Four Dogs and a Car

Well, we came back unscathed from the 'dog pack' camping adventure. I was determined to not be stressed for the few days beforehand knowing I'd have 4 dogs with me that might not quite behave themselves. Well, 3 dogs, I knew Lucy would because she's a scaredy cat. Saturday morning there began a little stress due to my two dogs whining...whining and ...whining. I really dislike dog whining. I was almost over the edge when we discovered.....the CAR! I plopped them both in the car and they settled in, took naps, didn't bark at anyone passing by...and didn't WHINE!! Hallelujah! I found the answer. So, that's where they spent a lot of the weekend, especially Weezie. If Hanz was out with us he perched himself on the front step to the camper and kept a close watch on passers by, even though most often it was Mr. Chippy who seems to like the rock wall for the fire pit, the wood pile and oh, yeah, most importantly...to torment Hanz. 


As I ran around like a maniac to the grocery store, the liquor store, CVS and the gas station -- I saw this beautiful machine.

One thing I love about warm weather is that the vintage cars come out to play. I appreciate just about all of them from before 1975 and have many favorites, too, and that Chevy Impala is a beauty! The driver was still in the car and on his cell phone so I figured I wouldn't get caught taking pictures. Not that he probably would have minded and if you drive around in that type of vehicle you know you'll get cameras pointing, people waving and stopping to talk. I used to have one of these:

A 1973 VW Karmann Ghia. The last year they were made.

I loved driving around in this car. Especially with it being a convertible, you just felt good. My license plate was GHIA PET (remember the Chia Pet?) It was great when on the highway and someone 'got it' and honked at me yelling "love the car and license plate!"

I often heard peoples' fond memories of when they were younger and it was their first car, or how a family member had one, or how they should never have gotten rid of it. The thing drove hard, it really wasn't the most comfortable ride, but it was fun. It's been 4 years since I sold it and this is the first time I've felt a real ping of not having it anymore. To due it justice, it needed to have some restoration done...it looked great, paint will hide sins...and it deserved a garage. 


Anyway...enough nostalgia...I'm talking about camp. 


Lucy did great!! 

I was sooooooooo happy. She did find her spot in the camper in the back corner, hidden, but would roam a little when no one was in there...or if she thought she heard the food dish. I was so worried about putting her on a leash and trying to get her to do her duties. The first time she was a little worried and scattered, understandably, but then she got the hang of it and by the time the weekend was over, I think she was actually enjoying it. 

I just let her lead, if she wanted to walk, we walked, if she wanted to go back to the camper, we went back. 


She certainly did know where the camper door was! LOL I tried to keep her tied up outside with the other dogs for a bit but she got stressed out, so in she went. She was such a good girl. I was so proud. 


Another reason for a dog-sitting car? Bears. See, at night, Weezie and sometimes Hanz would get me up to take them out. I was always a little nervous not knowing what creatures were out there in the dark ready to eat the furry beings and attack me. Nothing ever happened, I'm just not real good with dark in the woods. Well, this year, my anxiety was a little higher, maybe because the signs that were posted everywhere seemed more urgent this year. You know, the ones about the bears that will eat your children. After discovering the car as sitter, I decided I'd try them there for the nighttime hours as well. Voila!! they slept through the night. There were no accidents (I had them in their crates just in case) and no complaints. The best part? I got some sleep. I was able to sleep through the night, do you know how amazing that is???? OK, so Sunday night I woke up in the middle of the night for no reason, then heard crinkling and couldn't fall back to sleep, but at least I couldn't blame it on the dogs! It was probably one of those pesky bears because even R. heard the crinkling of leaves behind us. 


On Saturday we actually witnessed two bears. They apparently were hungry. I was sitting up at a friend's site having a cocktail and R. had the dogs down at our site and I hear "BEER BEER BEER clang clang clang" I'm thinking "oh, someone's getting ready for partying this weekend!" it was later in the afternoon and it was cocktail hour after all. Then I hear "it's a BEAR!" Ahhhhhhhhh, DING! "BEARS! BEARS! BEARS!" and the clanging of pots was to scare them away! Well, they headed to the garbage shed which is about 20 yards upwind from our site but downwind from where I was. We all come running from our relaxed positions down to where the bears are. Some people were getting a little too close for my comfort, I stayed just far enough away ...you know...just in case. Well, due to their sizes we figured it was a male and female. The female actually got into the garbage shed after much banging and creating a little damage and stole a bag of trash. There must have been some super good smelling stuff in that bag for her to want it so badly. As I'm watching this, I can see R. at our site keeping an eye, I didn't see any dogs so I figured they were in the camper (they were) R. scooted them in real fast when he first caught site of the bears which were at first much closer to him when they traveled through the neighboring site to the garbage. The female chomped away at the bag of garbage as the male just sat close by watching. Then, he walked into the road oblivious to about 15 onlookers, plopped himself down, and waited. I wish I had pictures. Many pulled out their camera phones and cameras, my friend just made sure she had her glass of wine with her. If she was going down, it would be with cocktail in hand! 


It was funny to watch everyone that was closer to them freak out when they started to move. What? did they think they were just going to lounge around there all day? The owners of the campsite came up and let off some firecrackers so they went running down into the woods. Then you heard the dogs barking and people scurrying...yup, other sites are down there. The male was tagged in his ear with a red marker which means he was visiting from CT. Hey, he was gettin' some lovin' from some sweet girl in the Berkshires, he was willing to travel.