Where the Southern Cross the Dog

“Lord, I’m going to Rosedale, gon’ take my rider by my side”.

We headed to Rosedale, driving on the Great River Road. In the 1930’s and 40’s the town was typical river town- with juke joints, loose women and bootleggers serving the riverboat men. Today, it’s another Delta town with boarded up storefronts and no activity.

South of Rosedale is the Delta town of Greenville. It's claim to fame-- the place where the levee burst causing the Mississippi River Flood of 1927.Floodwater covered 26,000 square miles of the Delta, killing hundreds and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Today, the city is fairly lifeless. We read all the warnings about the infamous “Nelson Street”- once the prime commercial street of Greenville’s black community- now most of the businesses are abandoned and daytime is definitely the preferred travel time.

At the far end of Nelson Street is Doe’s Eat Place.

Normally open at 5:30 PM, we saw the door open and peeked in.

The cook was there getting ready for the evening crowd and told us that we could order some homemade tamales for take-out. They were the best tamales we have ever had. It’s hard to believe that this grocery store, turned restaurant is listed as one of the 10 best steakhouses in the country. You walk in the front door and think that you’ve accidentally walked into the kitchen. The sign on the refrigerator:
After a great meal, we wandered over to Walnut Street – where they claim the live music scene has been revived – we found Jim’s Café.

It’s a local meeting place with walls covered with photos of Greenville in better times. Jim not only serves up good food but also makes his own hot sauce, bottled in old quart whiskey bottles.

"Jim"
Heading east, we found the town of Leland – home of Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets—and the Highway 61 Blues Museum (closed, like most everything else in town).

Leland Murals
Just outside town we found the gravesite of James “Son” Thomas – a Delta blues musician (and grave digger and sculptor). His tombstone inscription was fabulous: “Give me Beef-steak when I’m hungry, Whiskey when I’m dry, Pretty Women when I’m living, and Heaven when I die”.

B.B. King is the biggest thing to happen to little Indianola. He was actually born outside of Itta Bena, but moved to Indianola at the age of 13 and they have embraced him as their favorite son. They’ve put a mural at B.B.’s favorite busking spot when he was an unknown teenager singing gospel and blues.

He learned quickly that singing blues earned him more tips. In 2008, the B.B. King Museum and Interpretive Center opened. Part of the museum is in the brick cotton gin where B.B. used to work.

It was getting late and we’d been on the road most of the day, but we had one last stop to make in Moorhead—“Where the Southern Cross the Dog”.

According to blues legend, W.C. Handy first heard this line at the Tutwiler train station in 1903. It refers to the intersection of the Southern and the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley railroads. The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley was known as the Yazoo Delta (nicknamed the “YD” or “Yellow Dog”).

"Where the Southern cross the "white" dog"

Unfortunately, the Yellow Dog Café has closed…but we did manage a photo on the front porch.

Happy hour at the Commissary and the Shack Up Inn.

The Commissary

The Shack-Up Inn

"Prepare to meet Thy God"

The snowbirds depart...

It's that time of year and everyone is leaving the Crusher. Poor Chloe--all of her buddies have deserted her. We had the Canadians over the night before they left and Chloe and Henry had the best time playing...while the adults drank way too much wine!

HENRY---

Chloe and Henry- separated at birth?

The next day was a bit of a haze..... We're still amazed that all of these Northerners take off on April 1st--only to head north for another month or more of cold weather. The weather has really been pretty awful this year in Florida--lots of chilly days and too much rain - so it was ironic that the weather turned absolutely gorgeous on April 1 as they were all leaving. We thought that we would be overrun with Easter weekend/spring break families this week, but it's really quiet here. We don't mind so much, but our little social director is having social withdrawal. She'll be devastated when our neighbors next door leave this week.

The Dog Days of Salem

CHLOE.....


BAILEY....



AND STELLA..................

Chloe's Meeting with the Orthopedic Surgeon

It was time for Chloe's visit to the Orthopedic Surgeon... It had been so long since we'd been at Angell Memorial in Boston.. It's always been one of the most highly respected pet hospitals in the country. We were referred to Angell years ago when Sushi was at death's door and our local vet couldn't diagnose the problem. We took her in- literally almost dead- and with no time to do the proper testing, they suggested that it was probably Addison's Disease - and if we were willing, they'd try treating her for it. The next day, she was standing up and eating! It was a miracle! After that experience, it was the only place we'd take our dogs.
Back then, it was an old brick monstrosity--with a small waiting room, tiny examining rooms. We drove up today to see the old brick building still in place- but a new entrance and a huge new attached building.

It was like walking into a state of the art hospital. An impressive check-in desk, a huge Pharmacy, separate waiting rooms for dogs and cats.

We met a young couple in the lobby with their Maltese in a baby carriage- the dog has cancer- and they've spent $20,000 on chemo for her! This place is not for the faint-hearted...or the poverty stricken!

We met Dr Trout (born in Chester, England just outside Liverpool- and wasn't too happy when John called him a Scouser). He checked out Chloe- walking and did an exam. He confirmed that she has MPL (Median Patellar Luxation) in both rear legs and explained the surgical options. At this point, he suggested watching her- making note of any changes in severity or frequency of the skip in her walk or any discomfort. If it gets worse- he'd suggest surgery--with a 6 week recovery period (confined area, no jumping, no running, minimal walking...)

Chloe's Luxating Patella

We had forgotten about the joys of owning a dog…the worries when anything goes wrong. Our little Chloe had let out a yelp last night when she was playing..and this morning was just not herself. No desire to take her morning walk – and then we noticed that she was keeping weight off her right rear leg. So, it was off to the vet to see what was wrong. She was still acting her normal crazy self in the waiting room- meeting every stranger as if they were long lost friends. I was beginning to feel a little guilty taking up the vet’s time for what was obviously not a real problem. When I finally got in to see the vet and described the symptoms, it was an immediate diagnosis – medial patellar luxation… (in lay terms- a trick knee.). When the patella (kneecap) pops out of its groove, the cartilage surfaces rub against each other. In some cases, the kneecap will pop back into place by itself—in the later stages, it has to be manually put back in place. After a X-Ray to confirm the diagnosis, the vet explained that small breeds often have this problem. Fortunately, Chloe’s is popping back on it’s own and we went home with some pain meds and a daily pill to help her joints.

One wedding and a surgery

Chloe had her surgery last week-- no more options for motherhood for her. She did great--was back to normal by the following day-trying to keep her calm is the toughest part. She should have her stitches out this week- so she can get back to her normal crazed self.

John went to Jane's wedding (Kate's daughter) on his own last weekend. We didn't want to leave the dog in a kennel- so I opted to stay home (but still keep the new dress, shoes and bag!) Not a bad trade-off. He had a good time--most of the family was there- so he got a chance to catch up and spend some time with Steph. Wedding went off without a hitch--and evidently everyone had a great

On the other hand, John's PC died- so had to send it in to HP. Naturally, it arrived back with the hard drive re-imaged. So, he lost some of the photos that weren't backed up. But at least the data made it on our backup drive. But, all emails are gone- and now we have to reload all the software, etc. What a pain. He still doesn't have email working--so we're sharing my PC until we can get it fixed. On top of all that, our car had to be towed back to VW (key wouldn't go in the ignition..) and our cell phone has taken to making calls on its own. (What a way to make new friends- the phone will repeatedly call the last dialed number). Since this is our 3rd phone in less than 90 days, we got a new one (an upgrade, at that). It was supposed to arrive via FedEx for Saturday delivery (yesterday). But, turns out that they don't do Saturday delivery here--so we had to follow-up on that as well. Does anything work anymore? Needless to say, it's been a very frustrating week. (Oh, almost forgot the taxes-- we had some strange investment that gave us tax credits on our income taxes --never really understood it. Well, the partnership was liquidated and the properties sold--giving us a gargantuan capital gain on our income tax (totally unexpected). We owe a ton of money to the government --and also to the State of Massachusetts. And, to add insult to injury- it put our income into a bracket that disqualifies us from the Bush tax rebate!

Chloe's Graduation

Chloe graduated from Puppy Class --got her diploma and her photo on the "Graduating Class" wall at the Petsmart. John finally finished her little "puppy prison"-- can't say that it's a wonderful addition to our motorhome--but he did do a great job of making it- matching the woodwork (for the base). It's a bit of an eyesore-and is still untested. We start today with our short periods of leaving her alone. Fortunately, our neighbors are Canadians so we don't care much about what they think, eh?

On the way home from puppy class, we stopped to check out a kennel. We've got John’s niece, Jane’s New Jersey wedding at the end of the month--and don't feel that we can leave the rambunctious Chloe with my mom. I checked it out on the web--it sounded wonderful--daily activities like golf cart rides, nature walks, movies, home made snacks, individual condos. The reality--we turned onto a dirt road with double wide mobile homes. When we got out of the car, two huge German shepherds came out in their dog runs to bark at us. The two women in the office appeared to love dogs. Since we didn't have all of Chloe's vaccination records, we had to leave her with one of them while we checked out the "accommodations". She promptly took Chloe outside for a smoke break. The kennels were atrocious--the smell of disinfectant, concrete floors, chain link on the outside with rows of barking dogs. You couldn't talk over the sound of the barking. Upon seeing our horror, the nice woman said, "We have another area for our older, small dogs that might be more appropriate for your puppy". Inside the office, they had an area with two levels of cages and a TV showing "Animal Planet". There was a 12 year old Shitz Tzu in one cage, looking quite sad. I guess it would be OK for a few days...but this dog is so accustomed to 24/7 attention, it's hard to imagine what she'll do being left alone in a cage from 6PM to 6AM!! Next week, we're doing a road trip to check out a few more options.

In between dog walks, we had a bit of a problem with our heater. It's a hot water based heat --and it suddenly quit one day. John got on the slider tray in the "basement" and discovered a water leak. After much work, he finally replaced the fitting --but not after a lot of water made it onto the slides. And, with our lovely Florida weather, mold started to take over. Now, we had a real problem. So, John has spent days unpacking the entire basement and spraying all of the underside surfaces with mold killer/inhibitor. Our site looked like Balkan gypsies lived here...for days, we had all of our boxes and stuff sitting outside, covering them up with tarps at night. Since everything was out, John decided that we should sort through all the boxes--and clean them all. What a job!! Unpacking every box, washing it out, drying it completely (no more Mr. Mold for us!) Well, it took a week - and we still have a few boxes left to deal with.

So much for our relaxing time in FLA. We've only got a month left here before we take off. We've got a week of maintenance the second week of April- then we're off to Louisiana.

We've been watching the British sitcom- "My Family" every night. John normally hates sitcoms--but he loves this one. We watch our 30 minutes of evening news- scream at the TV --then turn on My Family so we can have a bit of a respite from U.S. politics. My mother- who is a political junkie (literally, watches coverage of the campaigns all day-and has watched EVERY debate) -- is so fed up with it all that she's claims to have sworn off watching any of it

Our little "Mal-terrorist"

Every Monday, I say -"No drinking during the week"---and then after a day with the crazed Chloe, I grab the wine bottle and instead say "Happy Hour!" I'm going to try it again today--but we've got a few errands to run (and since she is still coming with us all the time), it'll be another exhausting trip. Add to that, we go from the store to my mom's to deliver some wood to repair her deck fencing. John has "volunteered" to replace the piece of fencing --so we're picking up the boards this morning, dropping them at my mom's to dry before we prime and paint them (I volunteered for the priming/painting).

John is outside right now, taking advantage of the cool morning weather making Chloe's new "puppy palace" (or "jail"). He's had to take an existing metal pen, cut about 1" off the top. He's filing the metal edges -- then he has to build a plywood base for it. We're going to put her little palace under the dining room table. Our plan is to leave it up all the time, get her used to going in there --we'll feed her in there, put all her toys and her bed in it--and hopefully, she'll come to look at it as her own little home. We were watching the Animal Planet the other day--a show about a dog with separation anxiety. The dog would destroy everything whenever she was left alone. So, the dog trainer was explaining how to ease the dog into being alone. By the end of the show, they were claiming major victory- being able to leave the dog alone for 7 minutes! Oh my GOD!!!!!

A rainy day in the Sunshine State

It's a rainy day here in the sunshine state....It should be a good day to curl up in a corner and read a good book-----BUT, this twosome headed over to my mom's house to finish up our projects. We were there all day yesterday- hanging drapery rods. We thought it would be an easy job--just hanging a decorative rod and putting up the drapes. But, just hanging the 3 brackets for the rod took hours! Then, we had to patch the old holes in the wall. So, by 5 PM, we just called it quits and told them we'd be back to finish it up. Today's task was trimming the rod, installing the finials, hanging the drapes. The end result was worth all the work. Mom's living room looks amazing--new drapes, new oriental rug and new furniture-- a designers dream!

Now, it's on to our next project-- making Chloe's "daytime house". John has to modify a puppy pen so that it will fit under our table. We're hoping that she'll grow to love her little "house" and we can leave her in it while we're out.

The Year of the Dog

Our life was now the “3” of us. No more dinners out, no more afternoons at the biker bars… By the time Chloe was 4 months old, she was sleeping though the night – That was the good news. The bad news—the only way she’d sleep straight through was in OUR bed. More good news—she loves walks- so we’ve been getting a lot more exercise. Any thing done once becomes a routine—so at about 4:30, she wants “Happy Hour”….her time to sit outside with us and watch the scene.

Chloe is wonderful--most of the time. She's amazingly smart--one of the things that we really didn't want in a dog.... Fortunately, she's also SO cute that you can forgive just about anything. As John's mom used to say, "God made them cute so you don't kill them". It has turned our life upside down.

On a trip to Ocala (while she was in for grooming), we stopped at Petsmart and saw their “Puppy Training” class. We signed up immediately- realizing that somehow, we had to become “alpha dogs”. 8 weeks of training-- So, every Tuesday, the entire family packed up for the trip to Ocala and our hour of training. They really should call it "Parent training" since the entire first hour was spent training us- not her! She managed to learn one command - "Watch" (used with a treat held in front of her nose- then brought up to your eyes so your dog makes eye contact with you). We, on the other hand, took about 5 pages of notes on "our behavior". We discovered that we've been doing alot of things right---and quite a few things wrong. They claim to be able to get your dog to "Come, Sit, Stay".

By week two, it was time to start the training. Chloe took the award for "last in class".... what a nightmare! She barked incessantly. As Jackie, the instructor, told us, “Just ignore her”. Well, nothing seemed to work. Her behavior was worse than the 2 Jack Russell terriers (Jack and Belle) in the class!!! But, things took a turn for the better the following week.. After mastering “Watch”, “Sit” and “Down” , she was not only a model student, but was also used as an example when Jackie would try to teach a new command.

Chloe also made a new friend—her new best friend is a 3 pound Yorkie named Sabrina. Fortunately her parents are a fun and interesting couple—Igor (from Croatia) and Terri (born in Italy). They live in Connecticut and spoil their little Sabrina as much as we do Chloe. Our visit to their motorhome became a daily event. The two dogs race and play for 30-60 minutes and come home exhausted.

.

And then there were three....

Shelley's dog,Callie, made a real impression on both of us--- an adorable, smart dog. It got us talking about the void in our life… So, while we were in Tampa at Lazy Days, I started to look at available breeders in the Tampa/Inverness area. One of them sounded intriguing—they had Yorkies and Yorkie/Maltese mixes on their web site. It looked like a family run operation—not open on Sunday, “a day of worship”. So, we agreed that we’d go check out their operation. We also agreed that we wouldn’t walk away with a dog this time—just check out the breeder and decide later…..yea, right.. We drove to the sticks – outside Dade City to a ranch style house in the middle of nowhere. We walked into the living room to see 4 Yorkie puppies waiting for us. Within minutes, we were surrounded with wiggling puppies. One of them was absolutely adorable –little Dina. But, we still wanted to see the mixed breeds that she had. So, in came 2 York-tese’s and a Maltese. I said, “No white dogs”…but this shrewd breeder must have known that this particular Maltese was a ringer for us. The York-tese’s went off to play with the other puppies—and the little Maltese, named Angel, came right to us. She was a charmer! While the other dogs raced and played, she stayed to play with us. Within a few hours, we were writing a check –only $1200 --$400 a pound—and walking out with our new puppy. She was a perfect traveler—slept in my arms the entire drive back to Tampa. Since we were not exactly prepared for a puppy – our first stop was Petsmart. With crate, leash, food and toys, we headed off to introduce “Chloe” to her new home. (“Chloe” was named after John’s g-g-g-g grandmother, Daniel Spencer Sr’s wife, Chloe Wilson Spencer).

Our first few weeks were quite a transition—after being footloose and fancy free for over 2 years, we were suddenly “with dog”. Feeling like new parents with no idea of how to deal with this tiny creature, we fumbled for awhile…trying to figure out how much to feed her, how often, when to take her out, how to get her house-broken…. There were a lot of sleep-interrupted nights. Thank god we were in Florida, so the 10:00-12:00-2:00-4:00 stops outside weren’t too awful. There were many days that we looked at each other, saying “What have we done?”.

We left Tampa and took our first road trip to Rock Crusher. We would be settling in for 4 months – well, for about 2 weeks in one spot—then, we had to do an Ocala run to get our jacks fixed – then back to our 4 month spot. Chloe immediately began to charm the entire park. Within days, she had made friends with everyone. We had our first Thanksgiving, our first Christmas and two birthdays. She would alternate between being absolutely wonderful and adorable –and being an absolute “Mal-terrorist”. December was time for puppy shots, first grooming. Our lives were completely turned up-side-down!

(Had a great b-day for Mom—with live Maine lobsters flown in!)