Shenandoah National Park

We are so sorry, but this post has been removed because it is a part of our book Napkin Dreams that details our trip around America!

 

 

 

Sherman's Hormone Issues

By Patsy

Our dog Sherman has been having a small problem of late….OK, so maybe it’s a little bigger than a small problem. In fact, Sherman’s problem is probably pretty big when you consider all the side effects he is going to have to put up with. Sherman is slowly and systematically going bald. Not just a little bit around the head or maybe a few thin spots along his legs…he is experiencing some massive hair loss along his entire back. (My sons fondly harbor the delusion that his tummy fur is not only still intact, but growing lush and luxuriantly. They apparently need some small ray of hope to hold on to in this time of crisis.)

Sherman is a Chihuahua that is mostly brown with small areas that have tan and white markings. He is adorable…or at least he used to be. For some reason, all the brown fur on his body is slowly falling out. Luckily the skin under his brown fur is also brown, so his grotesque appearance isn’t readily apparent at first glance. However, it takes less than a moment to realize that when you put your hand out to pet our dog, you will not be touching a soft, sleek coat of fur. Your hand will come in close contact with naked dog skin. 

His adorability has suffered greatly because of his nudity, although we all pretend that he is still the most handsome dog on the face of the earth. But, this charade is getting a bit difficult since his white and tan fur is all still full and showing no signs of falling out. Unfortunately, he has a little strip of this white fur running down the back of his head and along the top of his neck, giving him the appearance of a dog sporting a white Mohawk. Not really the best look for him. But this is only one of the little side effects he is going to have to deal with because of his male pattern baldness.

A larger problem Sherman’s hair loss is causing is that he has decided to drop all his hairs right in the middle of the coldest time of year. He is normally a trembling type of dog anyway, but this winter is going to be a shiver fest for him if he keeps this up. In trying to alleviate some of his worse trembling, I have made him several sweaters, but so far, I have been unable to come up with a sweater pattern that covers his back end well enough to keep his tail warm and yet stay out of the way of his , shall we say, personal bathroom activities. He should probably be down on his knees thanking us for choosing the stay in the warmer states during this winter.

One of the biggest problems with his hair loss, however, has been my overactive imagination. I have gone through several different theories to explain his nakedness and each time my husband has had to work hard to bring me back to reality. My theories have gone from intestinal worms to terminal cancer. But, as strange as some of my theories have been, the actual truth about dog hair loss is much stranger. We have been told of one dog that lost all his hair because he was allergic to grass and needed Benadryl treatments. 

Many dogs lose their hair due to some type of flea or skin irritant. But, after checking him and giving him multiple baths, I came to the conclusion that not only did he NOT have any fleas, but also that no self-respecting flea would be caught dead on a hair-less dog. I was also a little disturbed to find myself wondering why I was using shampoo on a dog with no hair and pondered the use of hand cream instead…but that’s beside the point.

Finally, we could stand the suspense no longer, and took Sherman to an expert to help us explain his hair rejecting antics. After spending over $150 the vet looked at him and confirmed my belief that Sherman had neither skin irritant nor flea anywhere on his body. He also, smilingly, assured us that cancer was not a high probability in our dog. After testing for worms, he also pronounced Sherman’s intestines clean and healthy. So, what was the cause of Sherman’s hair loss? Well, our esteemed animal doctor decided that Sherman’s problem was simply hormonal.

Now, as a woman who has known the joys of menopause, I was enraged by the fact that my dog had found a better way to get attention and affection through hormonal imbalance. I have been sweating through hot flashes, waking with night sweats, suffering through emotional outbursts beyond my ability to control and have gotten little to no sympathy from my husband or sons. Yet my dog drops a few hairs and the entire family gathers around him to come up with a solution to his problem. Maybe I should pull a few hairs out and see if I get any sympathy…or maybe not.

The vet’s nurse did suggest a Rogaine treatment, but that’s where I put my foot down. I am NOT going to be giving my dog Rogaine treatments. In fact, I am beginning to look at Sherman’s hair loss just like any man’s hair loss. I tend to agree with the woman who once asked why men were so upset with being bald. Her theory was that “If you are bald, just be bald and shut up about it.”

 Of course she also said it was wonderful to have a bald husband because then you have a handy place to put your gum at night when you go to bed, but let’s not go there. No, for our dog there will be no Rogaine, there will be no hair plugs, there will be no wigs, and there will definitely be no comb overs. If God has seen fit to give us a bald dog, we will be the proud owners of a bald dog, no matter how naked and freakish he may look. But, I just might have to shave off that white Mohawk.

Campground Review - Kentucky Horse Park

We didn't get to see any of the horses, but we did enjoy our stay at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground near Lexington, Kentucky.

Staff - 6 - Some young people were working the counter each time we went to the office. I suppose one could say they were cordial. Mostly uninterested.

Nearby attractions - 9 - Very close to Lexington and not far from all Cincinnati attractions. 

Natural surroundings - 8 - Nicely manicured grounds with mature trees yet room to run as well.

Value - 8 - We paid $25 a night for two nights for a back-in gravel site with water and electric only.

Bathrooms - 9 - Very clean and updated bathrooms. Plenty of hot showers.

Roominess - 7 - Normal sized lots, nothing special but not cramped.

Facility fun - 10 - Discounted tickets to onsite horse park. Large playground, basketball court, tennis courts, game room, swimming pool and volleyball courts. Planned activities during peak season. Even Sherman had fun here (see video!)

Cleanliness - 9 - Nice and well taken care of.

Facility usefulness - 8 - Fire rings, laundry, picnic tables, dump station, propane, small camp store.

Overall - 9 - Very clean and decently priced for such a nice park!

Sunset Reports on Dinner

It has been awhile since I last wrote, mostly because the humans have been so busy hoggin all the blog-time I never get to put my thoughts in!

Well I have been thinking what might interest my legions and legions of fans about my life on the road with the Martin family. My thoughts were naturally directed to what they are normally consumed with - food. For those of you are a bit squeamish, you may want to quit reading. You see the main staple of my diet is dead rats.

My people buy them from pet stores frozen and then thaw them out for me in this thing they call the "Rat Bowl." Now you may think this all sounds disgusting, but in truth they are quite appetizing, being farm raised rats they taste quite nice.

I have noticed however that rats from different areas of the country have their own unique taste. Rats from Wyoming, for example have an open range taste, while the rats from Arizona require a bit of getting used to, having a desserty flavor, almost gritty in texture. California rats have the flavor of the sea while Utah rats are quite salty. My favorite rats so far, however, have been from the state of Texas. Being a big fan of tangy barbecue, I was pleasantly surprised that even the rats in Texas have a the zesty taste of barbecue!

How could this be, you might ask? Well I am not quite sure myself, but ours is not to question why. All as I know is that I hope we make a return trip to the Lone Star State!!

Kevin Shutterbug meets Sherman

Kevin introduces the newest member of the family, Sherman!

Sunset Reports on Sherman

 

This post has been deleted because it is in our new book describing our adventures across America entitled Napkin Dreams!

 

 

Sequoia NP on Kissgiving Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day, spending a good portion of the day at Sequoia National Park. David has re-cooined this holiday, Kissgiving, so in his honor he gets to explain in his way what a Sequoia Tree is always about! The Hi-def was turned off of video recorder!

Anyway we had plenty of snow to throw around and even had a pinecone fight (see me get pelted with pine cones by Patsy and Tanner in the video below!)

For Kissgiving this year we started a new tradition of exchanging names with each other and then hit the Dollar Tree to buy some small thing for the name we drew! As a big present this year our whole family got a little Chihuahua puppy. He is a cutie-pie whom we named Sherman (after the General Sherman Tree at Sequoia). Enjoy our pics and Happy Kissgiving day!!

Sunset reports on Christmas

Sorry, if you want to read this post, please buy our book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Napkin-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00AZR24LG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358457775&sr=8-1&keywords=napkin+dreams

I thought they had completely forgotten about my present when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a warm cozy bath while the boys were near! It felt so good and all my muscles relaxed. Literally all of them relaxed and everything that was pent up inside me just came out in a moment of sweet release!!

Well 2011 is just around the corner. We are in Houston, Texas right now for this celebration! Hopefully the fireworks wont make me jump out of my skin! They give me the creepy crawlies!

Sunset's First Report

This my first report from the road. I know you may be thinking how am I writing this report when snakes don't have arms and hands to write with. Well of course I am having one of those humans that feed me write. So next you are asking yourself how can I tell the human what I am thinking when I do not speak the human language. Let's just say I have ways to make my thoughts known that the humans are finally catching on to.

Life on the road has been pretty good for me so far. My home has been conveniently located next to a window so I get plenty of sunlight during the day and I can see the sites as they go by. I also get a nice view of the lovely wildlife around such as squirrels, chipmunks, sparrows, moles, baby armadillos, and well you get the idea. The humans still feed me the sleeping rats, but you can't blame a snake for dreaming.

I also sleep close the human boy who calls me his pet. This is nice for him, and nice for me because he always remembers to shut my light off at night this way. It is nice for another reason, I am high enough so that the youngest humans cannot reach up and bang on my glass walls.

I am still getting held a lot and we have been visiting some more of the humans recently and their young ones have wanted to hold me a lot. I have had a few baths in the RV bathtub, but the humans we are visiting have a big bath they offered to let me swim in their giant tub. I liked this so much I left them some surprises in their tub. This caused quite a stir for the humans. I do what I can to add excitement to their boring lives!

SUNSET BEING HELD BY DESS

Well that's all for now from the road. Stay tuned for more Sunset Reports as we travel the US!

Snake on the Road

Sorry, but you'll have to purchase our book to read this post!

Steeles on Wheels

The second book I read on living in an RV fulltime was Steeles on Wheels. This is another story of a retired couple, kids all gone, taking to the road to enjoy their life together as husband and wife.

Even though they are at a totally different station in life than us I did appreciate their stories. Some of them were very educational for me. They talk a lot about life on the road with their big dog, who is a bit nervous and high strung. We have wondered a lot about pets. We have a cat who will most certianly not be going with us (anyone looking for a cat to house for a couple of years?). However Tanner wants a corn snake for his birthday and we are fairly certain we are going to get him one. He had one a few years ago and loved it. His little brother, who was two at the time, let Slidey out and we never saw him again.

It might be fun to report on Slidey the Second's life on the road!

The book also talks about all the ins and outs of finding a good RV park, pulling into a gas station, trying to find adequate cell and Internet coverage. This book was written a few years ago and technology has changed dramatically for full-timers though, as it has for everyone. Wifi is offered in most campgrounds and several cell phone companies carry national plans, so it will be a bit different experience for us.

All in all Steeles on Wheels is a good book for anyone dreaming of the fulltime lifestyle!