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.

Always Patsy Cline

Time for a girl’s day out—the Patsy Cline show in Ocala, “Always Patsy Cline”. Mom and I went to the matinee so it was a theater filled with gray heads. The show was great-a two woman show with a small band – and all the great Patsy Cline songs. After the show, we had a wonderful 3 course fondue dinner. Definitely a girl thing – cheese fondue with bread and veggies, beef, chicken and shrimp fondue- then, of course, the grand finale- the chocolate raspberry fondue. MMmmm! What a wonderful way to have a lingering dinner experience. We came home to find the guys with a drink in their hands, full after E.D.’s German dinner.

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.

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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!)

Time to head South

Time to head south—the weather was getting just toooo chilly. We opted not to take the coastal route. That stop gave us the “opportunity” to re-visit Hazelton and get a final look at the Turner gravestones. Not wanting to cook, we stopped at “Speck’s Tavern”, a local spot claiming home-cooked food. We parked our little Jetta next to a few large trucks that looked like they’d just come out of the woods loaded with dead animals. We walked in to a very dark, almost empty bar. A few patrons were sitting in front of those little card gaming machines – drinking beer with cigarettes dangling from their mouths. The bartender got us our beers and we took a better look around. The woman next to us, drinking something that looked like straight whiskey with a beer chaser, was talking to anyone who would listen. Her story of multiple marriages and hard luck life kept us entertained. In between, we took a look at the wall covered with 9/11 commentary—lots of “kill the muslims” and military slogans. We drank our beer and opted to make the best of leftovers in our own refrigerator.

Our mountain route south took us through Ashville, NC. After all of the endorsements of this funky, arts-fartsy town (Everyone has said, “You two would just LOVE it!”), we had high expectations. We took the trolley tour of the town—a two hour drive through no-where! The first hour was spent driving through their “Historic District” – which looked like a middle class 1930’s neighborhood. Then, it was off to see the big “downtown”….. a few blocks, a few restaurants and some boutique shops. What a yawn!

So, rather than spend any more time in the Carolina mountains (evenings were very chilly!), we made our way to Atlanta. We hit the infamous Atlanta traffic on the far side of I-285 and had the joy of driving through Atlanta with their less than friendly drivers. No one seemed particularly happy to see our 70 feet driving down their roads. We got to the Cummins dealership, just south of the airport, checked in and settled in for the evening.

The next day, we were hoping to get our jacks fixed (they were sporting a slow leak), but by day’s end, it was obvious that we wouldn’t be able to get the part for at least a week. So, we decided to spend the weekend and head out on Sunday. On Saturday, John dropped me off at the airport Marta station and I took the train up to Dunwoody. Shell met me at the station- how great to see her again! We did a few hours of shopping – it was like old times! Then, we picked up some pulled pork and sides for dinner, stopped to say hi to Elaine and met the boys for dinner at Shell and Frankie’s. It had been so long since I’d seen the house, it was like a whole new place. And, the dogs….the only dog I knew anymore was Chrissie! We finally met Callie and Hooch. Great dinner, lots of wine –it was a great evening.

"Fuhgedaboutit" - Cajuns take on NYC

On Sunday, we all left for NYC. While the RV Park here is nothing like Salem (it truly is a parking lot--although you can catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance. No matter- the Cajuns pulled the picnic tables together, pulled out the grills and it was a party in the parking lot.

Our first day was a major hit-- I found a tour of Brooklyn, called "A Slice of Brooklyn", run by a guy named "Tony". Imagine all of your stereotypes about NY/Brooklyn guys- and he was it! By the end of the day, everyone was saying, "fuhgedaboutit"...and "howyadoin". After a visit to the Brooklyn Bridge, we stopped for a slice of thin-crust Neapolitan pizza...then on to Coney Island - and a stop at another famous pizzeria -with Sicilian (Parmesan-over sauce-over mozzarella slices) and spumoni. While driving through the Brooklyn neighborhoods, Tony would cue his DVD player to show clips from films shot in Brooklyn. So, as you drive under the D line in Bensonhurst, you're watching "The French Connection" chase scene. On 86th Street in Bay Ridge, he shows John Travolta strutting his stuff in the opening scene of "Saturday Night Fever". (Wouldn't you know, the next day, this tour was being highlighted on The Today Show- this guy is gonna be swamped...)

Check out his web site, Slice of Brooklyn Pizza: http://www.asliceofbrooklyn.com/

Brenda, Carolyn and I did a "Shopping Tour"---4 1/2 hours in the Garment District - going into the backroom showrooms where the store buyers go to buy their clothes, accessories, etc. They're not open to the public- but with this tour you get in and can shop the samples. Brenda got a $450 coat for $65!. (Now, only Brenda would bargain in the showrooms- she got them down from $75 to $65..."Why pay wholesale?!"). We walked out feet off- that day and every other day.

John and I played tour guides at the Chelsea Market. This old factory (built in 1898) was owned by Nabisco and was the place where the Oreo cookie was invented. When Nabisco moved out, it was bought by a visionary who saw it as a place for both retail and wholesale operation. He brought in breadmakers, meat packers, produce vendors, flower vendors – offering them the ability to operate their wholesale operations on the exterior of the building- pulling their trucks in for shipments, and operating a retail operation on the inside. He kept the interior intact – so it has the feeling of an old factory. He encouraged the shops to have glassed in frontage to allow the shoppers to see their operations – baking bread, cutting meat… He had his son-in-law, an artist, create comfortable places for people to sit –resulting in huge Fred Flintstone like benches – that are now filled with people eating and drinking. On the upper floors are the TV studios for NY’s local channel, The Food Network and The Oxygen Network. (Web site for Chelsea Market: http://www.chelseamarket.com/pages/history.html)

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Then we took them on our own version of a Greenwich Village/SOHO walking/eating tour. Since the Cajuns have shared their tremendous cuisine (NOTHING like eating in the home of a great Cajun cook - and Sharon and Brenda are two of the absolute best!), we love introducing the Cajuns to strange ethnic eateries. We dragged them to tiny storefront restaurants/eateries and ordered tastings of Indian aloo kathi rolls, Israeli pressed sandwiches, Jamaican beef patties, fresh mozzarella and Italian sausage, Greek yogurt, and homemade Halva with pistachios.

Now, after all that, they did drag us to Little Italy for dinner. It's funny, "Brenda's New York" is so different from ours. She's the Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Broadway NYC girl. We're all Greenwich Village/SOHO/Lower East Side/Chelsea and tiny dives and ethnic foods. Although, I think Brenda's John was appreciating our cuisine a bit more after our Little Italy experience. After ordering a bottle of Chianti for $38, we ordered our $25+ dollar entrees...with everything ala carte. Our $100 per couple dinner great fun, but we'll still take our street food and ethnic dumps. We did see Gene Simmons (from Kiss) wandering the streets of Little Italy (although, no one in our group had a clue who he was..)

We had to introduce Stephanie to the Cajuns. She found a few treasures for us....she met us one night at a bar called the "Ear".....one of the oldest bars in NYC (the original sign was "Bar" but part of the "B" lighting was out--hence, the "E-ar" name). And- a Chinatown treasure- with soup dumplings and real feel of China....

The Cajuns left Sunday morning....and it still feels like they just left yesterday. We did absolutely nothing all day Sunday after their departure (we had a little bloody mary/mimosa brunch before they left). I spent the day reading my New York Times.

On Monday, we headed to Brooklyn on our continuing genealogical research project. We went on a field trip to Brooklyn to find the grave of John' great-great grandmother's brother (he died returning home from England where he was on a Mormon mission. He made it back to NYC and died of TB- so his brother planted him in a cemetery in Brooklyn (" 5 1/2 feet in the ground, in good clean soil"). (By the way, this was in about 1858...) Well, we headed out by subway/train to almost the end of the line in Brooklyn. As we passed each of the stops, the neighborhoods seemed to be getting a bit tougher....and we started to notice police officers walking through the stations. I asked John if he had done any checking on the neighborhood that this cemetery was located in. Well, we got off the train (with one officer on the platform and another at the ticket booth). Fortunately, the cemetery was about a block down from the station. We found the office and found a nice man who offered to take us to the general location of the grave (the oldest section of the cemetery). Lucky for us- since the cemetery covers 200 acres of land. We found the general area, but the stones were almost all gone. Our driver was an ex-cop and when we asked about any ethnic restaurants in the neighborhood, he laughed and asked, "Do you have a gun?". We got the message... On the walk back to the station, a group of teens came racing down the stairs screaming something about shooting someone. Our hearts were racing....but we made it safe to the station and back on the train. (Which, by the way, was a screeching, pounding, graffiti covered disaster). Oh, what a joy it is to be an American these days-- so much to be proud about??!! Crumbling infrastructure...in debt up to our ears to the Chinese....a failing war. Can it get any better?