Vacation from the Motorhome!

At home for a change does count as a vacation. Riley is happy. He would be happier if the tiny Chihuahua that belongs to my parents would quit yapping and growling at unexpected moments. It makes Riley’s hair stand on end (literally) and then he gets embarrassed because nothing is actually happening. When the smaller dog yaps, Riley leaps out of sleep with his own yelp, and then comes to hide behind my chair.

I got to sit on our deck today with my Dad. We watched a thunderstorm brewing over the mountains several miles away. The sun was behind us, so the clouds were brilliantly white, with several muted shades mixed in.

I always see faces in the clouds. Rarely do I recognize them. Dad saw a spaceship. Mom saw a wolf. Then Dad saw the wolf too. Later he saw a poodle.  I wonder what a psychiatrist would make of the three of us?

The woods are magical to me. With every change of light I see new faces on the trees and imaginary people and animals flicker here and there. We were happy to see a real fawn again. Alone this time, it wandered up from below the house and found a shadowy place to lie down in the trees beyond the utility shed.

It has been a pleasant week, here with Mom and Dad and my oldest son. Warm, but not too hot. Last night we lay out on the deck and watched the stars come out, happily arguing about which star was the North Star and where the Little Dipper was. We saw a few meteors and several bats and went to bed content and full of popcorn and hot cocoa.

A story for my grandkids - make believe

Riley and I drove to visit my son and his family. On the way there we drove through several large wind turbine farms. We were taking some wire fencing and posts to them so they could put a fence around their backyard. I thought of a little story for my grandsons, 4 (almost 5) and 2 (almost 3). Here it is:

THE LAND OF THE WHIRLIGIG

I ventured into the land of the giant whirligig today with my friend Riley. I was a bit nervous. I don’t know any of the whirligigs personally.  The huge inhabitants of this land seem to spend all their time standing in the sun twirling their three arms around as fast as they can go. They took no notice of us as we moved among them. Either we are too small and insignificant to catch their attention or they simply do not care what we do here in their land.

My reason for traveling here is to visit a small family living in the midst of the giant whirligigs. Their tiny home is in the middle of a grassy meadow just beneath the feet of several of the whirligigs. The tall grass grows right up to their walls. It is beautiful. It is also full of many small animals and creatures. All of them are friends of the family except for one. The Dreaded Hairy Lolipa.

The Dreaded Hairy Lolipa is about eight inches tall, has round furry ears, brown fluffy fur with black and grey stripes. It has a short tail and seems to be so nice and cuddly. Until you try to pet it. Then it shows its shiny teeth and growls a terrible growl. (Very scary.) It gets its name from the funny sound it makes as it runs through the grass. (Lolipa lolipa lolipa…)

In the back of my magic wagon, I have a special gift for my friends. It is a fence to go around their little house. When I get there, the father unloads the fence materials. It is a magic fence that goes all the way around the yard. He pushes posts into the ground, and hangs the fence on the posts. My friend Riley takes a nap in a wet spot in the grass. In a very short time the fence is up and the family is completely safe from the Dreaded Hairy Lolipa.

Before I go, my youngest friends come to me and say, “But Fairy Grandmother, we are afraid of the Dreaded Hairy Lolipa.” I hug them and say, “Don’t be afraid. If you see one, all you must do is sing its name and it will run away. Like this: lolipa lolipa lolipa…”

©Cindy Erickson

A Week at Home

Sitting at my kitchen table, the view of the meadow is sunny and serene. My dog Riley and I are taking a break from the motorhome this week. It is quiet here at home, the only sounds coming in the window are the wind in the pines, some squirrel chatter and a robin singing somewhere. I am working on a young adult novel, and it is getting to some really good parts. I hope it will be finished next week so someone else can read it. This is my first one and I am surprised by how protective of it I feel. It's like a child, I don't want it to get hurt out there in the "real world".

I installed one of those magnetic screen doors on the deck and Riley really likes it. He goes in and out constantly. I like it too, no more whining to get out and scratching to get in. (Riley whines less too.) Earlier he was on the deck, just laying there, minding his own business, when a doe below the house caught his scent. She exploded into snorts and started stomping around with her legs all stiff. It went on for quite a while. He just lay there and ignored her.

A couple of days later, she was back at it. Now, Riley loves toast. He gets the last bite of toast every morning at breakfast. Usually it quickly disappears. This day, he apparently was thinking ahead and as soon as he was handed his toast, he darted through the magnetic screen and headed out into the meadow. He was very focused, holding his head high and strutting through the long grass to a little group of bushes where he dug a little hole for his tiny piece of toast.
Carl had come to stay for a day or two, and we both watched Riley, laughing at him a little, when suddenly the deer came out of nowhere. She was very militant, and not sneaking at all. She pounded the ground with her little hooves, and snorted, her tail up and ears waving. Riley, his head down in his little hole, didn't seem to hear or smell her at all. She stomped right up behind him. He finished his burial, and looked up and saw her. He must have jumped a foot off the ground. His ears and tail went down and he dodged her, trying to head back to the house. She herded him all the way, cornering him near the stairs. I finally went out and rescued him. She spent the next hour prancing around and around the house. We finally went inside and closed all the windows and doors, hoping she would calm down.

It was pretty obvious that she had a fawn somewhere nearby, so we kept peeking out the windows on different sides of the house, hoping to catch a glimpse of it. We finally gave up. We had to run to town. We got outside on the porch, and suddenly the fawn was there, bounding down through the ferns to the north of the house. No sign of the doe. The fawn stopped in a shadow. It obviously did not see us. It looked around for a moment, then lay down, completely disappearing into its new hiding spot. Big smiles all around, Riley excluded. (He doesn't have lips.)

A letter to my sister

My Dear Sister,

I am writing from my temporary lodging in Nampa. It is nice for Riley and I to take a break from the motorhome. Nampa's population of 81,000+ is a nice change from Boardman's 3500.

I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your glycemic index. My doctor called it low blood sugar. My solution for years has been to avoid sugar altogether. It seems to work. My doctor was surprised that I was able to keep such a tight control on my sugar intake. She suggested that I could have some sugar as long as I had some protein along with it. I took that very seriously and have followed her advice with some success. If I put sugar in my coffee I have a piece of cheese, and when I drink a milkshake I have a peanut.

My Hypochondria is getting the best of me today. The pain in my abdomen has not gone away, rather it is increasing. Of course I suspect endometriosis or ovarian cancer, but I will limit myself to some cranberry pills in case it ends up being an infection. (I will add a peanut, in case there is sugar in the pills.)

My main project today is to bathe Riley. It would be nice if he liked water enough to play in the sprinkler, but that isn’t the case. I bought some eardrops for him. He has been rubbing his floppy Labrador ear on everything and everybody. It’s cute unless you know what the inside of his ear looks like. I bought some ear wash for him as well. It should be an interesting morning. I wonder if peanuts would help get rid of the ear mites?

I am getting ready to attend my 30 year class reunion. My plan was to lose 5 pounds, get a tan and buy a really nice outfit. I still have 48 hours. If I quit eating peanuts right now and go outside I might make my goal.

Later:

I really wish someone had told me the sprinklers come on at 11:30.

Move to Boardman, Oregon

We are parked under tall shady trees. A constant breeze runs through their leaves, filling the air with a bright rustle like water in a little rippling creek. Carl has left for work. His job this time is clearing land on a dairy, building space for more corrals. He says they have calves right now. I would like a tour. We expect to be here about three weeks.

I watch Riley sleeping on his blanket in the motorhome. I wonder how a dog's mind processes all of this. He gets into the RV. It shakes, rumbles and moves around for a long time. He gets out and is somewhere else. He can't possibly have any concept of distance or direction. After traveling five hours from Nampa, Idaho to Boardman, Oregon, he looks out the door at us and refuses to exit the vehicle.

He stayed inside all the next day, except for two necessary walks, sitting on my feet wherever I was. Today is better. He has no idea that we will move tomorrow, primarily because the Driftwood RV Park will not allow him to stay. I am still new enough at this to naively assume that all RV Parks allow all pets. Long term renters at this park are limited to pets under thirty pounds. Daily guests can have any size of pet. After lots of negotiation, we will be allowed to stay for a maximum of two weeks, for the weekly rate, which is twice the amount of the monthly rate.

Walking Riley is a challenge here. The goathead thorns are so thick that he can barely move once we get off the sidewalk. I knew we were in trouble when he began tiptoeing on his toenails, slowing down, and finally stopping, looking helplessly at me out of those sad brown lab eyes. I pulled all the thorns out, and he walked a few more feet, same scenario. This time he stopped and held up his paw for me. The next time he stood on my feet. I believe he was asking me to carry him. We made it back to the sidewalk and then to the motorhome. Our next walk was shorter, and we did not leave the sidewalk.

Next to the RV Park is Desert Springs Mobile Home Park. They have a few long term RV spots, and we will pay slightly less than we would here, without dog. I will go talk to them in the morning and hopefully we will be able to move in. It is a beautiful Mobile Home Park. It is clean, lots of green grass and has a nice playground. I think the grandkids will enjoy visiting us there.

Introducing Riley

Our dog Riley is an eight year old golden labrador retriever. (This is a label, not a description) After our kids grew up and made their own homes, he became our topic of conversation, and constant source of entertainment.

A year ago we gave up our stationary jobs as property managers and took to the road in a motorhome. Our first destination was North Dakota. Riley was confused, but trusting (at first). He curled up on the couch and slept most of the three days it took to get from Nampa, Idaho to Devils Lake, ND.

We parked at Ackerman Acres right beside the lake (wonderful spot, Neal and Roberta Ackerman are great). Riley, not being fond of water, ignored the lake. He was far more interested in the small rabbit that hopped out of the trees in the evenings. He would sit as far as his leash would let him in the driveway, holding very still so the rabbit would not see him. Of course it did see him, but it seemed to know that a dog on a leash is safe, so it came pretty close and teased him a lot.  He was ecstatic when he discovered a baby robin under the trees behind the motorhome. He checked on it several times a day and watched it out the window when he was inside.

By the end of the first week he was ready to go home. He began following me very closely, and talking a lot in his funny little way. Every night when we turned out the lights and settled into bed, he flopped down on the floor in front of the door and made a huffy little sound that said, "Fine, I will wait one more day..."

I thought that he would eventually settle down but I was wrong. He wants to travel. He sometimes gets into the pickup and will not get out. He weighs about seventy pounds, so he usually wins that argument. Now that we are back in Idaho, he watches us very closely. If I put on my shoes, he leaps to his feet and dashes to the door of the motorhome, then wilts when I sit down with my coffee. He sits in Carl's chair by the window and wags his tail at every diesel pickup that drives through the RV Park, certain that Carl will hop out of it. When Carl finally does, he is thrilled.

He likes to go outside, but only for a bit, then is ready to come back inside. He knows that our house will move again and he does not want to be left when it does.