Happy Thanksgiving from Reggie, Roger, and me!

The crew and I hope you had a wonderful day of thankfulness.  Counting my blessings, I’m thankful for you, for opening my blog and for sharing yourself in comments.

Reggie, Roger and I laze about our home in southeastern Arizona in accordance with holiday tradition. We aren’t eating turkey though, because it’s a regular menu item at our house, plus major cooking events remain in my distant past forever, much to my relief.

I hope, whatever you do, wherever you go or stay, that thoughts of your blessings well up within you and overflow in joyful gratitude.

What’s our news since the last post?

The year 2020 has been incredibly disruptive and discouraging for many of us.  We all know the challenges and tribulations, from the personal to the national, that have befallen many, so I need not go into that.  In perusing some websites today, I came across many stories of “silver lining” found by those who struggled this year.

That’s good.

Relatively speaking, the past eleven months have rolled along without major speed bumps for the boys and me.  Reg and Rog greet each day with enthusiasm and sleep well at night, worn out from a full day of playing, eating, and protecting the homestead from threats such as the FedEx and UPS trucks.

As told earlier . . . .

Last summer I had cataract surgery on both eyes.  A good experience all around and I reward myself with new glasses with progressive lenses.

At the follow-up appointment, the surgeon suggests I have a blepharoplasty done. That’s surgery for droopy eyelids, a condition of aging I remember seeing in my late grandmother.  My eyelids weren’t terrible, but the condition was only going to get worse as the years go by, so what better time to have it done than the year 2020?

The procedure is performed at a hospital in Tucson with no complications (although going around with scabby eyelids that would traumatize small children is not fun.  Even Reg and Rog were taken aback.)

Well, yuck, is rvsue all about medical stuff?

No, I still have a few stories to tell.  Here’s one — a true story — from the recent past.

At the first sign of dawn I harness the boys and we head out for our daily walk of 1-2 miles.  Reggie and Roger love this routine.

Happily they trot ahead of me, stopping occasionally to lift a leg on a bush or to lunge at a rabbit playing “statue” alongside the road.  Reggie is easily distracted by scents he picks up, while obviously Roger would rather we keep the pace and complete our course.

The sun makes her entrance with beams of pink and gold reaching up from the mountains.  The neighborhood is mostly quiet.  Occasionally someone drives past us.  On the way to work, no doubt.  A roadrunner runs (of course) across the road in front of us.  Quail talk among themselves.

Suddenly I hear a clatter behind us, a clatter of approaching . . .

HOOVES.

I wheel around and here’s a full-sized adult javelina charging right toward us!

This is one of those moments when time hangs suspended and, inexplicably, the mind is able to flip through several thoughts in a nano-second, yet my recollection of the same takes several seconds.

What to do?  Fight or flight?

Is it time for Sophie’s choice?  Pick up Roger and let go of Reggie’s leash so he can run? (Reg being the faster of the two.)  No, no, I don’t want any of us chased.

In the instant I decide to stand my ground, so does the crew.  I throw up my arms menacingly and stomp toward the beast with a roar — “GET OUTTA’ HERE!  GO ON!!!” Reggie and Roger do their part.  They jump and twist and bark with the ferocity of much larger canines.

Quite impressive display we put on, I must say.

The javelina is about four feet from us when it slams on the brakes, reels around, and clatters away.  He flees about twenty feet back from where he came and disappears into the brush.

“Good job, guys!  You were great!”

Wow, this day is off to a heady start . . . .

This charging javelina is part of a herd of seven adults and one juvenile that we came across on a previous walk.  That morning they cross the road in front of us, not paying us any attention, except for the last one.  A male, he stops and stares at our frozen forms for a few moments.  Probably due to poor eyesight, he figures we’re part of the landscape and moves on.

Since The Early Morning Showdown with the Charging Javelina, we’ve seen the roving squadron (the correct term) of javelinas a couple times.  One morning I watch them chew on the across-the-street neighbor’s landscaping for several minutes.  (The first trim those shrubs had in several months, I might add.)

Sometimes the crew pops out of a middle-of-the-night slumber to bark insanely at something outside.  I suspect it’s the javelinas.

Arizona living . . . .

In other news, I held a successful yard and porch sale.  A mix of fun and hard work.  A few landscaping projects kept me occupied.  As of yet we haven’t gone camping with the truck and camper top.  That time will come.

Take care and be well all,

rvsue

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG!

RVSue and her canine crew is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Black Friday Deals for the Home

(Black Friday Deals last until Dec. 31, 2020.)

~ ~ ~