Rain rain go away I wanted to play with Remi today. AND a post about my 25th birthday!

It rained... and rained... and rained today. Not only did it mean many cancelations for dog grooms at work today (who wants a dog bathed and groomed only to walk out of the salon into the rain?!?) but it also meant lots of deep slippery mud and not much point in visiting with Remi. We would have both been miserable. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I get off work earlier and plan on making a visit.

Instead my mom came over and brought me some plants. Somebody that she knows was thinning out her garden and passed these along to me! I'm super excited, she sent wood fern, jasmine and some grass looking thing with orange flowers in the full sun. Mom and I ate some basil pasta, which is the sheep by the way!!! It's from Target and is green and tastes like basil! Love it! After she left I was looking through photos on my computer and found the photos of my birthday vacation last year to Navarre beach in Florida. It was my 25th birthday and I spent it with my best friend and boy friend.

SO, below I'm going to post some of my favorites.

We stayed in a really nice Hampton inn just a couple miles from the beach. It was really nice! I highly recommend staying there in the future. After a quick visit to the beach, and attack by giant biting flies, we went to the Zoo. WE GOT TO HAND FEED THE GIRAFFES AND CAMELS! I will one day own a camel... love them.

Squee!! Love Dromedaries! 

They have sand paper tongues by the way

The main event was to snorkel with sting rays! We booked an appointment with the Gulfarium in Ft. Walton beach Florida. It was not expensive at all, like 60.00 a person and we were the only ones so we got to swim longer than the regular hour and we got to feed them too! Amanda got out of the water however, she is allergic to shell fish. It was so amazing. There were also bamboo sharks, but being that they are nocturnal they were a little trickier to see. The sting rays are de-barbed so they cannot sting us and are EXTREMELY friendly. They love to be pet and bump into you to get your attention. It was a lot like being in a pen with a bunch of puppies. Their fins are so soft to the touch and their spines are a bit more like sand paper. We were told they are not aggressive in the wild either and most attacks happen because they like to burrow under the sand and get stepped on. So always scuff your feet when walking in the ocean.

Photo doesn't do the size justice... about 4.5 feet across!

 Feeding them was an amazing experience. There are two species in the tank and each one is target trained to a special board with an image cut out of it. When the board for the certain species is in the water that species knows to come up for food. They just suck the food right out of your hand. They didn't seem to like the clam but loved the shrimp and squid. If you are ever in the Ft. Walton area visit this place! There are also other exhibits as well as a dolphin show. This really seemed like the highlight of the day... but after when we went to dinner on the beach we got a glimpse of dolphins jumping and twirling in the ocean! Sharp eye Amanda. It just made the whole experience so amazing.

Our last day before heading home we went to the beach again. It was a little chilly but once in the water we warmed up. Amanda found some really cool shells, we found a mermaid's purse and played in some really fun, large waves. Of course I had my septum pierced the day before leaving for Florida and although the salt water was very healing for it I don't think nose-fulls really were necessary. Bleh I've never gotten so much water up my nose, my sinuses were very cleared and I felt like I had a gallon of water in my lungs but it was so much fun!!! I was just a bit miserable on the way home trying to breathe. I hated leaving, it is so pretty there but I was also glad to be home in my own bed to sleep off the excitement before returning to work. I would love to go back again this year but need to see how finances go since I now have rent and utilities to cover. We may go canoeing in Tickfaw this summer instead. At least we can camp and won't have to worry about hotel costs. Although we could camp in Navarre too... hmmm.

Remington update

      I've been trying to really get Remi tame recently. It's been so long and I have not had a lot of time to work with him but I've been forcing time.

A couple days ago I clipped a really long lunge rope to him while he was eating. He flipped out of course running away from it but eventually calmed down a little.

"It's gunna eat me!"

After a couple hours he would still kick at the rope and take off when pressured forward but,  he would also freeze with it. I guess to keep the "snake" from moving toward him. This helped me get closer. I spent the entire day just chilling out with him. Rain and shine. He would let me get within three feet of him. I would wait for him to relax and then walk away for a little bit. Then walk up to him until he had just enough pressure to almost want to move away and I would wait for him to relax again. This went on and on all day... Still only getting within three feet and not trying to touch him.

Acting like he doesn't notice me

      I left the rope on him for four days. By the time I came back to remove the rope he was dragging it all over with no issue. I waited for him to eat from a bucket in my lap and quietly un-snapped the rope. He spun away and stopped suddenly. He looked back around at me and then at the rope now on the ground. He came back and sniffed it and looked at me. I put his feed bucket on the fence and walked out his pen. I came back the next day and walked into his pen. He moved away but then turned and walked four steps toward me. I verbally praised him and walked out his pen as he curiously watched. I think he was expecting another day long session of me trying to touch him. I couldn't make it for another two days but finally had a day off to go spend a couple hours with him. I entered his pen and he had a completely different energy. He was really curious.

       I walked over to a post near a tree. He walked to the other side of the tree and looked at me through the branches ears pricked and a very curious look on his face. He creeped around the tree and cautiously reached his head out. I met him with my hand and he sniffed and nuzzled then stepped back to curl his lip and look at me. He came around the tree and sniffed me up and down, licked my arm a little and nuzzled. He still would step away quickly if I tried to touch him but wouldn't flee to the other side of the pen. He also would keep coming back. I stayed with him for about 30 min just standing quietly by the post while he kept coming back curiously to sniff me and check me out. I quietly walked out the pen and left him for the day. This was a real change in him. It was very exciting. I'm hoping it's moving forward from here... we shall see, I'm going back tomorrow after work.

Making friends with Oscar

Happenings

     It's been lovely living in my cabin. I've been here for a little over a month now and I'm really settling in.  I still have a couple boxes I have not unpacked but hope to get things put away in the next week or two. A lot of items will end up being given away to friends or donated. I really want to minimize what I have. I feel if I have not missed it and it's still packed away then I should probably get rid of it and make more space. So that is my next project.

     I have a new dog! His name is Oscar and he is an 11 week old bull mastiff cross. He is almost as big as Dior already!

     Dior is normally really good about staying in the yard but the other day I had an incident in which he would not listen when I called him in and was a bit stubborn. Then the next day I let them out to potty while I got ready for work and I heard Dior bark his "battle cry". I ran to the door and called them but they didn't come. He obviously saw something and went after it and ran out of ear shot. I hiked all over calling for them and didn't see nor hear them anywhere. After 30 min of calling and searching I called my parents. They came over and while my Dad stayed at the house incase they came back my Mom and I went in Emmy Lou to check with the neighbors and search the back woods. Emmy Lou got to use her 4-wheel drive in the woods since it has been raining a lot lately and it was really soft and muddy. When we got to the neighbors the house keeper said she saw two dogs with orange collars run by less than 5 min ago and that they were headed back toward my property. We went back and drove into the pasture calling again and finally they came through the trees, soaking wet I might add, super happy and jumped right in the back of the Jeep. I was an hour late to work but as soon as I got there I purchased a arial tether for Dior. I don't want to risk him getting out of ear shot and possibly running into the highway, and I can't afford to put up fencing right now. Obviously when I'm out there he can be free, but for the times I need them to potty while I get ready for work I need that extra security.

      While my dad was waiting at the house he did get a good scare. He was getting water off a tarp under a shed that used to cover hay. When he lifted the tarp this little guy/gal was sleeping under there in the warmth of decaying hay. It's a speckled kingsnake. Totally harmless (unless harassed) and beneficial to keep around. It was nice and rotund so I hope it's been feeding well on unwanted snakes and critters. I have a bit of a squirrel problem. They are getting into the walls of the house and in the attic. I also have mice in the house although glitch has been helping with that. Also being near the woods and having a pond near I worry about copperheads and cottonmouths. Kingsnakes are great for keeping poisonous snakes away. They will eat young/smaller snakes.



      I have been planting in the flower beds in front of the house. I have one side planted so far. It has a bit of a purple theme going on. I have purple bee balm, purple salvia, purple coleus and purple heather planted. I also have a tomato plant and basil planted on the back porch. So far I am keeping them alive. My ferns however are dying. My mom told me to cut the dead bits back and the rest will come back... Well I did. I think I have three sprigs left on each one. Of course it didn't help I couldn't water one of them because of these guys ----->
A happy little wren family, although they always seem to be pissed off by the expression on their beaks. They were there for a couple weeks and then flew away. I have many critters around here besides the darn squirrels. I have been seeing rabbits eating the clovers in the front yard, something keeps digging in my tomato pot, there are some massive deer hoof prints in the front and side yard.

Oh and there is a beaver in the pond. I've seen it swimming once so far. We have also been catching some fish in the pond too. It is stocked with bass and bream.

There are still some projects to do including putting up some more fencing for the horse. I'm hoping he will be able to come over soon. My next post will be all about him and what's been going on.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the year here. It's been so much fun so far!