Paws Visit

May 14th, 2015

Today I took Jess to get her nails trimmed and her weight checked. We some how fattened her up by 5 lbs between December and January. The vet wanted her to LOSE 10 pounds. Oops!  She is doing better now and is getting her weight down thanks to a diet food she loves............well she loves ALL food. We never feed her people food and she doesn't beg.  

On the way to the vet we passed her previous home of Paws Animal Shelter and I saw someone laying on the ground out in the pen playing with the dogs and I knew it had to be Nita! So on the way home we stopped to visit her. Here is the facebook post about it:Visit to paws

Here is what Jess had to say. First, that she loved seeing Nita and missed her so and all the dress ups she used to do with her and the belly rubs. Ms Nita cried when she first saw me and I ran up to her and kissed her, we had a great time and I told her I would come back again and visit her and my other friends like Matt below

Then Jessie had this thought about the hallway she was in:

I hated that hallway, lots of people would come down that hallway and walk past my cage and not see me at all. I spent almost 8 months watching the door that came from that hallway!

I loved that hallway, all my friends at Paws would come down that hallway every morning and feed, pet and play with me and they did it every day. I waited each morning for that door to open and the hallway that brought my friends. 

Then the day came that my parents walked down that hallway and came in and saw me and asked if I wanted to go home with them. I wagged my tail and stared into my new moms eyes and she could see that I really did, then they walked back down that hall way and left me. I didn't understand.

The next day they came back and took me out of my cage and we walked down that hallway together and out the door to my new home!

Now that hallway is just a hallway!

Dog Days

November 28th, 2014

Well, today is my mothers birthday. She has been gone for 28 years and I still wish I could talk to her. Happy Birthday Mom!

Also after a hiatus of about 3-1/2 years we have decided to look for a new fur child (dog). I am writing this after the fact so don't get confused. :)

We stopped at the humane society in Springfield only to be told they were not open today. We thought we should go rescue a dog from Paws Animal Shelter in Champaign County. It was always hard to walk into shelters and seeing all the faces of the dogs wanting a new set of parents after being betrayed by the previous ones, yet still trusting in that you will give them new life. As we walked by the cages I was ahead of Deanna and I was just trying to get an overview of what types of dogs were there. Deanna on the other hand had already found that furever member of our family. Meet Jessie:

Deanna came to Jessie's cage and she set there just like this, perfectly quiet and wagging her tail, their eyes met and Deanna asked her if she wanted to come home with us and the deal was sealed!

We filled out the paperwork and were told it would take a few days to approve the application. They asked who our vet was and we told them Urbana Vet clinic and gave the names of our dogs. Surprisingly the next morning we got a call we could come pick Jessie up! I was at the Home Depot store when I got the call. I called Deanna and told her I would be on my way and we could go get her. First though was a stop at PetSmart for a couple hundred dollars worth of doggy stuff! LOL. 

We would really like to thank Paws and especially Nita and Matthew for caring for Jessie during her stay and also all the people who didn't see what a great dog Jessie was and walked on by her leaving her for us to find!

We are proud to say we are rescuers of a pet in need!

 

Smokey Mountains

May 8th-12th, 2014
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Vacationing in the Smokey Mountains with our friend Malia Lane. Assorted pictures from Cades Cove, Clingmans Dome, NC and the Foothills

Visiting Ken and Kathy

May 4th-8th, 2014
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Watertown, Tennessee

Burgess Falls State Park

West Milton Falls

January 19, 2014
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Kiser Lake State Park

January 19th, 2014

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Rock House

September 2nd, 2013
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Today we went back to the Rock House, yesterday (Saturday) we were exhausted from hiking the caves and actually went to the Rock House but when we saw it was another 1/2 mile one way vertical challenge we opted to save it for today. The hike down wasn't too bad and the last part is mainly steps made either out of the sandstone or rocks laid. As we approached, the cliffs were incredible and breathtaking and there was a bridge crossing a ravine where we saw a couple and spoke to them briefly,  it appeared she had hurt her foot but turned out it was just a cramp. We crossed the bridge and thought it was odd that the path was turning back into just a dirt trail. Deanna said she was going to go back and ask the couple about the Rock House, they informed her we just walked right past it! He said they did the same thing first time they were here. He told us we would have to climb up between some boulders to get in. We trekked back and sure enough there it was. 

As you can see there were some people inside standing on the edges. 

We climbed up and found it was pretty dark inside. Deanna had a little flashlight she could use to see where we were stepping cause it was not level. This was by far the coolest cave we went to over the weekend.

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So after exploring the Rock House we headed back the UPHILL journey, quite the workout!

Here are a couple pics of a cliff we found along the road.

Then as we were driving back to the campground I finally spotted an old building I had seen on Friday when heading to the park but couldn't find it again. It blended in so well we had drove past it a couple times without even seeing it again. It just struck me as a cool shot. 

We have already decided we are going back and probably right when the leaves are changing for the colors! There was still more to explore at Cantwell Cliffs, Conkles Hollow and Zaleski State Forest rock climbing and repelling area.