I am pleased to announce that we are back in the desert and back on our blog. Thank you for your patience, and also for prodding for me to get back to updating this site. It's been almost two (yes, two!) years since our last post. But really, we were busy doing a whole bunch of not much during that time due to CoVid isolation, lockdown, and restrictions.
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Rocket, the solar powered Jack Russell Terrier
happy to be recharging in the desert sun |
At the time we decided to migrate for the season, the USA had not yet announced when the land border would open. Some friends of ours from Camrose where I practiced for many years, who winter just up the road from us, organized a vehicle transport and offered us a spot to fill out the load. So, we made our decision: ship the Highlander and fly down.
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Scotty, the Toyota Highlander, ready to migrate
bottom row, far right. |
The decision to fly down meant that Rockie would be going on her first airplane ride. Fortunately, she is crate trained, as she would always ride in a crate during our three day driving trips to and from the dessert, so the crate part was easy. The hard part was that she has really long legs for a Jack Russell Terrier and refused duck into a soft crate that could go under the seat in front of us in the cabin. That meant she had to fly in the hold. After reading up on all the animal transport requirements I arranged for the required vet check, bought Rockie a hard sided crate, decorated it with all the necessary labelling, and got her used to her new digs.
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| Waiting for check-in at the airport |
Rockie kept people at the airport entertained with her antics, including waiting atop her crate while we were checking in. When the luggage screening staff placed her crate on the converter belt to sending it through the X-ray tunnel her JRT brain said, "tunnel!" She figured that her crate wasn't going to have all the fun and she jumped up onto the conveyor in a flash as she wanted to go through that tunnel, too. And that is why she is always on a leash! I got her off of there as fast as I could. Good thing the staff found it entertaining.
So, with Rockie in the capable hands of the baggage staff, we proceeded through US Customs, had a spot of breakfast, and boarded our 07:30 flight to Palm Springs. Did I mention we had to be at the airport by 04:30?! Once boarded, I hardly found this bit of emergency preparedness information comforting. I figured if we were to fly into a mountain, it wouldn't matter if we were in a brace position or not!
With check-in, the flight time, and the animals in the hold off-loaded after all the luggage, Rockie was in her crate for almost six hours. I am happy to report she was calm and relaxed when we were re-united. What a sport!
Before we decided to ship our vehicle and fly down, we had already determined we had had enough of our hauling bikes on the back of the Highlander. This had required us to unload them each night en route in order to put them in our hotel room, then load them up again in the morning. Always, it was bitterly cold in Great Falls and pitch dark both at night and in the morning. The last time we came down, it was also extremely cold the second night in Salt Lake City. Enough, already! No more hauling bikes back and forth for us! In September, I checked the online inventory at our local bike shop in Palm Desert, and found us each bikes to our liking, called the shop, and put a down payment on them. Two days after we arrived, we picked up our new bikes and were out on our first ride of the season here.
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| New bike day! |
Once we had determined we were going to head south for the winter, all we could think about was hitting our favourite Mexican restaurant for dinner. So, with our unpacking done, and after a day of house cleaning, we took ourselves out for a good meal. There would be time to fill the house with groceries, later.
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Two happy diners
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A couple of days after we arrived, the landscape staff completed the winter planting at the main gate to our development. Funny, these look just like the plants we put in for the summer at home.  |
Winter here is like having a second summer 😁
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But, as much as we like it here, there is no place like home. We were very happy to be home last winter and during the time the world was exposed to and learning so much about CoVid. Hopefully, we will soon be well on the other side of that experience. In the meantime, here's what we have missed back in Edmonton. |
Sparky, our snow guy, keeping our driveway and sidewalk cleared
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You may have noticed that I have not mentioned traveling with Benny, our Bicho Frise. We had to say goodbye to Ben in June, two months shy of his 15th birthday. He was the sweetest, most lovable little gentleman and an excellent big brother to Rockie. We, Rockie included, miss him terribly but really appreciate having had him in our family for the time we did.
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Benjamin Simba Robert Williamson-Reed
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To all our American friends and relatives, Happy Thanksgiving. And to all the Canadian Snowbirds out there, Happy Bonus Turkey Day!
