Holiday weekend

At the state park we've been gearing up for the long weekend.  One thing that we've done is get scheduling ready for the gate  staffing from 8 am till 9 pm.

Another thing that we've been getting ready for is the extra paperwork needed for the large influx of people in the park:  we have special windshield passes for folks to use and they must be ready and all the staff informed as to their use( they are only for the campers who are staying till Monday or Tuesday).

We have coloring books for the children to teach them about safety with boats. They are to be passed out at the entrance gate.

We have state park maps for the entire state which will be passed out to people from out of state. They are special folding style made to carry in a pocket or purse and have every kind of information needed throughout the state parks.

Folded pocket map

Folded map opened up to show you!

Folded map opened and turned to reverse side!

We have whistles for boaters, and boating reference tables for boaters. We are trying to get folks trained to bring the safety equipment that is required so that they don't get ticketed by the boating ranger, or drown(which is worse of course).

Chica

Chica is showing her beauty while sunbathing !

Chica read the post about National Dog Day!  She pouted the rest of the morning, and wouldn't speak to me or the dogs!  She finally came out and said that she doesn't think that dogs are so very special, that they are way too doggy and way too barky, and way too tail waggy!

Chica said that a cat has ESP and can read the cat owner's thoughts, and can try to get the human to do as the cat wishes.

Glowing!

My neighbor Andy was playing with his new camera attachment.  It fastens to the back side of an IPhone, and takes infrared photos!

The photo below is of Fleur along with a temperature of the skin in one spot.

Fleur glowing

Andy is a cat fellow, and thus has no use for dogs, and actually pushes them away!  The camera attachment actually gave him a reason to pay attention to a dog!

A busy week

Our horses have been hanging around and supervising!

This week has been busy as I've been busy getting some volunteers recruited for later this fall, and also for next summer!  I have also been getting the exit sheets ready for a volunteer and her husband who are leaving after today!


I have also been getting myself ready to take the wife's place at the fee booth, in addition to my own shifts!

If we don't man the fee station, people just don't pay!

I'm going to stay up here out of the way while you're so busy!

I've been getting a "traffic counter" ready to be mailed to another state park, and ready to take it to the UPS store.  (They are only open for two hours a day due to the fact that the driver is also the office man!

I've been ordering the supplies that we need for the new volunteers, and contacting them to get their sizes!

I've been ordering their name tags, and hats etc.  Also, have been checking on some applicants' background and Sex offender Registry status!

Also getting their entry packets ready and having all that ready for the fall and for next year as well!

Would you please quit messing around?

We moved from one campsite to another, and that was a job for ME as well! I had help from two other volunteers, but the dogs didn't lift a paw!  (The cat didn't, either!)

I'm supervising!

I'm exhausted!

Battering ram

Fleur seems to have been brain damaged at birth as regards to her nose!

Fleur has a very lovely nose, but she doesn't care about that beauty!

Fleur mostly likes to use her nose as a battering ram!  When she goes to her food bowl, she uses her nose as a battering ram to shove the food downward in the bowl.  This in turn displaces the food out of the bowl and to the surrounding area. What a mess she makes!

Once she has almost all of her food shoved out of the bowl, then she has fun searching for the food and eating it!

This whole phenomenon was videoed, but I have been unable to transfer the video to the blog.

Storm Defender 2nd post!

Fleur has had on her Storm Defender cape for about 8 hours today, and it has done very well except for the occasional extra loud thunder BOOM!  Then she wants to get under my chair, but even then she is not shaking, drooling, wild-eyed, etc, she is just a bit nervous and settles right down afterwards!

Power is doing his usual thing, he is lying on the sofa and either snoozing or washing his foot(it's bedtime).  The Storm Defender has not helped him a bit except that it has kept Fleur from trying to dig a hole through him to get to the floor! (chuckle).

First report on Storm Defender

The inside of the storm defender is a metallic fabric, and is supposed to dissipate the static that comes along with thunderstorms.  

We are in the middle of the storm season, and so I decided to take the storm defender with me until the season is past.  I waited  yesterday and checked the weather and no one was predicting storms, but after going for a walk and a drive, I went home and was working on my quilt, when suddenly I heard loud thunder. It was about 9 pm!

 I got out the storm defender and put it on Fleur, and she stopped trying to dig through the floor of my motorhome, and laid down on the floor and didn't move.

About 10:30 pm as soon as the first storm moved on, the next storm arrived so I did not take the cape off, and again she stayed calm.

That storm passed, I was tired and wanted to go to bed, but then another thunderstorm arrived, ( it was 11:15 pm ) and since I wanted to watch Fleur's reaction,  I stayed up.  She relaxed on the floor again!

Finally the storm passed about 12:00 am, and I was headed for bed!  I decided to take the two greyhounds outside, when another  thunderstorm arrived!  Again Fleur didn't care!

Approx 1:30 am I was falling asleep in my chair, and the last storm( so I thought) passed over, and then the
next storm came along about 2:15 am.  I was so tired and no longer had the ability to care about the storm defender jacket.  

I went to bed, Fleur lifted her head and said "you look tired, Mom".
I agreed with her and went to bed with my cat on my ribs, and Fleur resting on the floor in the living room calm as a cucumber.

Power, of course was "very scared" and I thought I would show you how he reacted to the long series of storms!

This is a daytime photo but this is exactly how he appeared throughout the storms!

So, as for now, the STORM DEFENDER works!

Storm defender

Dr Suzanne Stack, who is a veterinarian in Yuma AZ, has a web site in which her medical articles are available to be utilized. She specialized in greyhounds for many years and was a racetrack veterinarian also. 

I checked the greythealth website for any information she might give on thunderstorm phobia. She mentioned the Storm Defender cape.  http://www.greythealth.com/thunder.html

www.stormdefender.com

I decided to order one and hopefully get more comfort for Fleur.

Yesterday, while at work, Fleur started getting that nervous and shaking state that usually precedes a thunderstorm. 

The cape upon being first worn. Fleur couldn't stop pacing and staring.

 I put the Storm defender cape on her and she calmed immediately and stayed calm and relaxed all afternoon.  

The whole afternoon was like this !

The storm was light so I feel that this was a poor trial. As soon as we have another storm I will report on the Storm Defender cape!

Aftermath of thunderstorms

We had multiple thunderstorms, one right behind another for over 9 hours!  Fleur had her thunder shirt on, and tried her best to dig holes through the floor of the motorhome.

The following day, she was seemingly exhausted and did not leave the sofa until 2 pm!

Power, however seemed to sleep through the storms, and lay on the sofa throughout!  But, the following day he was taking advantage of the sofa as thoroughly as Fleur!

Hummingbird Joy

One of the first things I do upon arriving at a campsite is hanging the hummingbird feeder.  I went weeks without a hummer drinking (that I saw).  Finally, I began to have visitors to my feeder.  

Female black chinned hummingbird

Another female

Possibly an immature male, due to the striping around the throat 

Definitely  a male 

I  do enJOY them!

It needed swimming classes

I was very surprised to find this ground squirrel in the dog's pool!

These faces

I would think that Fleur's neck would break from this position!

Below, I am amazed that she can bend that nose so far!

She sure knows haw to look adorable!

The miracle of love between two beings makes everyday happenings seem so wonderful!