Congregation Bonfire

We had such a great time tonight. A couple in the congregation that have a home WAY out in the country invited everyone over for tamales, corn and a bonfire. It was absolutely super. Before going I was a little worried because my GPS said: "This route takes you on dirt road, are you sure?" So to be on the safe side, with visions of my head of that family that got lost and died in Death Valley Nevada, I decided to phone Joe and ask him to confirm the directions. In the end I ended up following Patricia and their group as they drove, but the GPS was right - dirt, rustic, road for part of it. Anyways, there are some brothers in the hall that are excellent guitar players and it was so fun listening to them. Brother Norberg knew some Johnny Cash and some other great songs (good voice), and the other brothers knew some beautiful Spanish songs, so it couldn't have been a better time. I attached a little clip for everyone. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend too!

Love, d :-)

Great Week, Getting Organized

Hey hi everyone :-)

Hope everyone is having a great week. This week is still one of organization but it has been really good. Went out in the ministry work on Tuesday and had a really good time. I personally didn't speak with anyone but Joe and Col were saying of the nine homes they visited something like 4 of them had serious discussions that they are returning on.
My internet connection is almost installed. The park internet has been fabulous but I am still going ahead with the private internet connection too to be on the safe side due to work. Couldn't ask for a better park though - super clean, secure, with great internet connection as I mentioned.
Harvey and Pearl and I are heading down to explore Kino Bay on Monday - Joe, Col, (Sophie their dog), Alejandro and Patricia, are going that day too so it should be really nice. I will show some pics of course. Getting one of Harve with a snorkel on his head may be difficult, but one of him rolling in the sand or Pearl chasing a bird may be doable. :-)
I feel like I have been all over the city now...and I like it. It is definitely not a tourist city, but for someone that wants to have all the amenities of a city and still enjoy the Mexican culture then it is perfect. It feels small compared to Seoul, but the roads are nice and wide for the most part, and it is easy to get around.
Okay will run. Yesterday I had a headache but today back in top form so I have a bunch of little projects - including studying my Spanish - before the meeting tonight. Everyone have an awesome weekend.

Love,
d :-)

What A Great Week So Far...

A Good Day, and My Truck is Washed

Well I feel somewhat accomplished today. First I found my way to the KH with no trouble and listened to an excellent talk on the resurrection hope. Then after, I drove around looking for a truck wash as I can't stand all the dirt on it from traveling down here and rain the other day. However, I didn't find one by the time I got back to the RV park, basically because I don't know what I am looking for. So I noticed that beside the security guard in the RV Park is a huge hose on a tap, so I thought maybe he would consider washing my truck, so in my worst Spanish, I walked up to him and said "yo pagar tu lavar mi truck". He nodded his head yes so a deal was struck and he washed the truck. This may work out just perfect for the future. Now I just have to find a laundry person I can pay and life will be absolutely perfect. :-)

Love to everyone,
d :-)

Good Intentions

Hey hi everyone...

Wanted to give you all an update on the congregation as I was supposed to go to my first meeting last night...unfortunately I couldn't find the Kingdom Hall. Apparently I was sitting in the gas station parking lot around the corner of it during one part of my search but it was very dark with lots of traffic and I missed it. Anyway, after an hour of searching, going up and down every street in the area, before I got to the teary-eyed stage, I headed over to Soriana. It is a big Mexican change of stores. Did a little shopping then headed home to wait for the meeting to be over so I could call Joe and Col and find out from them if they found it, and just how far away I was. As I mentioned at the outset, I did pretty good in that I was basically in the same block, so tomorrow should be a cinch. Today now I have just been milling around the RV doing cleaning and reading. Joe and Col are coming over later. It is desperately cold in the mornings here so I am very thankful to have the heat of the RV - if not I would for sure rattle myself to death by teeth chattering. Harvey and Pearl are doing good. I notice that with Harvey on the white rice diet recommended by the vet that the carbs are really helping him get his energy back. I am attaching a picture of a jack rabbit. You may find this hard to believe, but the rabbits in the farm area behind the park are truly the size of Harvey - no exaggeration. I initially thought it was a coyote running between the bushes, but they are just massively huge rabbits. Okay, talk to everyone later.

Love,

d :-)

Well It Is Hard To Believe...

Hey hi everyone... :-)

It is hard to believe but we are finally here - result of lots of prayer...and hard work too...but definitely mostly prayer :-) There were a few moments when I wondered if it was going to come together. Even though I had a wonderful time living in Asia, this move has even brought greater satisfaction to my life. I have been wanting to move to Mexico for a long time so it is really hard to believe at moments that it has finally happened. About 10 days ago, we faced a big hurdle - "healthy as a horse" Harvey, was sick for the first time in his life but it was a big one, and after 3 days of him laying motionless and being in pain I was wondering if he was going to press his paw against the wall and leave me a "goodbye mama note". But things turned around. He developed pancreatitis which is life threatening. Usually the doctors will insist that the dog be kept in the hospital on IV in an attempt to help them but since I told him I would sit beside him ( more than ANY nurse) and give medicine in ANY way necessary if he let Harve lay at home instead. However, on the morning of day four I was wondering if "this was it" because he was down on his fluids again and I couldn't get him to tke any even with a syringe down the throat, but then I got this idea. I noticed as he was laying practically comatose for those three days that every time I opened up the HAPPY HIPS bag for Pearl that even in his dire state his ears would wiggle a little. So I got this idea that I would make some home made chicken broth (nuturients but no pieces in it) and then I decided I would go sit in front of his bed by his head, call his name to get his eyes to slit open and then make an animated display of grinding HAPPY HIP pieces into the chicken broth. He just layed still while I did this, and then I mved the bowl of broth close to his face, and gradually his tongue slithered sideways out his mouth and I held the bowl so he could put it in - then after he tasted it he raised his head a little and lapped up the whole cup of it just to get the piece of HAPPY HIPS he could see resting on the bottom. At this moment I was so glad that I am such a mush heart and have no spine for giving treats which has resulted in Pearl and Harvey being addicted. Within one hour of him drinking the chicken broth I started to see an improvement, and within two hours I had a feeling that things were turning around. By mid morning I put his jacket on because the illness had made him hypothermic with temperature only of 98 degrees. I then gave him one last pain killer (opium based to control the pain) and put him in his buggy for a push down the trail. I just thought the fresh air would help him too. Anyway, he is moving slower still, but seems to be on the path to getting better. He has been eating white rice and chicken breast these days as that is what the vets recommend for healing dogs (easy to digest and nutritious) but the surprizing part is that is was ready to go on Friday when I planned to take off. Now that we are here him and Pearl are just loving the park. There is lots of room to run and walk...and roll...and I have a special RV dog yard that I bought for them from GOGO pets so they can hangout outside now without being on a lead.

I have included some pics of our travel down. The dark one of the trucks was our first night on the road. We had to park amongst the big rigs so that I didn't have to unhitch.

The second one is of Harvey and Pearl rolling on the turf in the park. They built a putting green in the middle of the park for people that want to practise their golf. Pearl and Harvey love it so much that they just roll and roll and roll.

Tomorrow night is the first meeting at the new congregation. I will tell you all about it later. And also I will include some pics of the city. It is big but not high. I am pretty sure I will like living here - easy to get around and everything a person needs, and wonderful people every place I have gone.

Okay, more updates later. Lots of love to everyone.

d :-)

We Are On The Way

Hey hi everyone :-)

Just a brief blog to let everyone know that we are on the road. Dad, Mom and Keith worked hard to help me get some last minute things done on the trailer. Dad put in a "green" tankless water heater for me, and also some jazzy style hitch that claims I won't get blown over in a hurricane. :-/ ...time will tell on that one I guess. And Keith helped him with the details of it, so it was really nice to have their hard work. We got on the road about 3:30 yesterday and arrived in Yuma at 6pm. I was hoping to find my uncle Joe and aunti Edna in Yuma for the evening at their park but it was just too dark to see the gate I was looking for. Two other parks were sold out of pull-throughs (I don't want to unhitch until Mex) so we took off driving over the mountain (hill) toward Tucson, and on the other side of it there was a big rig parking lot so I pulled into the middle of them as most of them were overnighting it too, and the three of us jumped into bed. Harvey and Pearl were happy I could tell to get out of the truck and crawl under their covers. Me too. :-) This morning we took the 4.5 hour drive over to Nogales. We are at a park called De Anza. It used to be an old greyhound dog racing park so it excellent for pets and beautiful grounds with an indoor golf range for the golf nuts :-) and a pool and spa for those of us keen on shriveled skin. We will get up at 5 tomorrow morning and make the drive to the border and hopefully be across by 6am and then on the road down. It is only a three hour drive so at the lastest I anticipate getting there by noon. Tomorrow after I get set up and organized I will upload some pics for everyone to see. ...Harvey and Pearl are traveling well, and I can see how nice it is having an RV with pets because it is great to pop the door open and they are at home and their is no lugging of stuff around. Must be like that for parents with children too. Okay, talk to everyone tomorrow.

Love,
d :-)

I Feel Like A Pet Insurance Salesman...

I guess I just am hoping that others will consider the option of getting it. Today it paid off again for me. Yesterday, Harvey starting acting strange. Harvey has never been sick. I call him "healthy like a horse Harvey". He is usually the "life of the party" type of dog - happy and playful from morning til night, but suddenly he was just laying like a rag not moving. He even got so tired in the first block of our walk that I had to pick him up and carry him home. I knew something was REALLY wrong, but thought I would observe him during the night. I got up every 30 minutes to check his eyes, gums and pulse. ...Actually I kind of found it hard finding his pulse, and I think Harvey knew this because I would get nervous and start lifing all his legs, sticking my fingers underneath looking for any place that would beat. After about two times of enduring this from me, he then just gave me a big breath out when I put my hand on his side to prove that he was alive. Anyways, this morning, he even looked worse so I carried him out on a pillow to the truck and headed off to the Emergency Animal Hospital. Usually in the truck Pearl yaps at him constantly to let him know that his true traveling place should be the far back corner of the cab, but today it was as if she knew how sick he was because she laid down next to him on the pillow and put her head across his neck. The vet at the hospital was great, and did a blood panel and x-ray. He was actually the best vet I have found in America and Canada so far - extremely attentive and took the time to go over the blood work in detail. It looks like Harvey has pancreatitis. This is very serious and he is resting until the medicines start working. We are trying to get the infection out of the pancreas so that means he can't have any food - only fluids....but getting him to take even that is hard at the moment. I got the idea to boil chicken breast and drain the broth off. Miraculously he sipped the bowl so I am relieved about that. I am hoping tomorrow morning to see a positive change. I have turned on the hot blanket on the bed and hopefully that will make him feel good as he sleeps tonight. Okay, must run. Love to everyone, d :-) ....oh yes, today was $750, so I am thankful I put that $20 put per month....

Catching Up on Life...

Hey hi everyone! :-)

There has been a lot going on here. On the News it was saying that in four days last week we had more rain than all of last year in the region. I truly believe it. Harvey and Pearl would not step outside no matter what so to get them outside for a change of scenery I just lifted them straight from the RV to the truck and then we would go to the mall or Home Depot and mill around. The water was rushing everywhere. Remember that golf course Morningside that I showed before in some pics? Well the damage before was NOTHING in comparison to now. When I walked down there a huge river had cut its way through the middle of it with trees and bushes and rocks being pushed along. The residents in the area couldn't believe it either, and were down there taking pics. My camera battery failed of course at the peak of the river, so when I came back after the rain had stopped and I took the pic I included here. But also, it sure showed my how a multi-million-dollar golf course handles things like this - within 36 hours of the rain stopping they had loads of heavy machinery out there pushing mud and debris and resculpting the course. No wasting time at all!

The second video I posted here is of my nephew Justin dancing. He takes swing classes every Friday night and does excellent. I think he is he youngest in the class so is dwarfed by VERY big girls, but has learned techniques for flipping and twirling them. In two weeks they will be dancing at DisneyLand, so how cool will that be. :-)

And lastly, come next Friday, Jehovah God willing, we will be taking off for Mexico. We should be there Sunday morning. I was wondering how long it was going to take, but now the time is finally here. So we are down to the last details of getting tires changed out, truck maintenance done, putting the motorcycle into storage....and buying lots of the dog food bags and treats that Harvey and Pearl like to eat on the way, and while down there. :-) After years of efforts I have finally found a dog food that Harvey can eat for his allergies: Dick Van Patten's Original Ultimate (small bites). No more heaving up, or bloody skin patches for the little dude. Also, I have bought a good supply of HAPPY HIPS treats for the two of them. I basically reward them all day long for EVERYTHING: waking up, taking a walk, sitting nice on the couch, etc., so we need several of these bags to go with us. Also, I installed a child's booster seat next to me in the truck. This is because they both like to sit next to me, and touch me at the same time - nobody is happy unless at least one paw or somebody's chin is resting on me. But the booster seat has arms, so now they can sit right beside me but they can't touch me...which is much safer, and comfortable, for me. Sometimes there is a bit of growling and grumbling about who gets to sit immediately next to me, but they are getting better. Also, I bought Pearl a set of steps for getting up on the bed. As you know she is kind of short, and doesn't like to jump so any time she wants on the bed she mews for me...and then when she wants down she mews for me. And Pearl is not the most decisive dog sometimes. Anyway, I just got the steps and now am training her to use them. So now she stands at the bottom of the steps and mews. :-/ However, after pushing her up them for the last four days I can see a little improvement as her legs are moving a little more freely as she climbs, and I have hope within two weeks she won't need me there pushing her bum. Okay, I have lots to do today with the preparations so must run. Everyone have an absolutely wonderful week!

Love ya,

d :-)

Something Pretty To Look At.

I thought this was gorgeous. I am sure all of you have beautiful sunsets too. Seems almost everywhere I've been on this Earth does (really a testament to God's love of art in my opinion). But I thought the colours of this one were outstanding.