Trout Opener - April 2009

April found us off to the Sierra Nevada for the opening day of fishing season. While most folks head on up to the lakes, I have always been content spending opening day on my favorite stream. Big Pine creek is nothing to shout about, but the area is dear to my heart, having been visiting there for about 40 years. Sandy was unable to go this year but Chris, my oldest son, came along. We had a great time together and I can't wait to do this again! Below is a picture of Boldlygo hooked up to the truck. We are stopped here in a little town named Randsburg. Randsburg is just a mile off of Highway 395 between Kramer Junction and Ridgecrest. Sandy and I had seen a Hewell Howser episode where he visited this town. I was intrigued, so I drove the 1 mile off the road to see what there was to see. Well . . . there wasn't much to see. I took a picture of Chris in the town jail and then we hit the road again. I probably won't bother stopping in Randsburg again anytime soon!We arrived in camp about 1:00 in the afternoon, the day before the opener. We normally stay at the Upper Sage Flat campground, but upon arrival we were informed that it was closed for at least a week so that they could get their water well repaired. Apparently it did not survive the winter. The camp host was there, but the gates were locked. We chatted with the host for a while, a real nice fellow named Roy, recently retired from a job as a correctional officer. As an alternative, we ended up having to camp at the Sage Flat Campground, about a mile downstream. It's a very nice campground, but I still prefer Upper Sage Flat. After getting camp set up, we relaxed by the fire for a while. Actually, we spent a great deal of time sitting around the fire on this particular weekend. It really is relaxing to just sit around and talk. No TV, no phone, no distractions. Chris is wearing short pants in the picture below, but don't let that fool you. The temperature at the time this photo was taken was about 52 degrees. At night, the temps dipped into the low 30's. Opening day morning, the thermometer was hovering right at 30. A might nippy for sure, but it really did make that fire feel good!!On opening morning, we were up at the crack of dawn and off to the creek. The bite was pretty slow in the morning, probably due to the cold weather. Regardless, we were able to pick up a few nice trout. Below is a picture of Chris with a couple of his fish.

And here's a picture of me with my catch.
Nice looking fish, huh? The one on the right was just under 14".

After working up an appetite fishing, we came back to camp for a nice hearty breakfast. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of the bacon frying. Nothing like bacon on a nice crisp mountain morning. We added some pancakes too and had a camping feast. Of course, we had to eat fast. It was still so cold outside that our food would chill before we could finish eating!

Next to our campsite was my brother and sister-in-law's camp. Here's a picture of my brother with their faithful camping companion Bocephus. Boey (for short) is a Chocolate Lab and tips the scales at 100 pounds!! He's a real sweetheart and as friendly as can be. A funny story - Boey came over to our camp and stole a piece of firewood and walked off with it. He IS a Lab after all . . . after walking away 15 yards or so, he abruptly dropped the wood and started sniffing around. His nose led him another 20 yards or so, where he found a partially decomposed coyote. He picked it up and headed back towards us. My brother grabbed it from him and threw it into the brush away from our campsites. Boey spent the rest of the weekend sniffing around after that carcass. In the background, you can see my brother's camp.

Here's a shot of me standing next to Boldlygo:

Here's another shot of Chris in our camp.

Oh yeah . . . I forgot to mention . . . when you catch fish, somebody has to clean them! Here's a shot of Chris filleting our trout. Thanks for taking care of that chore Chris!! Of course, his hands stunk like fish the rest of the weekend . . . :-)
Well, that's it. Just a short account of the latest adventures of Boldlygo. Next trip - back to the same place for Memorial Day!!!

Back to Pomona - or is that 'Buck to Pomona'?

Pomona KOA - January 30-February 1, 2009

Well, this was the first trip of this year, the last couple of months being taken up by the holidays. Of course, if the reader has been following this blog, you will realize that our December blog had to do with an addition to our family - a purebred Black Labrador Retriever named Buck.

Sandy and I have been planning to take Buck camping with us, maybe not all the time, but at least on those occasions when we are able to do so. We decided that if Buck was going to go camping with us, we might as well get him accustomed to the RV lifestyle while he is still a puppy. So, we figured we ought to go someplace fairly close so as not to expose him to hours and hours of driving (he's still getting used to riding in the truck). Where better to head off to than Pomona Fairplex KOA, the same place we took Boldlygo on her maiden voyage?

The Pomona Fairplex KOA is directly across from the fairgrounds on Fairplex drive. This is only the second time that we have been there, but we have found the grounds to be very clean and the staff very helpful and friendly. While making reservations, the reservation clerk (her name was Nancy I believe) made us promise that we would bring Buck by for a visit while we were there. She told us that, at one time, she had a black lab and wanted to play with our little Buck for a while. Anyhow, off to Pomona we went, me in the driver's seat, Sandy riding shotgun and Buck cowering in the back seat.

I've got to say that, although he didn't get a chance to do much running around (important for a lab pup), he still was a pretty good boy. Judging from the pictures below, I would say he's probably ready to go again!!

Here's a picture of Buck and Sandy sitting alongside of Boldlygo. No, Buck isn't getting ready to take a dump. I just happened to snap the picture at the same time he was (finally) sitting down:

We took Buck's bed outside so that he would (hopefully) lay down while we sat around talking and reading. It didn't work all that well since he was so full of unburned energy. Regardless, it gave me a place to point at and yell "lay down, sit, rollover, play dead"!! Here's a pic of me sitting in my chair with Buck pretty much ignoring my stern commands:
Buck is up to about 40 pounds now. He's not huge, but he's not tiny either. Here's a pic of him inside of Boldlygo, laying in front of the bathroom door. It doesn't pay to have an emergency when he's laying there:

Speaking of his growing size, Sandy decided to take a picture of Buck's huge paws. It gives you an idea of how big he may eventually be. For those of you with a doggie foot fetish, here's a closeup pic of his dirty soles (yuck):Most of the time while we are driving, Buck prefers to lay in the back seat floorboard. On the way home, he finally decided to sit on the seat and look out the window. Here's a shot Sandy snapped while he was so doing:All in all, it was a successful weekend of camping with Buck. There were some challenges, no doubt. For instance, I would have liked to sleep in past 5:30. However, when you have a pup, you learn to get up early to take him out to pee. Otherwise, he may just find a convenient place to do his business inside - like right where you step first thing in the morning. Some other challenges that the RVer faces when camping with a dog (especially with a pup) is that some dogs don't like to pee or poop while on a leash. This was not a problem with Buck. He acted the same as always, that is, feed him a pound of food and within an hour he'll evacuate 3 pounds of poop. Not sure how that works . . . but trust me on this. Another challenge is getting enough of his energy sapped for him to be ready to go to bed at a decent hour. This is more difficult than it may seem, since he had to be on a leash all the time we were outside. Of course, one of the biggest challenges is the fact that he is a dog and therefore lays on the floor. Where on the floor? Well now, that depends. Do you need to use the bathroom? He'll be laying in front of the door. Do you need to cook dinner? He's laying in front of the stove. Do you need to do dishes? He's laying in front of the sink. Do you need to go outside for something? Well . . . you get the idea. Our Boldlygo is a pretty small travel trailer. Just the right size for Sandy and I as long as only one of us is walking around at any given time. With Buck along, all bets are off. We may just go looking for a larger unit in the near future . . . not because of Buck, but because Boldygo DOESN'T HAVE AN OVEN!!!

Be well everyone and God bless.

Meet Buck

Buck the wonderdog! 12/26/08

Let us introduce you to the newest member of our family. Buck is a black Labrador Retriever, born on September 28, 2008, which makes him about 12 weeks of age in these pictures. These pics were shot on the day that we brought Buck home. This first pic is of Becky holding Buck.

The day after Christmas, we finally decided that it was time to get another dog. So, we thought we would look around at a couple of local pet stores to see what they had. I am a bit leery of pet stores and where they get their animals. We didn't want a puppy that came out of a 'puppy mill'. Rather, we wanted a pup that came from a respectable breeder. Buck came from a professional breeder in Arkansas. I suppose that makes Buck a red neck. Of course, with a name like Buck, being a red neck is part of the territory.

Here's a couple of shots of me with the Buckster. Yeah, his name is Buck, but we have come up with a number of variations of his name, depending upon his (or our) mood. For instance, when he is playful, he is the Buckster. When he's been bad, he's a Buck-head. When he whines, he's Buck Owens. When we're really upset with him, he's a Buck-face. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea. Post edit: It has been pointed out to me that our pet names (pun intended) for Buck could be taken to mean something that we are not implying. When we call him Buck Head or Buck Whatever, please insert the word 'Butt', NOT THE OTHER WORD!!
Buck was in the first pet store we went to. He was right out front, laying down sleeping when we first saw him. Of course, it didn't take much coaxing to get him to play with us a bit. Sandy fell in love with him immediately. It took me a few more minutes to warm up to him, although I knew in my heart that this was the dog for us. I have always loved labs - and especially black labs. They have such a wonderul temperament as well as being very intelligent. They make wonderful pets and are especially good with children. They are not normally aggressive and are easily trained. Of course, we are in the middle of training right now. House training, leash training (the most difficult thing it seems), command training (sit, stay, down), etc. It's a lot of work, but a dog that is obedient is a joy to the owner and content with himself.

We were a bit reluctant to take on the responsibility of another dog, but in the end, our hearts won out over our heads. It has been years since we raised and trained a puppy. My brother and sister in law came over on Saturday to meet Buck. They brought a squeaky duck toy for Buck to play with. It has become one of his most favorite things!! While here, my brother mentioned that he thought the dog was a bit lethargic. We had an appointment with the vet on Sunday, but wishing to err on the side of caution, we decided to call the vet and take Buck in that day. I'm glad we did. We were concerned about Buck possibly having Parvo and although his Parvo test turned out negative, we did find that he had parasites. Hmmm . . . what the heck is a parasite? I've known a few people that I considered to be parasites . . . so was the doc telling us that we were parasites, since Buck had us? No . . . well maybe . . . but actually, the doc was telling us that Buck had worms. Oh joy . . . Anyhow, the doc gave us some medicine for Buck and as of this writing, he is doing much better.

So now you are introduced to Buck. Right now, he's wagging his tail. I guess that must mean that he is happy to meet you. :-) Watch for pictures of Buck while he roams around with us on our frequent forays with Boldlygo!!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

Flying Flags RV Park, Buellton, California

Thanksgiving weekend found us back at one of our favorite campgrounds, Flying Flags RV park in Buellton, California. Buellton is right on highway 101 about halfway between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. It also sits just 4 miles or so from the tourist trap of a town called Solvang. We love the area up there and go back as often as possible. We usually spend at least one day in Solvang, going through the shops and eating a pancake like desert named Aebleskeevers. At least I think I spelled that right . . . Of course, there are a lot of foreign tourist in the town and quite a few immigrants that are manning the shops. In one such shop, on a previous visit, we heard a conversation between the shopkeeper and one of our fellow Americans. To make a long story short, the American lady was basically apologizing for being American. NOT ME BROTHER!! I WILL NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR BEING A PART OF THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH!! Can you see that I am rather passionate about this? Sandy and I are PROUD AMERICANS and will never apologize for being patriots. Regardless, there are stupid people all over the world. We ignored this particular dim-wit and continued to enjoy our trip, shaking off the dust from our clothing as we left that shop. Really, truly, Solvang is worth seeing.

However, the real bright spots in what's known as the Santa Inez valley, are the little towns that dot the valley. The towns of Santa Inez, Los Alamos, Los Olivos, etc., are wonderful destinations. All three of these towns are very historic. I won't go into a long history here, but you can Google any or all of these to find the history of the towns.

While in Los Olivos, you may want to check out the old gas station on the corner. Which corner? Well, I think there's only one corner in town, so it's a little hard to miss. This station opened in 1901, one of the first gas stations in the state of California. It operated continuously until 1999, nearly 100 years. They were finally forced out of business because of the cost of complying with the new environmental laws. Lousy tree huggers ruined this guy's business and destroyed a historical landmark in the process. The building is still there and is now a trinket shop. Here's a pic.

Right kitty-corner across the street is a very cool tack shop (saddlery). We love to browse through their collection of bridles, saddles, clothing, bits, etc. Everything you would need to take care of your horse, you can still get in this place. Here's a pic of the saddlery.

Up the road a ways, there are numerous wineries. Even non-drinkers would be interested in seeing some of these places. The Firestone family, of tire fame, has a place up there. Fess Parker, the actor who played Davy Crockett in the 50's and Daniel Boone in the 60's has a place up there. He is sometimes there, signing autographs for his customers. Sandy and I were not fortunate enough to run into him on this trip. Also, at one of the places along the road, there is a giant chess game. The board probably measures about 15' x 15', maybe a little more. We happened to chance upon two women who were losing badly to their husbands. Well, after watching for a few minutes, I could see that, although the women were not very good chess players, their husbands were only slightly better. So, I jumped in and helped the women. Yup, we whipped the husbands in about 6 moves. The ladies were so excited, jumping up and down over their win. However, I don't think the husbands were all that thrilled . . . Anyhow, here's a pic of Fess Parker's place.

Next, we visited Los Alamos. Los Alamos dates back to the 1880's. You can do a Google search if you would like to know more about the town. Suffice to say, since Sandy and I love all things historic, we were thrilled to find this little hamlet. There is a hotel in town that was built in 1880, then burned to the ground and was re-built in the early 20th century. It now serves as a bed and breakfast. Here's a pic of the hotel. As in Los Olivos, there is an old gas station that has been shuttered for who-knows-how-long. We had to take a picture of the prices on the pump. Notice that it is in liters. Also notice that it is leaded gas. Must have closed sometime in the early 70's. Here's the station. And here is the gas pump showing the price.37 1/2 cents per liter. Hmmmm . . . that works out to about a buck and a half a gallon. Hmmm . . . Of course, gas is getting pretty close to that number around here over the last couple of months. But, slObama hasn't taken office yet. Stock up on all the gas you can before that lib-dem taxes it up to 9 bucks.

As always, we had a wonderful time in Buellton. We barbequed a steak for Thanksgiving dinner, had a nice dinner out at AJ Spurs one night, sat around the campfire every evening and, in general, just relaxed. We can't wait to go back next year. Who knows? Maybe Chris and Florica will go next year!!

Happy Trails!!

Anaheim!!

The first full weekend in November found us on Friday night, heading out for another (short) adventure. I was off work at 4:00 and went down to pick up some provisions and to get Boldlygo ready for our trip. Sandy arrived at home soon after and off we went, all the way to . . . Anaheim!! Yes, the Anaheim that is home to Disneyland since 1955. The Anaheim that is home to the Ducks professional hockey team. The Anaheim from whence hails the Angels baseball team, the same ones who won 100 games this last season but couldn't even get past the first round of the playoffs!!!!

Now, Anaheim is only about 15 miles from our home in Whittier. So you may ask "why Anaheim". To which I would respond "why NOT Anaheim"? It's close, so we didn't burn a lot of gas getting there. The RV Park was clean and reasonably priced . . . and it is close enough so that when we forgot our toiletries in a bag at home, we could go and pick them up :-) Oh well, we had nothing better to do, now did we?
Now, you also may say that 'camping' in Anaheim is not really camping. I will grant that . . . we weren't really camping, rather we were RVing. The Anaheim Resort and Campground is a fairly large park, with accomodations for smaller rigs, like our Boldlygo, all the way up to and including huge buses and 5th wheels. It's basically a concrete slab with a couple of strips of grass here and there. Definitely not our favorite type of 'camping'. However, it afforded us the opportunity to get away for a weekend, just the two of us, without the distractions of all the things we would "have" to do if we were at home. It was a really relaxing weekend. Oh, I need to mention that, although the RV park had free WI-FI, they didn't have cable television!! What the . . . ??!! No problem, we brought a DVD along and watched that instead. Mmmm, Mmmm . . . a big old juicy steak, baked potato and mushrooms along with the movie Talledega Nights. Now, what could be better?
On Saturday, we went to Disney Walk - a place that we had never been. It was okay I suppose, although I prefer Universal City Walk. Then we headed over to a little Mexican place named Los Sanchez for a nice lunch. Then back to the park to just sit and enjoy the afternoon. Some of our best conversations come when we are sitting around outside of Boldlygo, with nothing to do except be together.

Shawanda, Rest in Peace

Shawanda, our faithful companion, October 1997 - October 2008


It is with great sadness of heart that I post this blog. On Sunday, October 12, 2008, at approximately 2:00 PM, our beloved dog Shawanda passed away. A few years ago, I had a hard drive crash and unfortunately, I lost a lot of pictures that I had of her. Below are a few that I was able to put together for this post.

The above picture is a pretty typical shot of Shawanda. She always wanted to be right with me, wherever I went. Most of the time however, she thought that SHE was the one who was supposed to be leading!! As she got older and slower and I got older and slower, it seemed like we were always in each other's way! But by our side was where she always wanted to be.
Above is a picture of one of the things that Shawanda did best . . . sleep! When I picked her out at the pet store back in '97, I could hardly get her awake enough to see a little of her personality. She pert near slept through the whole thing. And then when I got her home, I lay down with her on the floor, where she put her head on my arm and fell back asleep! She slept next to my bed almost every night for the next 11 years. Of course, she could be a bit of a noisy sleeper and although that didn't keep me awake, I think that Sandy spent a few sleepless nights because of Shawanda's snoring - not to mention the occasional fart that would make your eyes water! We finally decided that certain types of table scraps were not conducive to a good night's rest. Sometimes the farts were SBD's, but often they were actually audible. She's the only dog I've ever known that you could hear her farts. She'd rip one off and then look up at me . . . I always thought that she thought it was funny. On other occasions, we've seen her rip one and then get up and move, as if to get away from her own smell! I know it's funny to admit, but I'm even going to miss her farts.
Above is the second best thing she loved to do - beg for food! She knew the words dinner and biscuit. Dinner time was a time for running around impatiently, looking at me moving too slowly to suit her. She also loved her biscuits - dog biscuits of course. I gave them to her several times every evening. I think it was the highlight of her day!

Above is a picture of her at an earlier time, before we moved to our new house. I don't remember exactly what she was doing in this picture, but she was probably staring at a bird. Although she was a German Shepard/Black Lab mix, she was the birdiest dog I have ever seen. She would chase birds all day long when she was younger. Bird was another word that she recognized. I would say "where's the bird" and she would look up in the sky, gazing around to find the bird.

She's also the only dog I've ever known to smile. Yes, she smiled . . . at least her version of it. When she was really excited, her lips would pull back, exposing her teeth, not in a threatening way, but rather in what could only be decribed as a dog smile. She quit smiling a year or so ago . . . I don't think she felt very well over the last year. Of course, she was starting to get old and a little bit slow.

I always thought that taking my dog camping would be a lot of fun. So, I took her camping . . . once . . . and told myself that I would never do that again!! I never did. Of course, I don't think she minded that at all. She didn't have a very good time camping :-)

The third picture from the top, where she is sleeping, is almost the exact position that we found her in when she passed from us. It was a favorite spot for her to curl up. We installed a doggie door in our laundry room, so that she could get inside whenever she wanted to. Apparently, she came inside the house to die . . .

About two months ago, Shawanda got sick. We had just returned from vacation and she didn't quite seem to be herself. She was a bit lethargic and lay around a little more than usual. A couple of nights later, she had what we believe must have been a seizure of some sort. She recovered slowly and from that point, I though she was going to be okay, maybe just a little bit of some sort of flu. However, she again got sick a couple of weeks later. This pattern repeated one more time and during all of this, her appetite was slipping and she was losing weight. By the time of her death, she had gone from a robust 70 pounds down to a mere 59 pounds. This last go-round of sickness she was unable to recover from. The vet believes that she had what they called a liver or stomach "mass". I don't know what that means . . . but apparently that mass finally ruptured and that is what took her life. Although we miss her, I am thankful that she died peacefully. I don't believe that she was in any pain, even right up until the end. It was a merciful death.

At this point, we are really missing our friend. We realize that with time, we will miss her less. But Shawanda, although gone, will never be forgotten. She was our friend, our faithful companion. She always gave us more than we could ever give in return.

Rest in peace our beloved friend. You've earned it.

Thousand Trails Acton October 2008

Thousand Trails, Acton, California October 2008

The first week of October found us at Thousand Trails campground in Acton. Where the heck is Acton you ask? Well, I had to figure that out too. Acton is a small town near Agua Dulce along highway 14. It is situated between Palmdale and San Fernando. It's about an hour and a half drive from our home. The campground, owned by Thousand Trails is private and they allow camping only for members and their guests. On this particular weekend, we were invited to stay there by our good friends Kenny and Sherri. The campground is GInormous, covering 266 acres and boasting about a brazilian campsites. Kenny and Sherri are very familiar with the layout, but for us first timers, it was easy to get lost in that place. Yes, it really is that big. Kenny and Sherri have been members there for about 15 years or so. The campground has a pond for fishing, horses for rent, a couple of HUGE swimming pools, several clubhouses, a general store . . . pretty much everything you would need for a really nice week or weekend away.

Somhow or another, we ended up picking the one weekend when the weather decided to get cold. We even got sprinkled on a little bit. But two days after we got home, it was 95 degrees. Hmmm . . . bad timing on our part. Because it was so chilly outside, we decided to go for pizza on Saturday night, rather than cooking and then sitting outside for dinner. Below is a shot of Sandy, Becky and I at the pizza joint.

Here's another pic of Becky at the pizza place. I think this is about as happy as Becky ever gets :-)
Below is a picture of our friends, Kenney, Sherri and their little girl Emily. Emily is Miss Sandy's bestest friend. The two seem to be inseparable.
Here's another shot of Sandy's bestest friend Emily.

As I mentioned earlier, they have horses for rent at Thousand Trails. The rental fee is very reasonable and although we did not climb up on the hurricane deck, we at least said hello to the horses. There was a buckskin that decided to say hello back to me, whinnying and blowing snot all over me. Oh well . . . it could have been worse . . . he could have turned around . . .

Here's a pic of me and the best half of our marriage in front of a mock up western town.

Now, this is more like it!!! Being part Cherokee and part Choctaw, I could appreciate the way those heathens, the Apaches, used to live. None of that crap for us in the civilized tribes. Our people learned to build real houses. Of course, we had the first indian language alphabet too :-)

Near the fishing pond, there was a huge flock of ducks (and one goose) that hung out hoping for handouts. We had some very nice biscuits left over from breakfast, so Emily got to feed the ducks (and the one goose). And by the way, what's up with that one goose? Does he thinks he's just a really, really big duck or something? I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was a goose. He probably deals with enough rejection already . . .

Here's a shot of Boldlygo and our big ol' Dodge. The area that we were camped in was actually a group camp area. However, it was just the 6 of us, our friends in their trailer and us in Boldlygo. It was very nice and peaceful over here. On Saturday morning, we had a Coyote approach the trailer. I went outside and the critter got within about 30 yards of me before he finally winded me and figured out I wasn't his friend. I sure wanted to shoot that thing, but I don't think Thousand Trails would approve of me blasting away in the middle of their campground.

The last picture here is of me dumping the poopies out the back of Boldlygo. This is a ritual that takes place about a half hour before we leave any campsite that includes hookups. It's not exactly the most fun part of the trip . . . but someone has to do it. I haven't talked Sandy into taking on that job . . . yet . . . so for the short term, I will continue to do it . . . and complain :-)

This was a great weekend at a great place with great friends. What more could one ask for?