That Made My Day

Posted on September 12, 2015September 12, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Some days things just don’t get any better and then something happens that proves there are still nice people in the world. Not that I ever doubted it since I have many nice people in my life.

I had a long list of errands to run today and started out early. I wanted to get done early because I was going to take some pictures of a friend’s puppy for her. I’d taken some last weekend but poor little puppy was so tired from all the excitement around the pool that we didn’t feel we really captured his puppy cuteness, hence a do over.

Here’s a few shots from the first shoot.

So today we tried again. Little Henry was certainly more lively and we had a couple of photo bombs from big brother Jack.

But Henry still has a soulful eye roll as his signature look.

Even their cat Autumn graced us with her regal cat-ly presence.

Finally I think I got a “keeper”! It almost looks like he’s smiling.

I had a great time. It was just about time for lunch when I left so I decided to stop at Friendly’s for lunch. I was waited on by a new waitress who explained she was in training. I promised I wouldn’t bite her and we laughed. I gave my order and pulled out a book.No one came by my table except the wait staff and I enjoyed a quiet meal. When it was time for my check the first waitress told me it was all set. I misunderstood and said ok, bring it along. I’m ready for it. That’s when the 2nd waitress chimed in. “No, you don’t understand. Your check was paid for by another customer.”

I was flabbergasted! I’ve heard stories about kind strangers doing things like that but I never expected to have it happen to me. I looked around to see if I recognized anyone but the restaurant was filled with strangers.

The staff finally told me that it was the man in the booth behind me (who had already left) and I should”pay it forward” which I intend do. I will start looking for that opportunity right away.

All I can say is that it was such a nice surprise. It took my nice fun day and really put it “over the top”. Thank you kind sir, and may you have many wonderful days too. You certainly made mine!

About San Antonio

Posted on August 23, 2015August 23, 2015 by Dusty Roads

It always seems that after I make a vacation plan I start to see the location everywhere. Sure enough, I was cleaning out a pile of magazines that have accumulated over the spring and summer and there, staring me in the face was “Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in San Antonio”. Well, obviously we missed Cinco De Mayo But that’s ok. There’s still lots to see.

According to the magazine article San Antonio is often called “the northernmost city in Mexico”.The city proudly embraces its Hispanic traditions both cultural and culinary.

The River walk, a main point of interest in our trip, is described as al fesco cafes and lively galleries on the 2.5 mile heart of downtown.

Item 2 on our planned trip is the Alamo and the article touches on that too. Imagine “visiting the Alamo, site of an 1836 battle that made Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie heroes.”

I think I’ll want to be sure to have plenty of room on the old credit card too. Especially if we have time to explore the stalls in Market Square where they are selling Brightly colored blankets, turquoise jewelry and other handcrafts.

Other side trips and highlights are The Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, a 400 acre drive through safari park.

The San Antonio Zoo with more than 9000 animals…lions and tigers and bears OH MY!

and the San Antonio Botanical Garden, a traditional Japanese garden designed to fill the senses.

Since our trip is an “Escorted Tour” I don’t know how much we’ll get to explore but there is some down time when we’re on our own. It’s nice to have some suggestions for things to see and do.

Perhaps we’ll even get brave and try a San Antonio Cocktail.

Whatever we do you can be sure you’ll be along for the ride right here on this page.

In Sickness and in Health

Posted on August 11, 2015August 11, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Hi Everyone: Just a quick update. Buddy is on the mend I think. I was amazed at the number of people who reached out to me about Buddy. He’s certainly been going through his health challenges. At his annual physical the Vet detected a fairly prominent heart murmur so we ran a series of blood tests to see if the problem could be isolated. The last test was a cardiac series and we wanted to avoid that if possible as it was expensive. The first panels showed an elevated thyroid so we started Bud-man on .3 ML of methimazole with monthly follow ups. It seemed that each month we got closer but not close enough so up went the dosage. By the time I took him in Thursday for his follow up we were at .7 ML but this time the result was different. The heart murmur was gone and his thyroid numbers were in the low normal range. That bought us a reprieve of sorts. Instead of following up in 30 days we could wait for 60! That’s when Buddy decided to upset the plan. By Saturday he was throwing up clear fluid every 30 minutes. The poor thing was shaking. I know cats throw up everything from hairballs to half digested food from eating too fast but this was nothing like I’d ever seen. Of course this all took place after my Vet closed at noon. I considered taking him to an emergency vet but then he seemed to get a bit better. He ate some chicken broth and kept it down and even went to sleep. Sunday morning he ate his breakfast and I thought we’d gotten over the worse but then in the afternoon it all started again. My pet sitter recommended Pepcid AC but I hated to try to “pill him”. I tried hairball remedy and more broth but he had no interest. I was really getting concerned but Monday morning he was up bright and early and teasing for breakfast. Again things seemed good until Monday evening. Right after dinner Buddy delivered his half digested food right back up. Tuesday morning Buddy seemed fine but he only picked at breakfast. He didn’t gobble it down like he usually did. I had to go to work so I crossed my fingers and left some dry food out for him to nibble on and lots of fresh water. On my way home I stopped at the Vet’s office and picked up some pill pockets. As soon as I came in both Rocky and Buddy met me at the door. I slipped 1/4 tab of pepcid AC into a pill pocket and offered it to Buddy. Gone in 2 seconds flat! Success! And so far it’s worked.

He ate his dinner with some of his old appetite and so far it has stayed inside , not outside his little cat body. I’m really hoping we’ve turned the corner!

A Whale’s Tail

Posted on August 3, 2015August 3, 2015 by Dusty Roads

As fast as the Real Estate rush began it stopped. I went from working every waking moment to suddenly having time on my hands. I keep thinking there’s something I’ve forgotten to do. There was no gradual slowing down…just slammed one minute and then nothing the next! So with a quiet Sunday staring me in the face I thought a whale watching trip might be in order.

I ordered my ticket online and headed to Plymouth at 11:30. I figured I’d get there early, have some lunch and then line up for boarding. It was a beautiful day, close to 90 degrees and sunny.

A perfect day to be on the water.

The activity at Plymouth Harbor proved my assumption. Traffic was brutal and parking nonexistent. I was very glad I gave myself extra time. I finally parked in the Citizens Bank lot which had been opened up for a fee of $10.00 for the day.

But once underway the hassle was all worthwhile.

We passed Bug light and then Gurnet Point Lighthouse which marks the end of the harbor. We headed out to Stellwagon Bank which is an underwater plateau. These plateaus cause “upwelling” which stirs up the nutrients and makes for rich feeding grounds. It’s also a protected marine sanctuary. One corner of the plateau comes quite close to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. It was my guess that this was where we were headed.

The Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown hadn’t quite come into view when I saw something breach and splash. Then others saw it when it happened again. It was so quick none of us knew what we were seeing. Finally the naturalist on board got on the PA and told us we’d just witnessed some tuna jumping! Tuna, I never would have guessed!

A few minutes later we entered the Marine sanctuary and immediate spotted 4 humpback whales . They were an Association not a Pod as Pods are families and these were 4 unrelated whales.

It was the day of the tails.

They’d cruise along on the surface for a bit then dive and all of them liked getting their tail flukes out of the water.

2 of the Whales came right up next to our boat. Of course, I was on the wrong side. Just my luck!

No breaching or flipper slapping today but we got great looks at the tails. The tails besides being so very photogenic are also like fingerprints. Each whale has a different pattern and the scientists have thousands of tail flukes cataloged. I’m sure the photographer on board is sending all of her photos out for identification.