s help) and he and Bill recently completed putting on the metal roof. He actually used a chalk line on the roof to get the nails in a straight line. Both sides of the roof are finished and it looks amazing. They framed in the opening and he has ordered the metal for the gables of the roof. Aaron has a regular door for the shop, we need to order a garage door yet. Timing was everything since my new washer and dryer and freezer arrived the 29th and the roof was completed on the 28th.

Both sides are complete. Yes, it is sort of underground. The original owner of the land was using it for a basement/garage and building on top. The side you see is the entrance.

I already ordered my stove, dishwasher and fridge (got the French door type) but decided to order an extra fridge for the closed-in back porch. We had an extra in Everson and it was awesome to keep drinks in and to use when we ate outdoors. I was going to get a white one and cover it in self-adhesive wallpaper but decided on a black one. The fridge was delivered yesterday. Once we get the electricity hooked up, I’ll be able to stock up on some groceries. All of our household things got delivered on Tuesday. The boys were excited to see their chairs.

Their chairs are something they recognize as home.

Bill hadn’t gotten the arm pillows put back in on this chair. We took them out to make them easier to ship. I bought these leather chairs from the guy who I bought the AZ home from. I knew they would be perfect chairs for the boys. They never even tried to get on the new couch, they knew these were their chairs. Bill actually talked about not taking them and I said NO WAY. They are going, they belong to the dogs.

This is one of the trucks, he had 2 crates, the other had one. He had a tough time backing down the narrow drive to the shop. but he made it.

Bowling Green is only an hour away, we spent 2 nights in an RV park there while hurricane Ida passed through. That’s also where Bill took my car for the 60K service. There is a Sam’s Club there, I’ll need to join, there is also a Target, Home Depot, Aldi’s, TJ Maxx and a lot of furniture stores. I’m looking forward to some shopping trips there.

I’ve decided I don’t like Walt. In fact, Walt is pitiful. I FREAKING HATE him. I hate the shower most of all, especially since we have been invaded by stink bugs, (these are the non stink if you squash them but smell awful after being in the vac a day dying) variety but a pest nonetheless. I think I preferred the paper wasps we previously had problems with. Yesterday I sucked up well over 150 of the stink bugs with the vacuum. This morning when I was showering 2 swooped in on me. I had a screaming fit, knocked the damn shower accordion door off the track and had all 3 boys trying to protect me. I also hate the bathroom sink. It has a screen in the drain and that freaks me way the hell out. As do the 2 screens in the double kitchen sink. I hate to empty things like that when tiny pieces of food get in there, that’s the reason I insist on a garbage disposal. I throw all the big pieces of stuff away but the small particles, down the garbage disposal. I can’t tell you what it is that freaks me out so badly but I have to wear rubber gloves to clean the screen drains out and I am internally shrieking the whole time. I would have died in a week if I lived in the Little House on the Prairie.

UPS brought some spray Bill ordered to kill the stink bugs and I do think it’s working. I’ve cleaned up only 20 or so since the boys and I came inside. The boys are all terrified of the vac for some reason. It’s not so bad in a house where they can go to a different room but they don’t have that option here.

It rained for almost a week and we were surrounded by 30 muddy wet acres and 16 muddy wet dog paws. They were getting tired of having their feet washed several times a day. I contemplated boots for them but they’ll lose them and I will spend all of my time looking for them. They were some mighty bored dogs. They put stone on the whole driveway EXCEPT where they were running the dozer back and forth. That meant I had to traverse 50′ of deep slippery mud to get the boys to the stone driveway. That has since been remedied.

Planning on stocking this with fish. not

My friend said it looks like I drove through peanut better then cat litter. She’s right.

Every morning I walk the dogs down the driveway and into the upper field. It’s so beautiful there, I wish we had known about that spot before. That’s what we get for buying property sight unseen. It’s a huge hilly field surrounded by trees. Many of the trees are Osage orange trees and they have the most horrible thorns I have ever seen in my life. I was really worried about the boys stepping on them but so far we’ve been lucky.

Why in the world are there trees like this?

They run all over up there, so much to smell. I recall someone telling me that when you walk your dog don’t allow them to stop and sniff things. That’s not a nice thing to do to a dog. They get so much mental stimulation from sniffing, it’s really important for them to do. These guys must be having a blast. They’re also eating grass, never really had that option before, it’s new to them. I noticed Max had a poop hanging from his butt by a blade of grass. I used a stick and removed it. The things I do for these dogs. They are getting in at least 3 miles a day, probably more. After we return from a walk they are exhausted. A tired dog is a good dog.

All I have to say is, “want to go on the hill?” They know exactly what I mean.

This is the curve of our driveway down to the road.

This is just past the curve headed up. A little over 1/4 mile.

I think the dogs love it too. It’s the first real freedom they have had.

This has been my view for 6 years. BUTTS,

We were told there used to be a pond on our land. Well, there still is. I found it one day while walking the boys. Aaron said we need to get some trees away from it so the sun can get rid of some of the algae.

We had a full week plus of nice days, then the rain returned. So did the mud. It’s been brutal. Yesterday we noticed a leak in the RV, not sure where the water was coming from. Bill moved the RV from being level to leaning to the side the water was coming in and that seems to have stopped it. It poured last night, thundered and all and no water leaks this morning.

Yesterday the boys were laying on the bed looking out the window and all of a sudden Gringo went crazy. I looked out the window and there was a deer in the lower field. Between the deer and the cows, Gringo may need an intervention. Saturday night Bill was outside talking to his sister on the phone. I had, just minutes before, taken the boys inside. The day had just gone from dusk to dark. He noticed something and looked down and there was a 4′ S N A K E. I am terrified of snakes but still had to go look. It was a big old King snake.

Earlier that night I moved the cooler and there was a frog under it. Highway went after it and it jumped in a dog crate. After I got Highway out of the crate, I got the frog out. I keep telling myself the only reason the snake came up to our area is he smelled the frog. Yeah right.

There are copperheads in the area and they are something I do not want to come across with the dogs. If the dogs had been outside, Highway or Barrio would have killed the snake in seconds. Barrio is all meek and mild but he is a killer. I’ve seen him in action on Roatan with rats and lizards.

Last night it poured, thunder and lightning had the dogs all freaky. Max was squished between the bed and the closet and would not budge. We woke this morning to semi sunny skies so as soon as I drank my cup of tea the boys and I set off for the hill. Afterwards we sat outside, Bill put the other 2 coolaroo beds together for the boys. They will be great to use on the screened in porch, much better than laying on concrete.

I just picked things up that were outside because it looked like rain and sure enough, it’s pouring again. I heard there was a tornado in Northern Cumberland County late night, flipped a few cars. UGH. Over the rain and all the crap weather.

This is Colt, the 7 year old son of Aaron, the guy we hired to do all the work around here. Colt can drive the skid steer and the excavator, at 7 YEARS OLD. He is a really cool kid.

Coyote poop, most mornings they let a pile in the driveway. The boys each sniff it, then pee on it. BOYS.

Found these 2 lovebirds on the hill, not far from the pond.

No shame in their game, doing some Dirty Dancing. They’re Eastern Box turtles.

I had to shame Bill into taking a pic of me and the boys. Not really the photo I wanted but…

The 3 boys follow me where ever I go, Highway, not so much. He is so stubborn.

This blog has taken way too long to do. We still have no wifi so I have to use my phone as a hotspot and I have limited hotspot data per month. As I told my friend Susan, this blog sometimes feels like a giant albatross hanging around my neck. I sure hope that once we get into the house I’ll have more interesting info to post. As of right now, the only excitement I have is sucking the stink bugs up in my vacuum, swearing at each and every one as I hear the satisfying plunk of them getting sucked up. The joys are endless.

RV living is NOT the life for me.

09/06/2021 Well. Here we are, we made it. We left Casa Grande, AZ on Thursday morning at 9:20. We drove amongst 3 zillion semi-trucks and every time they whizzed by Walt, he shook. Sometimes a lot, enough to blow him off to the berm of the road.

We spent 3 nights in campgrounds in Texas. Damn, that’s a BIIIIG state. I foolishly thought we would be through there in a day. I should have paid attention in geography class. Once out of Texas, we drove through the NW corner of Arkansas. Why is it pronounced Arkansaw? That makes absolutely no sense at all. I’m calling it Ar Kansas. That’s correct, in my mind at least. We spent the next night in Hazen, Ar Kansas. It was a very low-budget campground, they offered nothing. From there we drove to Bowling Green Kentucky. We planned to only spend one night in Bowling Green but Ida paid us a visit so we hung out for another night due to the heavy rain. The KOA had a fabulous dog area, the boys had a great time playing on the playground stuff for dogs. The RV next to us was a year older than Walt but very similar and they were from Az also.

Goodbye Arizona house, you will be missed.

Leaving Avalon, headed to the Interstate.

Barrio and Max were excellent travel companions. They didn’t talk, want food, have to pee or ask if we were there yet.

This was at a campground. I think Gringo missed me.

He loves it up there, Highway is giving him the side-eye.

This was at the second campground, it was in a sand dunes park.

This was a nice place but no doggie park area.

Highway joins in on the dashboard dancing.

Yay for doggie play areas, they poop much better off-leash.

Bill is going to build the boys a playground, they loved it.

We got showered Wed. morning, packed up and hit the road, final destination, Kentucky. We made it to our driveway but it was totally grown over with weeds. We blazed a trail with my poor car. It was covered in pollen. We were able to get up so we went back down to the RV and Bill drove that up and I followed in my car. We let the dogs out but didn’t let them wander because the weeds were super high and probably full of ticks.

Walt got stuck at the top of the driveway. Good thing there were a few piles of stone. Bill shoveled them in and Walt crawled right out.

Bill called Aaron, the guy who was going to clear the road and put in the septic for us and he came right over with a brush hog and cleared the driveway and flattened an area for Walt, then he spread the pile of stones around the area. It is a nice level spot for Walt to sit. We got hooked up to electricity and water and have a temporary septic for the RV.

Property, we own through the trees and down to the road.

This is all our field, we want to find someone to farm it. They are burning the thorn trees. These trees have 2″ long hard thorns, nasty things. We want all of these trees removed, the dogs could get hurt, they’ll flatten a tire in a swift heartbeat.

These limestone rocks were here. They will be used for something.

This is a random building in a random round-a-bout that serves no purpose, there is no traffic. I went to the Mennonite store, then to Burkesville to Ace and to IGA. This is in downtown Burkesville.

Max saw his first cow. He was captivated. We walked them on their leashes over to see the cows. We don’t want them over there because of the barbed wire fence. They didn’t see the turkeys, there were at least 5 of them.

I’m not thrilled with the grocery store option we have. I’ll obviously be making trips to Glasgow to get food, once we have a house. Cooking in an RV is not fun at all. Last night we actually had baked potatoes and chicken but the night before I had black licorice, spicy hot pickles and kettle corn. I have absolutely no desire to cook or wash dishes in this contraption.

I know I shouldn’t complain, so I won’t. This life could be a lot worse. We are on our property, the boys have room to run and we have nothing but blue sky and green trees. And no neighbors, the ultimate gift.

Stay tuned, I’m sure this ride will get exciting.

Hit the road Walt.

08/12/2021 I thought I would hop on here and do a quick update since I’m not sure I’ll be able to post when we get to Kentucky, at least until we get internet on the property.

Things are moving right along. Today was the bittersweet closing of our island home, La Casa de las Olas. The wave house. I’ll never regret moving to Roatan and experiencing that kind of life. I honestly thought I would live there forever but it just was not meant to be. While there, I met some fabulous island people, ones I feel blessed to know and call friends. They are the epitome of the island, they showed me and taught me things most gringos don’t get to experience. My week-long trip to La Moskitia was the most impactful week of my whole life. Being with the people in La Moskitia taught me something I could never learn in any school. I am forever grateful to my BFF on the island, Nidia, for taking me along with her. It will always be the highlight of my years living on the island. I also made gringo friends there, friends I will have for a lifetime. It was a good choice to move there, I’m happy we did it. Our house wasn’t fancy schmancy but it had killer views, a 24/7 strong breeze and it was so peaceful being in the jungle. I’ll miss that, and moving to the damn desert was sure a stark contrast to the dense jungle. I knew the desert house was not a permanent move but I enjoyed living here for the most part. I like sunshine and warm temps but 112 degrees for days on end is too much.

La Casa de las Olas. We lived upstairs, the downstairs was for guests, it was a full apartment. The house was purchased by 2 couples from Texas. They have 6 dogs. It’s the perfect house to live if you have 6 (or 11) dogs.

We have been packing for about a month. It’s almost done. It’s so stressful trying to figure out what we’ll need for the month it takes our stuff to arrive. I’ve pretty much got the pantry empty, next will be to clean out the chest freezer, put it in the fridge freezer and pack stuff in the freezer that we are taking. Not having to deal with furniture is a huge bonus but also daunting, because we’ll have to buy all new furniture, ceiling fans, lighting, plus all appliances. UGH. Yes, it’s fun buying new but it’s also a chore. The closest store will be 45 min away. I know that sounds like not much but here in AZ everything is within 30 min. So easy it’s made me incredibly lazy.

We had boxes in the closet, office, and 3 corners of the halls. Bill moved them to one place to see how much of the U-Haul trailer it would take up. The visual difference of them all in one place makes the whole move seem less overwhelming.

Now Bill wishes we had boxes that were all the same size. TOO LATE. I actually have one box that I wrote, I have no clue what is in here.

The house is still a flipping disaster. This too shall pass.

We got the exhaust fixed on Walt, he is so much quieter now. Currently he is getting all new tires. The tires on it had a lot of tread left, but they were 10+ years old, sitting in the AZ sun. I am so thrilled we got new tires, it will be much safer to travel cross country with. A blowout on an RV can cause structural damage to the RV. We do not need that. Plus he’ll be pulling a trailer with tools and his motorcycle {that I hate} on it.

We took the boys for a ride in Walt. They all wanted to sit up front. NO WAY, too unsafe for dog and driver. Bill bought a cargo net to keep the dogs back.

This should work, more than likely Highway will have his nose stuck in it at some point.

Once I told Gringo he could, he got up and laid on the couch. Max insisted on sitting by Bill and I kept pushing him back. Barrio was terrified and panted heavily and Highway. Damn Highway. He howled and cried, a very high-pitched consistent whine. It’s like having 7-grade school teaches right behind your head, scratching chalk on the chalkboard. If I were capable of removing a voice box, his would be long gone and donated to dog science.

Barrio and Gringo, who is being chill. Isn’t the upholstery lovely? It’s already covered with a sheet.

The brothers. This photo pretty accurately depicts them. Max is leaving, Barrio is strung out and Gringo is cool. I love these boys so damn much.

I’ve been cleaning up the mess from my gorgeous cactus. When the flowers die and dry up, they fall off. It was a lot to clean up this year because the flowers were so plentiful. If I don’t clean it up it looks like dog poop on the fake grass, and that’s where they all end up. I just noticed today that it is getting more buds so I imagine another flowering session will occur soon. There was a huge mess, I had to take my vacuum out there again. I’m over cleaning the fake grass.

We’re leaving soon to go visit our friend Nick at the rehab center. He’s still trying to regain muscle after his fall and getting second-degree burns. It’s been a long road for him, he’s been in a wheelchair since 1979 but has always been active and very social. Now he can’t do any of that. Heartwrenching. We go every Thursday to visit with him.

UPDATE:Nick is now home and not doing that well. Physically he is unable to do much of anything for himself, like get in and out of bed, cooking a meal, not sure he can shower alone. Mike goes 3 times a day, gets him up and has breakfast with him, he takes him his dinner and eats with him and he goes back later to get him in bed. I just can’t stop thinking about Nick and how his life has changed and it’s not a welcome change.

Ever since 2012, I have worn sandals. I wear sneakers when I walk the dogs, otherwise, it’s usually flip-flops. I’m pretty sure the pair I’m currently wearing are more than 4 years old. I just bought a pair of boots and I am soooo excited. This is what I got.

I can’t believe how excited I am about these boots. We went to Tractor Supply to see what they had, only one pair in my size and they were knee highs, didn’t want that high.

I had a pair of muck boots in WA. but gave them to Kailey before we left for the island. I look forward to wearing them again, while traipsing through the woods with the dogs.

Today after we walked the dogs and kind of woke up (I swear sometimes I am sleepwalking the dogs) we worked in the RV. I finished cleaning the drawers and lined them with cheap-o contact paper. Remember, we are not keeping Walt. We managed to get 95% of the art in the storage under the bed. The freezer in the RV is Lilliputian. That will be interesting, getting all of my many bags of shredded cheese in the freezer.

UPDATE: 08/20/2021 Walt has new tires and probably will get new batteries this week, Bill has not been successful charging the ones in there. I have a lot of stuff moved into the RV.

The U-Haul crates were delivered this morning and Bill and I completely packed one. I’m dead and I’m sure he is too.

They dropped off 4 crates, we’ll only need 3. They pick the full ones up on the 25th and also take the empty. It will take 3-4 weeks for them to get to Kentucky. By then the shop should be finished and we can unload and store stuff in there.

We packed this clear full, hardly room for a broom.

Of course, he had to buy a trailer to haul it. UGH.

Max has an affinity for tables. Maybe it’s the food.

Our plan is to leave the day after the closing, hopefully, that is the 25th. We should know by now but we don’t. We’ll drive a longer day the first day because it’s fresh and new. By day 2 we should both be tired of driving and will take shorter days. A lot will depend on how the dogs are doing also. We’re allowing 5 days but may make it in 4. I called the Post Office and asked them to hold our mail until we can get a mailbox up. I asked if Ace was right in town. Arlene’s response was, “oh honey, it’s right at the intersection of the only traffic light in town.” I’m thinking I won’t need GPS in Burkesville.

I’m done for the night, going to chill before I crash. Bill has help loading his tools tomorrow so I can try to organize what’s left in the kitchen.

We plan to leave Thursday morning.

Next time you hear from me I’ll be saying “you all” and have a twang to my dialect.

Like a rolling stone.

7/29/2021 What was I thinking? It’s almost like an out-of-body experience. Moving again. I knew this Arizona gig was not forever, but I did try to ignore that. I like Arizona, I love the conveniences we have living where we do. It’s a nice change from Roatan. But. It’s HOT. DAMN HOT. It’s a dry heat, which means absolutely nothing. It’s a blast furnace. Dry doesn’t even enter into this heat. It DOESN”T MATTER. Wet heat would be better I’m sure. Give me some sweaty under-boob.

So, the house is 3/4 packed. That does NOT include any of Bill’s garage stuff, which is not packed. That just gives me a little anxiety. There are boxes everywhere. When I pack I’m in overdrive, panic mode. I packed all the damn dental floss (bought more) and I had to send the Water Pik back, it flipped the breakers and wouldn’t work. I’ll order another once we get settled. I do miss that thing though, it really cleans your teeth.

I got all the empty boxes in the neighborhood a few weeks ago. I even went to other ‘hoods and picked up boxes. Having other people’s boxes is like a glimpse into their lives, kind of strange.

The master closet looks like this too. This pile has grown considerably.

The boys know something is up. They follow me like they are glued to my ankles. It’s really a pain in the butt, cute as it is, they are a “trip” hazard. I turn around and Highway is sprawled right in my path. ALL DAMN DAY. It’s frustrating.

I have watermelon. They LOVE it and they also love strawberries and blueberries.

So. Bill and I went to Tucson to look at an RV. It’s a 2000 Fleetwood Bounder, 30′ long. It has 2 slideouts which help to make it much bigger for continued (egads) living. It is totally NOT my style but it’s really clean inside. The people took good care of it. The carpet is worn from people getting into the front seats but we’re going to have 4 dogs in this thing. We were gone a long time the day we went to look at it. On the way home, we could see rain to the north. Highway was locked in our bedroom and the 3 boys were in their crates. There was a thunderstorm while we were away. When we got home, Highway had tried to dig his way out through the carpet, in the master bedroom of a house THAT IS SOLD. The carpet is pitiful at best, Bill did not want to replace it in the 3 bedrooms so we had it cleaned and dealt with the ugliness of it. Now we have to get it repaired. DOGS!

We’ve named the RV Walt because as Olivia pointed out, it is the same kind of RV that Walter White and Jessie Pinkman used to cook meth in Breaking Bad. I guarantee there will be no cooking meth in this. Right now Walt is at the repair shop, there is a bad exhaust leak and we want other stuff checked out before we head east.

If we lose some bucks selling it, it was worth it not having to look for an apartment or house rental for a few months. The dogs can run and we can get some things done. Hopefully a garden so I can grow veggies and flowers. I can’t wait. It’s been a long time.

The last visit to the foot doctor happened, he discharged me. My foot is getting better, not great, but better. The Doc thinks the water aerobics and the 50 laps I do with my fins on has helped it get more flexibility. It still hurts, most of the time but I’ve kind of grown used to that. It will be a year until it’s feeling better, if that happens.

I could do more than 50 laps but I get bored, there is nothing to look at. It takes me 15 minutes to do the laps.

And then I float, not every day, but often. I can float for an unusually long period of time without moving. If you noticed in the pic the 2″ white line directly below my top, that is the shaded area that doesn’t get much sun when I sit on a chair in the pool and read.

My cactus has been going crazy lately. I’m not sure why but I have never seen so many flowers. Last year it would have 8 or 10 per day, now there are way more than that. The bees are in pollen heaven.

Using Google lens, this is identified as a Cereus Jamacaru. It sure looks like it.

This was Saturday morning, flowers galore. I could hear the bees while I was still on the porch. The dogs are keeping away from it.

We had allergy tests done on Barrio and he’s pretty much allergic to every damn thing there is, except Salmon, Turkey and Duck. No peas or flax or rice. It’s really hard and really expensive to find food he can eat. We have stopped cooking liver and veggies. Doing that did nothing to make his skin better so why bother? His armpit is clearing up. Isn’t it odd that it’s just ONE armpit and not both? AND, Gringo has the same thing in the opposite armpit, although not as bad. Max has never had skin issues. It’s very frustrating.

I took Barrio to the vet to chat about his skin. I let the dogs out before I left, then put 3 in their crates and had Barrio jump in the car. We got to the vets and checked in, sat down and I noticed Barrio had a cactus thorn sticking out of his nose. I tried to pull it out but was afraid to tug on it so I had the vet do it. I know exactly where he got that cactus thorn, from the blooming cactus. A dove built a nest in there and it’s within reach of the dogs. She recently abandoned the nest with 2 eggs in it. It was not a wise thought on the doves’ part to nest there. I kept Barrio away as much as I could, he was the only one interested. He’s lucky he didn’t get one in his eye. They hurt and luckily, I’ve never had one break off in my skin.

We had a Haboob 2 nights in a row. They were not as bad as the one last year. Many areas had more severe weather than we did this time. Then the rains came, they started Thursday night with a wild thunder and lightning storm. The dogs were not thrilled. It rained off and on, sometimes really hard, until Sunday afternoon.

This is the park we usually walkthrough. Totally flooded. Mosquito city.

Saturated. The dogs wouldn’t walk on it.

It’s finally dried up out there and is back to being hot. It’s weird when it rains. In the jungle, it always felt so fresh and clean after a downpour. Here, it is a wet dirt smell that hangs in the air, not a breath of freshness to be seen.

And that’s why we’re headed back to the mountains.

The time we bought land for the dogs.

Just in case you are so inclined, you can sing along with Neil. Click HERE

June 27, 2021 I’m sitting here thinking of everything I have to get done in the next 60 days. August 27th is the last day in the Arizona house. I’ll more than likely begin making to-do lists for the next several weeks.

Let me first say, it’s not that I don’t like neighbors, I just don’t like the fact that they live next to my house, on both sides, in front, and in back. I never feel alone at my pool because there are 3~ 2 story homes towering over me. I can see them, so they’re close. I prefer to not see another house, I just want to see woods and green and sky. Our neighbors are very nice as are the friends we have made here, we will miss them. It was a great easy place for me to live alone for a few months, that turned into a year. It just was not the best for the dogs, not at all.

I am looking forward to being able to walk the dogs in the woods. They won’t know what to think. I am so excited for them to see snow too, Barrio will probably be afraid of it. Change is good. It helps that these dogs are so chill when it comes to change, it will all be for the best.

Land starts to the left of the white route sign at the top and follows the road and goes west. Burkesville, KY.

Almost 40X60. Close enough to the size the shop was in Everson.

I can not wait to be in the woods again. We left 28 acres in Everson for the jungle in Roatan. The jungle was gorgeous, simply an amazing place to live. If you have not seen the video of our island house, click HERE. It was a very secluded home, despite the fact there was a house down the hill from the entrance to our driveway, we couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see us. Leaving there and moving here, I feel like I’m in a fishbowl. I don’t like it. Nor do I like the fact that my dogs can’t bark here, I try to keep them quiet because “neighbors.”

We really lucked out with the selling of the AZ house. Bill met a lady at the gym and after a few weeks they started talking. She’s a realtor and he mentioned that we were hoping to sell our place. She was interested in knowing more so Bill asked if she would give us a suggested selling price for the house. She said sure, she was happy to do it. In 2 days she came back with a price and we were shocked. THEN, she messaged Bill and said she had a buyer for our place. Her husband is a broker and he is working with the guy who will be managing the Texas Roadhouse restaurant here in Casa Grande. He’s been trying to buy and kept getting in a bidding war with all of the properties. The market here is on fire. He was excited to get the opportunity to make an offer and have it accepted without it getting on the market. We were thrilled because we didn’t have to deal with making the dogs vanish when people were viewing the house. He came and looked, (after he made the offer that we accepted) and 2 hours after he left we had the full price offer and he bought ALL of our furniture. I just bought all of the furniture new in Jan 2020. This will be the 3rd time since Oct 2013 that I have moved to a different house with zero furniture. I’m sort of looking forward to buying ALL new furniture again, sort of. Not really.

Finding the land in Kentucky was a fluke. I was haphazardly looking on Realtor.com and came across this land in Kentucky. Originally we were looking in Tennesee but as soon as we saw something we liked, it was already sold. I decided to see what Ky. had to offer. I saw this listing and thought it was too good to be true. I called Bill in to look, he was very interested and called the listing agent immediately. Even though we have never been to Kentucky, we made an offer on the property and the next morning found out it was accepted. It’s out in the boonies, sort of, not nearly as many conveniences as there are here, but it’s also not 110+ degrees every damn day. The dogs will be much happier.

The land has a newly built concrete foundation that was going to be for a house. It’s almost 40X60. It needs a concrete floor poured, the walls made higher and a roof, it will make a great shop for Bill. There is already water and electricity there, we have to put in a septic system, it’s been perk tested and approved for one. There is a gravel road also. The land is heavily wooded, lightly wooded and cleared, a little bit of everything. The dogs will not know what to do with no fences around them. Next spring we will put in a pool.

So, now the plan is to buy a motorhome here and Bill will drive it and I’ll drive my car, each with 2 dogs. We’ll go to the property and get the shop done and the house built. And, we’ll live in the motorhome. We initially planned to buy a camper to pull with my car; however, the weight limit really made it a no-go. The trailer would be the size of a postage stamp and if it were just 2 people it would be fine, maybe, but add in 4 big dogs and it’s guaranteed to make me insane.

Blame ALL OF THIS on these guys. We could have bought 5 acres but we wanted more for their running pleasure.

They don’t appreciate me taking their photos.

I took some evening photos for the buyer. The pool lights are on in this shot.

So peaceful. Except for the houses all around.

This is on a type of prickly pear cactus (I think), second time it’s bloomed this season.

I went to get my teeth cleaned the other week. The hygenist started talking about the Water Pik flosser and how great it is. Of course, she had a captive audience, before I left the chair I had one ordered. She gave me one significant tip, lean over. Probably the 2 most important words ever spoken when having a water pik conversation. It came the next day and I was eager to try it. O M G. Seriously, O M G. And I thought the Sonic Care toothbrush was tricky to use. [I learned quickly that you can not set the Sonic Care on the counter and position your teeth over the brush (that is vibrating at 30K cycles per minute) while using your hands to apply mascara]. It doesn’t freaking work, don’t even waste your time trying it to see if you can do it. It’s a no for sure. The WaterPik is a similar challenge. The first time using it I thought I was going to drown. I had, what was surely 11 gallons of water in my mouth, drowning for sure. Then I realized I could open my mouth and just let the water run out. That seems so uncouth though. There must be a proper way to use this thing. Another thing, do not use the flosser pik on a high speed. This is important if you wish to retain the gums that are on your teeth. Do you know how hard it is to aim that damn thing at the gum line when you can’t look up because your mirror and sink area will look like they made a trip over Niagara Falls. It’s not easy, but my teeth do feel well cleansed after using it and each time is getting easier.

Gringo likes to lay next to my pillow when I’m reading in bed. If another dog gets that position before Gringo does, he sleeps alongside the bed, squashed in against the wall.

He may as well talk, he is the bossiest dog we have ever had. Max rules.

The grocery store sent free coupons, one was for this ice cream. It was excellent but $4.99 a PINT.

Right hand side of display, by green box. 107 degrees. That’s a normal here, that was at 10AM also.

We cleaned for 2 days before the buyer came to see the house he was buying. Bill is using the floor steamer. The dogs aren’t fond of any floor tools.

The sky actually dripped for less than 5 minutes. It smells so weird here when it rains, a real wet dust smell.

Every bag of dog food must be inspected by Max before we throw it away.

I did a foot doc and Costco run the other day. Bill is cutting one of their rotisserie chickens up and the boys are drooling.

My handsome lawn ornaments. Just wish they pooped in the toilet.

I have been spending my mornings in the pool. I sit on a chair on the shelf and read for 30-45 min, then I get in the pool with my hand weights and do water aerobics for 30 minutes, then I swim a few laps and get out and lay on a chaise until I’m dried off. I try to be back inside by 11:30-12. After that, it’s just too darn hot.

I am going to start packing my heavier winter clothes, things I won’t need until the end of October. We’ll probably have our stuff shipped to us, except Bill will trailer his tools that he will need with the motorhome. The motorhome we still don’t have. We’ll get one, no super hurry, we can’t park it here anyhow and will just have to pay for storage.

I think I will go in my closet and box some winter things. It will feel good to actually start packing, make it seem like it really is happening. And it is.