PEI Canada Retirement Adventure

 

Packed and ready to go!

Nearly one year after "Retirement", the planned trip to Prince Edward Island Canada happened ... passport, PEI travel guide, list of "human/canine" things to pack, car serviced, hold on mail, insurance card etc and the day of the start of our 10 day "car-camping" trip arrives ;o)

First stop, Old Orchard Beach Maine

Who Emma meets at Rest Stop!

First night we stayed at our favorite oceanside Motel in OOB and then began our 1841 mile journey to PEI Canada

Do I blend in???

"Tent-on-Car"

We camped 2 nights in Maine ... the awesome zipper screened tent over the back hatch door is great for "air without bugs" and those battery operated "OFF" bug repellents at the car doors work too ;o)

Mid-week is super quiet!

An hour set-up each late afternoon, cook supper and an hour pack-up each early morning, breakfast, hot shower and hit the road to see what the day will bring ;o)

What's Cookin' ?

Oh, how do we sleep ... comfy & cozy in our van with a thick foam mattress, double sleeping bags and a bunk-bed crate ... each has room to stretch out and enjoy the moon & stars out the side windows ... only one rainy day/night on the whole trip ;o)

Cumfy & Cozy ;o)

Goody-bag for each day ;o)

Gramee Jean packed us a human/canine treat bag for each of the 10 planned days of our adventure ... yummy excitement each mid-day ;o)

On day five we crossed the Confederation Bridge, a 13 kilometer span from New Brunswick to PEI ... it took 4yrs to construct and is the longest bridge over ice-covered waters in the world!

PEI Canada



A true labor of love ;o)

Bruce & Cheryl

One day/night we visited work friends Cheryl & Bruce at their "Retirement" project "fixer-upper" home ... thanks for the invite ;o)

Soil, stones & beach sand are brick red color

Typical beach

Willow enjoys a free romp!

Sutter ;o)

After Labor Day, when all the schools are open again, most of the Provincial Parks (State Parks in USA) are empty and the girls had several times to play ball and run!

Visit to an Alpaca farm ;o)

Field of tiny dandilion-like flowers

Some Provincial Parks are for day use only and some are for overnight camping ... we visited many of each and camped every night with very nice facilities (privacy & hot showers)

Beauty of Birches ;o)

Beautiful Willow ;o)

Many times the girls got special 1:1 time, strolling the beaches or grass covered banks ... and photo opportunities were endless ;o)







There are many Wind Farms

Loved this team of resting Draft horses!

The landscape inland is of large farms, rolling fields of potatoes, rolled hay bales, livestock and windmills.

Wind energy & rolled bales of hay

Evening stroll at Sunset with Emma ;o)

Emma plays with a wave!

Rule: One Museum per trip!!!

Anne of Green Gables is a well known childrens book series and became a TV movie series ... so for a museum, it was appealing!

Willow at East Point Lighthouse



OK ... there was a horse at the museum!

Sutter enjoys "Cows" Ice Cream!

COW'S is like Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in the USA (just not as many flavors) and we had it on our list of things to do ... yummy ;o)

 

Emma being a little fresh!!!

? Can we swim there?

 

Willow watches a Crow on our picnic table!

Sold by the side of the road!

Guess what we're having for supper!

Anxiously awaiting supper!

Craving a Cheeseburger ;o)

Emma poses on the evening walk!

Willow ... one tired pup at day's end!

Emma dreams ;o)

After everyone had supper, the clean-up was done, the nightly walks were taken ... it was time to roll out the sleeping bags and retire to the van with snacks for the night ... get out the DVD player and wind-down with a good movie ;o)

Stay on your side of the sleeping bag Sutter!

Emma enjoying a Bully Circle chewy ;o)

Emma enjoying the good life ;o)

Last day... waiting for mom to take her shower!

Back over the Confederation Bridge!

Canadian time is 1 hour ahead of USA time ... with an 18 hour drive from our last PEI campsite at 8am (PEI time) on Friday and 2 stops for "power naps" & gas, we  crossed into the USA at Houlton Maine Customs at 6pm (USA time) and were home by 2:30am Saturday ... whewwwww, great to be home!!! 

 

Fantastic family trip and all went well ... Thank you PEI Canada ;o)

Summer Doings at Golden Embers ;o)

It's a wonderful summer for us ... some say "sooo hot" ... but here all windows are open and if there's the slightest breeze, it travels right through our Log Cabin ... COOL ... when the air is still, we do have our AC system

Low energy cooling system ;o)

Outlook over "Meadow" to pond

"Narrows" going out into "Marsh"

Emma, Willow, Camper Leena & Sutter

The pond level is now perfect, the girls swim/retrieve bumpers every day, lawn/garden watering is done with a small sump pump submerged at pond edge, pond "weeding" is done from the kayak and fallen trees cut up with the chainsaw are towed behind the "Cedar-Sage" rowboat to shore for winter firewood ... whewwww! 

Beaver's winter pruning of shoreline blueberry bushes (that do have new sprouts growing) cut our bountiful berry picking this year and a pesky grey squirrel dropped all of the dozens of beautiful ripening peaches to the ground and hauled them off  ... Emma caught him in the act and chased him deep into the woods, GOOD GIRL EMMA :o) ... so there went my plans for making Christmas Peach jam ... can't believe we had to BUY blueberries & peaches to enjoy this year :-(

Teaching Leena the "Art of Berry Picking"

The Blackberry/Black Raspberry crop on the other hand, has been yummy and enjoyed by all during our morning & evening "walk-abouts"

We continue to enjoy this summer's SK Golden "campers" Leena & Orion ... Leena & I are concluding a 7 week "Basic Pet" class on Tuesdays, Emma continues Agility Foundation classes on Mondays & Tuesdays, Sutter enjoys her advanced Agility class on Thursdays and everyones Tracking sessions continue every other Saturday or Sunday ... continuing two 4-hour per deim work shifts/month at the hospital thankfully pays for the enjoyment of their training sessions ;o)

Emma our Fashion Bug ;o)

SUMMER CONTINUES and the FALL plans are under way...

Willow's Half-Brother Comes to Camp ;o)

Orion, Emma, Willow, Sutter

We're into day #4 of having 4 month old "Orion" (Sophie::Salty)from SunKissed Goldens (birth kennel of our Lyric, Willow & Emma) at camp ... there are new friends to meet, puppy manners to be learned ("no jump-up", "puppy's bones/toys are shared", "sit & wait" for meals, "leash-walk with me", "come" when called) and lots of fun to be had ;o)

Kayaking ... "I don't think so!!!"

Quite the ball player/retriever ;o)

We launched and he loved it ;o)

Now where did that ball go???

Fun at Dog Agility class ;o)

Joins tugging games!

Orion socializes at "Big Girl's" Tracking session!

He LOVED stopping for Ice Cream ... yumm!

Sit-Wait for meal ;o)



Photo postcards sent home from Camp!

Orion "Learns to Swim" video ... Good Boy ;o)

IT WAS a  WONDERFUL WEEK with this SPECIAL BOY ;o)

Willow Gives Us a Real Scare!

Willow (2 yr old) came to me outside Friday morning, after having eaten a normal breakfast and acting absolutely herself ... she laid beside me as I planted a Trumpet Vine and I didn't think anything was abnormal until I heard unusual breathing ... I spoke to her and she put her head down ... I jumped to her, saying her name over and over ... I picked up her head and she vomited her partially digested breakfast x2 ... she lost consciousness and I ran for a snow-sled to get her to the car ... she was unresponsive when we took her by stretcher into the Vet Clinic (5 min away) ... she came awake after IV fluids, but was truly in shock (OMG ... shades of loosing Lyric 2 yrs ago) ... she then started to oooze bloody liquid stool ... Ah Ha, finally a diagnosis Hemorrhagic Gastritis ? due to toxin ingestion (source unknown, as she's a great grass and small stone eater!)

Comes Awake at Vet Clinic!

About 2 hrs later, they wanted to transfer her to either Concord or Greenfield Emergency Clinics for continuous IV therapy and 24 hour observation ... I chose to take her home and do all that myself ... they gave her IV anti-emetic & anti-spasmodic with directions to the 24hr Emergency referral facility if needed during the night ... lab-work & x-rays were essentially normal (some levels reflecting her shocky state)

Home on Cage Rest With IV Fluids!

4 liters of IV fluid infusion later, with a normal blood count, able to go out to "pee" under her own steam,  and no more blood in her diarrhea stool, she is able to take water by mouth and tolerate small 1/2 cup bland meals of chicken/rice diet every 3 hours on Saturday ... Willow is thankfully still with us, is wagging her tail and once again has that sweet glimmer in her eyes ... sleeping alot and not quite up to usual play yet ... Emma & Sutter seem to be very understanding and respecting her rest needs :o)

Resting Comfortably :o)

Where Nervous Mom Napped !

48hrs Later Relaxing Outside ;o)

Snuggle Bear from Gramee Jean ;o)

Plan:

• Close supervision outside (watching her like a hawk!!!)
• Progression to her normal kibble diet (started Monday morning)
• Repeat bloodwork on Wednesday
• Begin the day with a piece of bread and 1/2 banana to discourage grass eating in am!
• Introduce pumpkin and veggies to her diet, hopefully to add fiber and discourage need to eat grass during the day (hope it works) !!!
• Slow return to usual activities, as she dictates!

Beautiful Blooms to Welcome Willow Home ;o)

UPDATE: 96 hours into recovery

Our Sister is Back!

I am Ready to Swim!

I only took a "tiny" swim ;o)

Willow, Emma, Sutter hike again on day #5

CAN ONLY HAVE LOVE for THIS VERY SWEET GIRL WHO GIVES ALL HER LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY  ;o))

Camp Cedar is Open

Wonderful Seasons are Ahead ;o)

A green grass explosion, a canope shade of green tree leaves, colorful flowers, berry bushes & friut trees in bloom, the hatching of multiple colors of butterflies, the anticipated arrival of the Hummingbirds at the feeder and the welcomed spotting of Dragon Flies cruising around eating those pesky mosquitoes ...  sooo the Spring activities have begun ... equipment "tune-ups" for grass mowing and garden rotortilling for planting ... the "Cedar-Sage" rowboat and kayak are out on the pond edge ... 3 Canada goslings have hatched and handfuls of frog eggs & young fish can be seen ;o)

3 Canada Goslings Hatch ;o)

Frog & Hornpout Eggs

In between our travels to various "dog" trainings and occasional 4-hour per diem work shifts at the hospital, Camp Cedar has been readied to open ... meet our first 2012 lil' camper "Leena"

Leena Wetherby-Ferri ;o)

Water Fun!

Group Tug Games ;o)

Hiking the Falls!

Pulling "Jugs-on-a-Rope"

Digging

Playtime!

"Sit-Wait" Lessons

Of Course Snack & Nap Time!

Sweet Dreams Leena ;o)

Toys & Bones!

Goes to Agility Class ;o)

We still have the rowboat and kayak adventures for Leena to experience...