Hi, osso. Glad to hear the trip worked out well.
(At least I am assuming it did, but I haven't read the entire thread)
Osso,
Glad to hear you are safe and sound...
How did your books fair ? I will light candles and keep vigil until I hear that they are safe and undamaged.
I'm glad to hear that the dog pack and the human pack are getting along, and I look forward to manana's post.
Hey LambShanks,
I'm MOST happy to see that you have made that hairy trip all safe and sound. Give Pacco a scritch behind the ears and say Hi to Diane and Fuzzface for me. Bon Viage' my Dear!
Anon
Osso, walking along a highway one mile from where you passed Sunday (Casa Grande, Arizona), a little dog came walking toward me, all ears and no legs. He looked exactly like your photos of Pacco. Fortunately, by the time he tired of licking my hand, his owner came up and said "I see he's found a new friend." I asked the rhetorical question, "Is he a Gorki?" He answered, "Yes, with the nicest personality any dog can have."
Apologies to Sally.
JLN, apologies not needed for Sally, she is quite smitten with Pacco and has been flirting shamelessly, the little hussy.
We were getting pretty worried about osso as she doesn't drive at night and it was getting fairly late. But she arrived safe and sound and we breathed a sigh of relief.
Today osso and I did a little shopping/sightseeing along Central--used to be old Route 66. Lots of interesting shops and restaurants and lots of places we missed which means, naturally, that we will have to go again. On the way back to the car we were talking so much that we walked past the street where the car was parked. I started looking around and said that nothing looked familiar. Yep, we had been yakking so much that we didn't notice when we got to the street where the car was parked.
What's fun about shopping with osso is that we both are like squirrels, we love anything that is shiny and bright and especially, things that glitter. Give us a sequin and we are happy. At this point in our lives, we don't give a damn if we wear sparkly earrings with jeans and a t-shirt.
Ah, so much shopping, so little time. There are some funky book stores, near the university, that also need exploring very soon.
It's so good to have her here and safe. It's good that the dogs get along and it's good knowing that Fred is still the alpha male.
I thought Dys was the alpha male???
Hah, Husker, no way is Dys the alpha male. No, the parrot, Fred, who is a conure and all of 4 ounces, is the alpha male to beat all alpha males. He made a Great Dane back off by biting his nose. The little bugger can draw blood. He may be little but his machismo is huge!
Osso querida, Glad to hear that you and Pacco had a safe trip. Glad to hear that the two canines are doing what canines do and are amiable. Glad that you and Diane went shopping.
Not surprised that Fred is asserting himself. Dem boids can be mighty bossy.
Buona fortuna, mi amica.
Awww, all these nice replies...
Lion - I don't know about the books yet. They went, I hope, to the General Delivery station and can stay thirty days. I will have to go check, but am waiting until the moving truck surfaces; I'll will hire someone to help carry the boxes to the storage unit.
Meantime I have a date with the post office, as my check for the post office box hadn't arrived at the P.O. here when I started my drive-a-thon. Had been sent in an official post office mailing envelope by the Eureka office..
Well, I didn't mean to post all this nitzy stuff. Tooooo much detail.
Going to fill my coffee cup and then write more about the trip.
Great that you 'survived' - both the trip and the welcome, osso! :wink:
Osso
Osso, your timing was perfect for leaving California. If you had waited another two or three days, you would have encountered the fierce rain storms and snow comming in from the Pacific Ocean. Hope to get some rain from the storm in Albuquerque. It's been too dry here.
It will be interesting to see how my Dolly and Madison get along with Pacco since they've hardly gotten to know Sally.
BBB
So, driving arizona... changing desert land. There are not a lot of towns between Blythe and Phoenix. I stopped a couple of times at rest stops to walk and water Pacco and myself.. and took some photos. I was clear where I was at the time, of course, but am already having memory loss about the specifics. One of these days I'll have some photos to show from Rest Stop, Arizona.
As I neared Phoenix I saw more and more saguaro cactus, which I remember from being in the Phoenix area before. Handsome cactus, which Diane tells me have gotten more scarce with development and pollution.
The sky, which had been clear at the California border, grew gradually more smazey as I approached Phoenix. I don't know if was a kind of smog or just dust/sand in the air. Phoenix itself threw me for a loop. I'd been there in the early eighties a couple of times, once to visit a friend doing a public health internship, when I saw Taliesen West and Arcosante and Sedona... and another to go to a wedding with a group of friends. My memory of Phoenix then was of a readable city... a center with a ring road and some new development to the north and west. What I saw coming toward me on highway 10 from Blythe was a desert version of New York City, a big looking city, lots of signs to various offramps, none familiar to me. I couldn't figure out where to get off for a place to have breakfast, so I kept going. I ended up getting gas and a Krispy Creme donut and bottled water in Chandler, a town just south of Phoenix.
On to Tuscon. I liked that part of the Arizona drive. Interesting mountain formations to the west.. I honked a couple of times passing the offramps to JLN's vacation home, probably confusing other drivers in the vicinity.
I pulled in to the Red Roof Inn in the northern part of Tuscon fairly early, around three, but it was a known doggie and human hotel, and, after all, Christmas, so I stopped already with the driving. Trudged over to Denny's for what turned out to be a strange unwonderful fish sandwich. Denny's was crowded. I liked the hotel and the warm air, the late afternoon light. Read a not too horrible best seller named Hot Target,
Last day's drive coming right up.
Osso, what you saw in the Phoenix sky was perhaps the worst attack of Phoenix smog yet. There has been no rain since October and very little wind--to clean the air. I think I heard the honk of your horn: we are presently in our "vacation home" mainly to get out of that smog.
It was great to hear Diane's description of your shopping trip in downtown Albuquerque. I think of that as your entre to a new phase of life (forgetting that you had spent time there house-sitting before).
By the way, my encounter with the little Gorki yesterday was my first look at a Gorki in person.
Well, you did the trip very well, with as much pleasure as possible. Glad to see you safe in Albuquerque. Enjoy your future there.
Love, JLN
I lived in Phoenix for about six months. A development call University Park, in Mesa. Or was it Tempe? I know it was on the border of those two.
I had a few memorable experiences on Van Buren Avenue. I'll have to share those stories sometime.
Gus, I also lived in that area some years ago, I'd rather not hear about your experiences as I still have fond thoughts of the area.
So you're familiar with University Park?
Dys
dyslexia wrote:Gus, I also lived in that area some years ago, I'd rather not hear about your experiences as I still have fond thoughts of the area.
What a grump! Dys, you've just encouraged Gus to regale us with his sordid memories or your eden.
BBB
I want to hear it all. It takes a real adventurer to go down Van Buren slower than 55 MPH without stopping.
as I lived just off Country Club Drive, 8 lanes wide for the geezers in golf carts to zig-zag across 4 lanes when making a right turn, I have mixed memories of living in Mesa.
