SUMMER IS HERE AND WE ARE BACK ON THE ROAD

This has been one of the hardest winters we have gone through in many ways.  The very worst part was Elsie ending up in the hospital for an esophageal obstruction (dog bone) and subsequent pneumonia.  After endoscopic surgery, she was in an oxygen cubicle for four days and she was only given a 50/50 chance of pulling through.  We drove an hour each way, every day to visit with her and finally we were able to bring her home with many prescriptions.  Although she has pulled through, she is still having coughing episodes and we are still giving her two of the prescriptions.  Her esophagus has been permanently widened at the lower end and she will have issues with food and water getting all the way to her stomach for the rest of her life.  So some days are very good and she is happy to chase Murray for a bit and take her walk with Allan.... other days are not so good and she lays around coughing and refusing to walk.  But she continues to be our wonder dog and we are very glad to have her still with us.

In the midst of all of our personal and canine health trials this winter... our pastel group held its first statewide show in Sedona and I was busy taking on line entries and also taking over as president of the association.  It was a fabulous show and got many compliments from all the visitors and both of the judges.  On a personal level it was a big success as Allan sold his painting "Rowing With Rover".   

It felt good to finally bring the rv home to pack up everything we would need for the summer and Saturday we finally headed west to stay our first night in Needles.  Usually Needles is ultra hot... but it was actually just a normal kind of hot for a change.  On Sunday, we continued west to Tehachapi where we always stay up at the glider airport.  It is a valley at the top of the mountains, so the temps were in the 70's, which was perfect for us.  

The whole eastern side of the mountain is covered in windmills.  Although in the photo they look like they are stationary, they are really all moving and creating energy.  

And then finally on Wednesday, we headed over to Grover Beach where we are staying for the month of June.  Our rv park is adjacent to the scene in this photo.  We just need to walk out of our park and we are on the beach.  Right now it is foggy each morning and clears up in the afternoon.

Of course... one of the first things that we did when we got here was to go to a farmers market.  The Thursday Night farmers market in San Luis Obispo is about half produce and half food booths.  We purchased some beautiful yellow beets, purple apricots, peaches, Ranier cherries, avocados, and a big bag of mixed salad greens.  Allan had a pulled pork and I had street tacos.  We capped that off with a hand crafted ice cream cone. It really feels good to be back on the road.