November 2019

We were ahead of the chilly snowy weather so wanted to keep int that way.  That meant putting in a few long days which is really not our preferred way to travel.   We had dodged a bullet at Jace and Kimmy's with the really cold weather and the camper came out unharmed so, we wanted to keep it that way.
We stopped in Downey, Idaho the first night and in the Virgin River Canyon the second night.  That brought us less than one days travel from Congress.  This was so doable!!

Hank and Boolo (in kennel)

Welcome to Utah

Old truck at gas station on the way south

Campfire

finally, warmer weather

Welcome to Nevada

Going through Vegas

Lake Mead

Arizona....finally

first night at the bar

We arrived in Congress on the 3rd of November.  It was a long trip and now we could relax for a few days before we all got to work.  There was a lot of work that needed to be done but first.... let's stop, take a breath and decide what needed to be done and how fast we wanted it done.

flowers for the casita

Rest and relaxation

paint colors

There was no one scheduled to be in the casita until the 16th so we had a few days to start building and get this winter season rolling.
John decided to hire some of the work out.  There was drywall and painting that needed to be done and the job really was too much for one person.  It took a few days but we found a reliable young man that was willing to help.  He turned out to be very handy and more than willing to put in the hours to get the top casita started.

Friends

Kay has wanted to get a dog for a few years now and we decided that if she was going to get one then, now was the time.   She was still working away during the week but always came home on the weekends.  With John and I always at the house, we could start the necessary training and hopefully, Booko would guide him as well.  Booko is such a mild mannered dog and we hoped he would teach him  some of the things he needed to learn.

Kay was busy checking the rescue sites and soon found a nine month old blue nose pitbull named Takashie.  He looked quite promising and we made an appointment to see him.  We took Booko along for a "meet and greet" and headed into Phoenix.  We called the rescue as we were getting closer and were informed that another family was in the process of looking at him and he may not be available for us to adopt him if this family decided to take him.  That was a real bummer but we decided to keep driving and hope that the other family did not adopt this pup.

As it turned out, the family decided that this pup was not a good fit for their family so we were glad to that.  Our appointment was still on!!

We met Takashie and he was shall we say....rather rambunctious!!  The first thing he did when he met me was pinch my legs!!  Man, he certainly has sharp baby teething!!  I can certainly see why the previous family thought he was a "bit much" for their family!!   He was simply a big ball of puppy energy.  He wasted no time in destroying a furry little toy and had no manners what so ever.

It was time for the meet and greet with Booko and incredibly, that went really well.  Booko was interested but really couldn't have cared less.  Takashie on the other hand was very interested but not aggressive at all.  He simply wanted to play.  At one point, he even dived between Booko's legs all with no backlash.  The girls at the rescue LOVED Booko and thought that this would be a good match for the new pup and owner.  With all the paper work done, we headed out the door, Takashie in hand.

He jumped up into the truck and tucked in beside Booko and road quietly all the way home.   Booko kept looking at as with a "what the hell" look on his face!!  He was very tolerant.

On the way home, Kay decided that Takashie definitely was not going to be his name.....he looked and acted like a HANK.  Thus, the new name was given and our Hank became a family member.

Booko and Hank

Sleeping together

Our hired help started the upper casita drywalling and then painting.  John also hired a young woman to clean the lower casita as my surgical recovery from my total hip replacement was not complete and I was struggling with the cleaning.  That freed me up to be in a supportive roll and that helped immensely.  With Kay working throughout the week and our guests coming and going, it was busy and having cleaning staff was awesome..  
November ended with a bit of rain and with me slowly getting ready for all our Christmas company.
Kay's family was arriving for about ten days over the Christmas season and there was a lot of baking and meal planning to be done.  Now this was definitely my wheelhouse.   Life is Good!!