SHADE, THE BLACK DOG OF THE LAKES & SCENES AT HOME

For those of you who have not been keeping up with the blog entries;  I invite you to visit the archives located to the right of this post for an updates.   You'll notice that a Black Labrador Retriever has been riding on the boat.  Her name is Shade.  No, she has not taken the place of Douglas the Golden Dog of the Lakes.  No other dog can ever fill his paw prints.  There is none.  Shade is who she is and she is a wonderful, well behaved and an impressive companion.  She is attentive and listens to my commands implicitly.  I actually can't believe how dedicated to me she is.

Shade is trying very hard to please me.  She doesn't have to try as  she already is pleasing me.  What great company!  I've always loved and cherished her but, now she has her chance to shine.  She is illuminating!

I've been trying to fullfill my obligation to TWRA by being on the lake and performing my appointed tasks but, equipment problems continually arise.  This time it's the truck.  It's a two wheel drive truck and a 4 wheel drive vehicle is really the safe way to handle the big boat and trailer.  It seems that when something goes wrong, it takes the entire day to correct the mechanical problem thereby keeping me off the lake.  It's all coming together though slow but sure.



The above shot is of my yard.  I had the boat and truck parked on the grass and it rained that night.  The area is level but the truck would not get purchase on the wet grass.  The tires simply spun.  They didn't even dig into the wet soil.  They simply turned on top of the wet grass.   Smooth boat ramps and gravel ramps could prove to be dangerous without 4 wheel drive.  Winter time will definitely prove to be touch and go with the current truck.   A 4 wheel drive truck is supposed to be coming in the near future so I'll have to be careful and make do with the current 2 wheel drive truck I have.

The boat is perfect.  All systems are a go and I trust it fully.  It handles wonderfully and is capable of dealing with big water.   An agency friend and I put a lot of time combing over this craft to assure it's reliability.

On another front;  the new property is coming along nicely.  I needed to make the garage door operational and also install new siding on the rear of the house.  A big load of gravel was ordered for the drive way.  An additional load of gravel will be ordered soon to create a turn around for the state truck and boat.  This will eliminate backing up and will guarantee traction.  The following shots are of the property and my  family.



The lighter siding will all be replaced and the block surrounding the garage door will be covered by tomorrow night



Driveway to the back of the house



Looking from rear of house toward front



The state boat



It's 600 feet to the road

I sat on the porch tonight at 10PM just listening to the night bugs.  I was surrounded by my little family of dogs who just sat around me.  What a pleasant evening!  It's difficult to get them out of the house because they love the air conditioning.  Shade will sit beside my chair on the porch for a half hour and I'll reach down to stroke her head and she'll be gone.  She worried me at times when she disappeared like that.  Then, I opened the front door to walk in the house and she was sitting there looking at all of us on the porch through the window.  She would sneak around to the dog door at the back of the house and go inside.  Pretty smart girl.


Yep;  I let em sleep with me.  I keep a sheet on top of my good bed stuff to keep it clean.



Shade;  you're too large for that little bed.  She's hanging with me in the office area



Perfect size bed for Happy.  Again;  this is in my office area



Little Chestnut loves to just lay on the bed.  She's a sweet little girl.

 This is sort of an update on whats going on.  Soon things will settle down and the canoes will be broken out and the Gheenoe will be on the water for the exploration of the many tiny islands that dot Cherokee Lake.  But, it's first things first.  I'm going to bring old Sigh over to this house from Greenback day after tomorrow.  She is very, very old and is having difficulty climbing up the stairs to the dog door at the old habitat.  She'll have air conditioning and  a great dog door with a tiny step to the outside.  She can just sleep the rest of her days away in comfort.  She's all alone now but, I'll change that real quick.  Homer the cat will also be coming.  He's been illusive.  I could not find him the last couple trips back to Greenback.  I'll get him though.  Douglas befriended him and brought him into the family many years ago. 



Douglas, my beautiful little golden boy;  I wish so much you could be here to enjoy this new life.  My heart breaks over you every night.  I miss you so very much my sweet innocent child.  I am so sorry.  So sorry!  You're in my heart and mind daily and that will never change for all the days of my life, precious love....