Category Archives: Camping
Katie says – I went camping with my Mama
This is my big tent.
Katie here! Mama says she got a new blog! And it took her forever to let me on. Yes it did. A whole week! So anyway…I haven’t been to my school in like THREE WEEKS! Mama has been having adventures of her own and I got left behind at a kennel! NOT FAIR Mama! So I told her, yes I did, I told her she better shape up or I was going to go find a better Mama. One who took my on adventures! And did fun things with me! And played with me all the time! That is not too much to expect, me being a princess and all. No it is not.
And do you know what my Mama did? She put up the BIG TENT! We got to go camping!!!
Nothing but sky and trees.
She didn’t put the rain flap on because she said it would be like sleeping under the stars and it was! It was wonderful! Ok, there weren’t any stars because it was cloudy…but there wasn’t any rain either, so Mama and I slept really good! I slept upside down most of the night on my pile of pillows. Hey! Let me show you around my tent!
Come one in! It’s a little messy right now because Mama hasn’t made the bed yet. You know how Mama is.
Come on in, there’s room for all of us!
Of course my spot would be right here, on the blown up bed with my own personal window. And the good pillow of course.
My favorite spot.
Oh! Mama says I have to get OFF the bed. Geesh. OK, it’s true this tent has a little window just for me. And that Mama put lots of pillows for me next to it. I guess it’s just as good.
Yep this window is pretty sweet.
See? It just perfect for me!
Those tent people sure know how to please a dog!
I didn’t want to go back in the house this morning. I’d rather stay outside and play, take a nap in my tent, then play some more. Oh wait. Did you say that my breakfast was inside? Coming Mama!
Did you say SUPPER?!
Mama says we can camp out again tonight! I can not WAIT! But I gotta get a nap in first. Adventures are so exhausting.
Katie and the little tent
The weather here yesterday was beautiful, cool and dry. As evening descended I suddenly wanted to be camping, but it seemed like too much work to drag the tent up from the basement and accumulate all the pillows and blankets. But husband said he’d help, so in the last few minutes of light we popped the tent up and loaded it with everything I needed to make it through the night.
Katie watched us put the tent up; she was very excited because she loves to camp. But she’s never camped in the little tent, not really enough room, and no little doggie window near the floor for her to keep track of the night’s comings and goings. A couple of nights ago I slept in the little tent all by myself and had a wonderfully relaxing time sans dog. This time I wasn’t going to get away with sneaking out the front door and creeping around the house so that she wouldn’t know. She knew.
So Katie and I trooped out to the tent. As usual she was in first, claiming the biggest pile of pillows for herself. She’s such a pillow hog. As we settled in she was restless, moving around and around the tent, plopping down, getting up, sighing, trying to see out the windows that were still zipped up.
Then I had a brilliant idea. How about if I unzipped one of the windows so she could see out?
Turns out that is a WONDERFUL idea for both of us. Suddenly we were sleeping in front of what seemed like a big picture window. We both watched it get darker and listened to the birds heading home for the night. The fireflies started to dance, the freeway noises lowered, and the frogs began to sing. Katie curled up in a ball on her (two) pillows, let out a big sigh and fell asleep. I drifted off too.
She was such a good girl all night. While I had trouble getting comfortable she slept on, upside down, curled up against my side, or flat out by the wall. She didn’t even bark when the guy with the noisy van drove by and threw the newspaper onto the driveway.
And this morning? She didn’t want to go back inside!
Peaceful morning working in the garden…and stuff
Last night I set up the little tent even though rain was predicted for early this morning. I don’t mind the sound of a bit of rain when I’m camping, but Katie is definitely an anti-rain girl, so she stayed inside with her Dad. I spent the night listening to the bullfrogs, traffic on the freeway a mile away and the breeze in the trees.
Sometime during the night I woke up hot, and sat up to unzip the window coverings. Outside, across the yard and under some trees were dozens of fireflies! These were the first I’ve seen this summer and there were seemingly hundreds of them – dancing among the branches and in the long grass of the dark night shadowed lawn. I watched and held my breath – they looked just like magical fairies dancing in the night and I was entranced. Finally sleep claimed me again and I didn’t wake until I heard the gentle patter of morning rain on the roof. I lay there and enjoyed that too, wallowing in this opportunity to sleep past 6:30, Katie’s normal “got to get going Mom!” time.
When I finally ventured back into the house, about 8 a.m. I found Katie curled on the sofa, nose hanging over the arm, facing the front door (waiting for me to come home?) sound asleep. Such a guard dog. I snuck right up on her and she only had time for a quick yip before she was all wiggles and tale wags and licky-licks. As I was petting her I suddenly realized that Katie had an appointment this morning! She was supposed to be at the groomer…like right NOW! As soon as I started to quickly move around the house, getting myself dressed Katie realized what was up and went to hide. Silly (smart!) girl! She shook all the way to the groomer and was visually shaking when I handed her over to the groomer. I felt so bad I apologized to her, which probably made it worse.
While Katie was getting a bath, and probably talking ill of me to all the other doggies, I got a lot of gardening done. Husband has planted more than a dozen trees and they all needed watering, there were weeds to grab, and a bed of wildflowers to plant. All done without interruption, because chief interrupter was off getting groomed.
I was going to sleep out in the tent again tonight. But thunderstorms are predicted, so I guess I’ll sleep inside. Good thing, because as gusty winds came up this afternoon my little tent rolled across the back yard. Guess I should have staked it down.
Katie is now back from the groomer. She looks pretty!
She’s a bit mad at me, but was willing to do a bit of recall given I had treats!
Now she’s sleeping, the better to keep me up tonight when it’s thundering. A Sheltie has to be prepared at all times you know.
This and that about a sheltie
We’ve had a series of really beautiful days, warm and sunny, makes a person (and a Sheltie) want to go camping again, even though all the camping equipment had been put away for the season. So on a whim I put up the little tent because it’s easier than the larger one to assemble. Of course this little tent doesn’t have a doggie window, and it’s too small to put my inflated mattress inside. So I dragged out a bunch of pillows and a couple of blankets and we settled in. The first night we made it until 6 a.m. when I woke up FREEZING cold. The temp outside was just under 50 degrees. I reached for my second blanket and found that it had been taken over by Katie who was curled up in a tiny little ball, her nose in her tail, sound asleep. I tried to go back to sleep but I was too cold, so I woke her up and we went inside. It was worth getting cold, though, because the stars at 6 a.m. were absolutely amazing.
The second night was forecast to be even colder. It was already only 50 degrees at 11:30 when I was heading to bed. I decided not to sleep in the tent, opting for heat and comfort instead. I asked Katie as I turned off the TV if she was ready to go to bed, then I headed into the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came back out she was standing at attention at the back door, figuring we were going camping again. I laughed and said OK, and we grabbed MORE blankets and settled in, me with four blankets and her with her own pillow and blanket. We only made it to 1 a.m… she heard something and that was the end of camping out. She barked and crawled on top of me and kept whining. So we gave it up. That might be all the camping for us for the summer. We’ll see.
Yesterday the neighbor across the street was getting a new roof. We were alerted to that fact by our Sheltie alarm dog. They had a truck in their driveway, lifting the new shingles up onto the roof, and she WANTED US TO KNOW ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW! She and I sat out in our front yard for quite awhile, watching all the work going on over there.
And tonight I spent four hours watching an obedience trial where a few people I know were showing their talented dogs. I’ve always watched video of excellent dogs and thought that Katie wasn’t ready for trials, but tonight, though I did watch a lot of really great dogs, I saw several in novice and even higher levels that weren’t any better than Katie. I kept saying, “Well, KATIE could do that!” as I watched. It inspired me enough to come home and do a heeling pattern with her around the living room sofa!
When I walked in the door tonight she was all over me. Sniffing all those other dogs, she’s pretty sure I cheated on her. Silly girl, I’d never do that!
Camping laments
No work tomorrow, a warm evening and an eager Sheltie all point toward a night spent camping in the backyard. So after the nightly news concluded I pack myself, several pillows, the cell phone, house keys and Katie up and we head out into the darkness. As always, she prances excitedly out to the tent and plops herself down on her pillow in front of her window. I settle in myself, happy to be out there again.
But it turns out neighbors up the road are having some sort of party that includes loud cars and raised voices, even dogs barking. Katie doesn’t barked once, though she sniffs a bit at her window before settling down with a big sigh, then rolling over onto her back, her favorite sleeping position. Me, I’m a person who likes to sleep curled up on my side, but my hip aches, the result of five very busy hours on my feet at work this afternoon. No way to be comfortable except flat on my back which just isn’t conducive to sleep for me. I roll around enough to wake Katie up, and she stands over me as if to say “MOM! Just settle down, will you? A girl needs her beauty sleep, and you’re keeping me awake!”
Far off lightening flashes and a hint of thunder floats. Or maybe it’s just another car out on the road. Hard to tell. I shift again. Now my arms and neck ache. And I’m hot. Katie sighs and goes back to her window, checks everything out and curls up in sleep. I roll over again; fling off the covers.
Somewhere off in the distance I hear it begin to rain and soon rain taps on the roof of the tent. Katie is so sound asleep she doesn’t stir until I wake her while zipping closed the windows. Even then she just rolls back over onto her back. I listen to the rain, enveloped in the sound, cozy in my space. The temperature begins to drop and finally I nod off to sleep.
But I should have used the bathroom before I ventured out. And taken some asprin for my hip. Turns out Katie is as excited to go for a walk when we’re headed back to the house as she was when we were headed out until she figures out that she’ll get her feet wet. Rather than argue with her at 3 in the morning I carry her across the backyard and put her down in the house. I notice how loud the refrigerator is, how cool the air conditioned air.
As I wait for the asprin to kick in, writing this and watching evangelistic television Katie is curled up at the foot of the bed after letting out still another big sigh. Turns out if you are a Sheltie you can sleep anywhere. Regardless of how silly your Mom is.
The annual Perseid meteor shower
As I got out of the car into the muggy darkness last night after working 8 hours at the library I heard the unmistakable sound of generators humming. At all the neighbors homes. DRAT! We had a couple day power outage last week, and last Wednesday I threw out several bags of food from our fridge and freezer as a result. Yesterday the power went out around 2 while I was at work, and didn’t come on till about 8 this morning. Today I have bagged up a couple bags of food from the fridge and freezer. Again. The good news was that I had been too busy to really stock up on stuff, so there was less stuff to throw away. And the really good news is that now my fridge and freezer are clean!
So Katie and I slept in the tent last night. The 3/4 moon was high and there was lots of light in the backyard. The house was dark and she doesn’t like the moving light of flashlights or lanterns, so the tent was a good choice. We fell asleep to the hum of generators. Very early this morning I had to use the bathroom, so we trooped back inside. But on our walk back to the house I was looking at the stars, so many, so bright, focusing on a planet in the southern sky when I saw the most beautiful shooting star! What luck I thought! To happen to be sleeping in the tent and happen to have to go inside to use the bathroom, and happen to be looking in the right direction!
Then I remembered that it was August 11, my mother’s birthday, and a date when the Perseid metero shower usually is at it’s brightest! News reports today say the best viewing for people in North America will be “between midnight to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, (that’s tonight!) but late Tuesday night and also Wednesday night could prove fruitful, weather permitting.”
Katie and I will be in our back yard studying the sky tonight. Hope you can watch too!
Tricky T-day
Today is tricky t-day, where I’m supposed to show you Katie’s new trick. Right. I did order a book (from the library of course) on how to teach your dog tricks. Aside from doing “Shake!” which Katie appears to have been born knowing how to do, I haven’t successfully taught her any tricks. So I think I need some help. The book isn’t here yet, so this week we’re continuing to do Shake! If there’s food involved, she can’t get enough of that!
And we made it all night last night in the tent, a trick unto itself. I wasn’t going to take her, but as I was leaving she jumped on my legs and begged to go. So we gave it another try. She slept all night, upside down, against the air mattress.
Silly dog.
Another camping attempt
It was a warm night, dozens of fireflies winking nearby, hundreds of stars winking above. Katie pulled hard at her leash, straining to get to the tent set up in the backyard. But once inside she just wasn’t ready to sleep. We tried. Far off dogs barking, nearby deer wandering, cars driving by; it all riled Katie, and in turn me. At 1:00 a.m., after 3 hours of attempting to sleep in the silky warm night air, I gave up and we went inside.
Once settled on the familiar bed, ceiling fan twirling, window open, she fell sound asleep, but I was wide awake. I wasn’t barking at every sound from outside, but I certainly wasn’t yawning either, though I was extremely tired. Another hour went by. Katie rolled over onto her back, her favorite way to sleep, propped up against me. Past 2 a.m., I was wide awake and Katie softly snoring, her little feet twitching while she dreamed of chasing those deer into the warm summer night.
Another Katie adventure ended just the way she likes them to; pressed up against her Mama, safe and sound, free to dream.
Some of this and a little of that
Katie and I survived a full night of camping out in the back yard last night. It was soothing to listen to the rain as it fell off and on throughout the night, and we had an early morning wakeup call from a couple of robins about 5:30. For the most part Katie and I had a nice snooze and we’ll do it again soon I think. I’ve packed up the tent so that Daddy can mow the grass.
At work yesterday I was searching for a book in the teen fiction area, a part of the library I really don’t have much experience with. The book was not to be found, so I began to look for it throughout all the shelves. Along the way I realized there were several titles I was interested in reading, and recognized with a start that there was no reason I couldn’t. I’m planning on grabbing a few titles next time I’m in that branch. Another chance to read “outside my box.”
Today I glanced out the laundry room window and thought I saw a big rock in my neighbor’s long gravel driveway. Then the rock moved and I realized it had legs. And a head. So I ran outside with a camera, and this is what I saw.
It’s a snapping turtle, about a foot long, maybe 10 inches wide. She wasn’t very happy with me so I took my pictures and retreated back across the road and down into a little dip where I could watch her without appearing to be threatening. She sat for a long moment, then kept on moving toward the pond. I think she had been out laying eggs somewhere. She moved very delibertly, picking up one giant foot, plopping it down and then doing the same with the another foot. Even so she moved quite quickly and was soon safe in the pond. Very fun to watch.
Katie and I went to PetCo today. Apparently it was adopt a dog day and there were lots of people and dogs outside. I probably wouldn’t have gone today if I had known. After we made our purchases we drove to the park. That too was full of people, a family celebrating some sort of event complete with a giant blow up jumping house in the shape of Thomas the Train, and a little league softball game going on, teams in uniforms, each side with a mess of people cheering them on. Katie and I decided to skip the practice in our normal area, and went for a walk in the field instead. Just as fun.
So that’s the news from up in Michigan on a Sunday. Nothing earth shattering. But sometimes that’s a good thing.
Change Is Hard 