True to my nature I got tired of shopping and jumped in with both eyes closed.  This may not have been the best time, or even perhaps the best choice for a trailer, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.

I found a light weight 5th wheel trailer that my husband said our truck would have no problem towing.  It was quite a search, because only having a 1/2 ton pick up truck our options were very limited when it comes to towing capacity.  Unfortunately we we never able to put the truck to the test because of suspension problems and the camper is now currently sitting at the dealership in SC where we purchased it.  You can see the offending truck in the picture.

  The dealership towed it over to an ocean front site while they were installing the hitch in the truck.  When they brought the truck to the campground and hitched the trailer up the truck immediately bottomed out.  Luckily we were able to enjoy a few days of beautiful weather next to a beautiful beach.

The trailer is in fairly good condition for a 2004 model needing mostly cosmetic fixes.  Read that as ugly upholstery.  One quick change I did make while we were there was to replace what looked like the original shower curtain from 2004. (complete with years of crud).  YUK!  Next I plan to get rid of the cheap mirror in the bathroom.  Who really wants to look at themselves when they are peeing?  Or perhaps men do enjoy that.  There are plenty of other mirrors so that one can go. My husband is putting airbags on the truck to beef up the suspension and we are planning on taking the drive sown to SC next month to hopefully bring the beast home.

I just finished reading the The twelfth card by Jeffrey Deaver.  I know this isn’t a new book – but what can I say I just read it.  My dad was reading it when he was up visiting for the summer and recommended that I read it.  He said that Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme character was one of his best.  I had watched the Bone collector years ago so I figured I’d give it a chance.

I was quickly drawn into the story and soon realized that this was the type of novel that could easily make me call in sick so I could finish it in one day.  I fought the urge and  ended up taking almost 2 weeks to read.  Not that the book was that long mind you, I was just that busy.

The book had all the makings of an action movie , but I overlooked that and thoroughly enjoyed the book.  (It had a bit too much unnecessary roughness)

We’re going on a fourteen hour drive in a couple of weeks and I picked up a Jeffery Deaver audio book.  I hope this one is just as good because we have alot of hours to fill 

For what it’s worth Logan passed the Canine Good Citizen class.  We ended up having 6 dogs in the class, 4 passed and the 2 “pet” dogs didn’t. 

I have to say that although they didn’t pass, the improvement in their dogs was incredible.  I think they improved much more than the rest of us.  I was there with Logan to hone his obedience skills in a distraction filled environment, but they were there just leaning these exercises.    I know at least one of the owners was going to take the class again – so maybe we have another “dog person” joining our midst.

The reason I don’t care about this title is because for me it’s a level of training so far below what my dog is capable of and what we are striving to achieve.  I DO think that all pets should be trained to this level.  It’s too bad that this can’t be made mandatory.

On a side note  – I was reading another trainer’s blog today and she was explaining the best way to teach your dog not to jump up on you in greeting.  First off let me say that I don’t believe that there is ever a one size fits all way to train.  you have to take into account the temperament of each dog.  (and owner)

This person recommended the turn your back method.  This brought back memories from Logan’s first night of puppy class.  The trainer was there with her 2 year old dog that kept jumping on her for attention.  She kept demonstrating the turn your back method, but the dog still jumped on her many more times.  This was a 2 year old dog.  Are you kidding me, My dogs learn not to jump up from the day they are brought into the house.  If he were to jump up now at age 10 months you better believe he would get a correction.  I’m sure telling the kids in the neighborhood to turn their backs if my 80 lb. puppy jumped on them would work.  Give me a break.

We spent a good part of this weekend discussing the best way to get ourselves back into the camping scene.  We hit up two RV dealerships, one large and one very tiny.  At the first one I saw a trailer we both fell in love with a 2010 Keystone Passport 285RL.  Well we were in love until we found out the price – Almost $30,000.  Ooops.  The next place went went to had a used Palomino T-275 that was in our price range.  The major difference was that somehow the Keystone had placed an addition 2 swivel/rocking chairs into the living room area.  This was accomplished by the entire kitchen counter area sliding out along with the sofa.  I also liked the darker colors of this trailer better than the Palomino.

With all that said, now we just need to figure out how we compromise.  Do we buy something that is “good enough”, or hold out and save for a few more years to get exactly what we want.  The good thing is that trailers depreciate quickly, and by the time we are ready to purchase we may be able to pick up the same camper for a substantial savings.

The trailer is just the first part, we do have the issue that our biggest vehicle is a Hyundai Accent.  LOL  We currently have 2 car loans and we can not afford to get a third.  To get around that we are discussing getting a seasonal spot for a couple of years until we can afford to get a pickup truck.  My husband refuses to get an SUV, but that is another story.

So for now I’ll have to see how much money we can try to save before next spring, and research some campgrounds that are close enough to drive to on  regular basis.

Ingredients

2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick
4 eggs
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 and 1/3 cup shredded Coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wisk together milk, sugar, baking mix, eggs, butter and vanilla.
Pour into greased 9-inch pie plate.
Top with coconut.
Bake 40 minutes or until pie is set and top is golden brown.
Store in refrigerator.

This pie end up tasting a lot like coconut custard without having to bother with the pesky crust.  It makes it’s own!

My Hubby and I finally got a chance to sit down and watch this movie tonight.  We rented it almost a month ago, but had been busy to watch.

The movie was predictable but enjoyable.  In fact within the first ten minutes I knew exactly how the movie would end.  With that said it was the perfect movie to watch while curled up on the couch on a raining day enjoying a nice bowl of chili.

Now I’m craving a bowl of tapioca pudding.  YUM!

I arrived early to class to give myself time to clean up vomit if necessary and to give Logan time to recover from the trip.  Luckily he didn’t vomit until the ride home, but he was looking quite ill about 25 minutes into the trip.  He calmed down quickly and “went” on command so I was hopeful that he wouldn’t “mess” in the class.

The class was small only 5 dogs and trainers.  This gave us plenty of room to spread out and more personal attention. Two of the people were what I call “pet” owners.  They were there for a little more help with basic obedience.  The rest of us were there to help further our dog’s “careers”  **(Wow that was quite a bit of “quoting” there.  LOL)

Our instructor surprised me, by asking us to have our dogs so a one minute sit stay.  I thought he would start with just asking us to sit our dogs, then have them lay down.  etc. .   Instantly I knew that this was going to be a great class.

During class we worked on sit stay, down stay, leave it, recall, and greeting the friendly stranger.  I was happy with how Logan did with all the exercises.  Our instructor had me introduce Logan to doing his recall between boards so he would do a straight front.  Logan didn’t know what to think of the boards so he walked around them.  I did the exercise again this time starting him between the boards so he could catch on to this new concept.

For homework we were assigned to work on the leave it command around other dogs, and I am to work on his recall between the boards.  Now the trick is to see if I can get myself used to do daily training sessions again.  I know the mental workout was great for Logan because he promptly fell asleep when we got home.

My daughter and I took Logan for a walk this afternoon in Hubbard Park.  It was the first time I had been there, but my daughter had been there a few times before.   Luckily she knew the way because the only sign we went by was at the bottom of exit ramp.  There was one turn we had to make that was not marked with a sign.

Once we entered the park we could see that there was a huge celebration of some kind going on with hundred of people picnicking and live music.  We were able to get a parking spot along the road and walked to the trailhead which was located towards the back of the park on the far left.  Logan handled the loud music and the crowds like an old pro.  It didn’t seem to faze him at all.

There was a old trail map that showed several looping trails, but didn’t offer much information.  My daughter grabbed one of the hiking sticks that people had left by the ma and off we went.  Within the first few minutes I realized that we shouldn’t have left home without the bug spray, but it wasn’t too bad so we continued on.

After a while we came to a bridge that passed over the interstate.  The height of the bridge had me a bit nervous and Logan was spooking a bit whenever a car passed under us.  Needless to say that I walked over it as quickly as I could. 

After the bridge the trail went sharply uphill.  The trail was composed of loose chunks of ledge that made walking on it a bit precarious.  We were almost to the top of the trail when we hit a cloud of mosquitoes and decided to call it quits for the day.  I knew I would return soon to finish the hike(note to self *bring bug spray*) The back down was tricky because of the loose stones but Logan headed my commands and stayed behind me.  I would recommend that anyone who has a dog that pulls to bypass this trail.

Once off the trail we took a few minutes to watch the ducks and geese in the pond and then headed for home.  Logan was tired from the hiking and was quietly laying down for most of the ride home.  I was just opening the back of the car to get him out when he vomited.   This hasn’t happened for a long time, but we also haven’t been traveling on the highway either.  I still think that today’s trip was a step in the right direction.  He handled himself well around noisy crowds, didn’t pull on the walk, heeled and stopped when asked.  I can’t wait to go back.

Walking around our neighborhood with my dogs usually results in chaos so I decided to take Logan down to Linden Park.  Per usual as soon as he saw me grab the leash and collar he made a beeline straight into his crate to hide.  Even though he has fun on all of our excursions the initial fear always gets the better of him.

One hooked up to the leash I didn’t have any trouble walking him over to the door of the car.  What the heck I decided to try to get him in without picking him up.  I stood and waited a while, but that didn’t work.  He just stood there staring at the car.  I then leaned over and patted the back seat and Voila – he jumped in.  I stood there a second in shock – but quickly closed the door so he couldn’t just turn around and jump out again.

We had a nice walk and on the way home I tried the same thing.  This time it was to no avail.  I had to boost him up into the car but hey we’re getting closer.

After reading the back cover I actually put this book back on then shelf.  How in the world could the story of Cain and Able be related to the creator of Superman?  But I was intrigued.  So against my better judgment I picked it back up and brought it home.

The book started off on the right foot for me.  How many times have people been killed my mayonnaise.  This was every Miracle Whip lover’s dream.

Shortly after that the book started to go wrong.  The book of lies ended up being a Da Vinci Code wanna be.  There were ties to secret societies, riddles to solve, and plenty of people running around from place to place without ever stopping to sleep.  What was wrong with this novel is that things didn’t make sense.  On occasion I just had to stop reading and say “huh?”

I couldn’t wait for the story to end so I could make sense of the whole thing.  But the book never brought that satisfaction.