It’s a Learning Curve

Life had been hectic since mid December, or at least it seemed to be. This past week though has been wonderful. (sigh) We made no plans to do anything other than the mundane chores of grocery shopping and laundry. The lull in activity has allowed us to take a step back, breathe, and get back into our normal routine. Back to getting in at least one walk each day. Back to Don working on his music and I am back to getting in some reading.

Sunday, Valentine’s Day, was our 31st wedding anniversary. We didn’t make a big deal about it. We didn’t exchange cards nor gifts. In this lifestyle with its limited space it just doesn’t make sense to add any more doodads. We did have dinner reservations  though. We’d heard good things about the steaks at Cotton’s Restaurant in Orange Beach and opted to try it. Don ordered the bacon wrapped filet with the blackened grouper and I had the prime rib with half a lobster. While both steaks and the grouper were delicious, the lobster left much to be desired. It looked as though someone had beat me to picking through it. That part of dinner was a disappointment but my Bloody Mary almost made up for it. Spicy! Just the way my pop makes them. Just the way I like them.

Early Monday morning found us at the local veterinary clinic. Tucker was scheduled for surgery to remove the growth attached to his back right paw pad. It had burst open just before Christmas and had refused to completely heal. By Tucker’s third office visit we agreed with the doggie doctor, the only option left was to remove it. It felt strange being in the rig without him especially at bedtime. The vet did call us at the end of the day to let us no that he was extremely pleased with the surgery. It had gone much better than he had anticipated.

Tuesday was tax day for us. It’s the one day of the year I literally dread. I really don’t recall a year when we didn’t have to pay Uncle Sam a little more and IF that day should ever come, I’ll probably keel over. Anyway, with that nasty task behind us we went to pick up our boy. The vet met with us in a private room. He showed us the incision and how he wanted us to wrap the paw to protect the area with thick padding. He wants Tucker to be kept as inactive as possible for the next two weeks. No walks, no jumping, no going outside except to potty.

Once Tucker was back home and as comfortable as we could make him, it was obvious that the adrenaline rush he’d had from seeing us in the vet’s office had dissipated. Our poor boy is miserable. It’s hard watching him struggle to rise, walk or lay down with only three good legs to work with. Hopefully there will be improvement with each new day.

When we started this new phase of our lives in April 2012 we knew we would keep an eye to areas we visited to see if any met our criteria of a place to settle when the time comes to get off the road. In the almost 4 years as road gypsies only one place has met most of our wants and needs-the Eastern Shore of lower Alabama. It has the good medical facilities we’ll need, convenience to shopping, restaurants, churches of our faith and activities we enjoy. It’s also a straight shot “home” to Indiana should we be needed there. We’ve been here before,  in the Summer, Fall and the Spring and have always been met with moderate to hot temps much to our liking. So sure we were of settling here that we submitted our names for an ERPU site at Rainbow Plantation. We counted on it taking several years before we would be at the top of the list for a site.

Now that we have spent an entire Winter in LA (lower Alabama) we’ve had a change of heart. Not just one of us but both. We found the season to be much colder and wetter than we had expected (or been led to believe), infringing on the amount of time we like to spend outdoors.  So we are back to square one of searching for our perfect place. We’ve learned a lesson in this however and that is, no matter how perfect a place may seem, no matter how much of our must haves it meets, we will be sure to visit for an extended amount of time in each of the four seasons.

Here’s lookin’ at you kid…….