He’s Home!

As you all know, we lost our boy Goober in July. Oh, and the loss was great and agonizing. But, we had a hole in our heart that just needed to be filled. While we were still in Oklahoma, Broken Bow, at that point we got ahold of a gentlemen in Yukon (OKC) who had a new litter of pups. I guess we didn’t consider that maybe they would have Miniature Schnauzer puppies anywhere in Arizona! On our way to Salome for the winter we stopped and picked out the boy we knew would be happiest with us. Of course we had five long weeks to wait, we traveled to, got set up in Wenden (a ‘burb of Salome! ha ha!), we walked, talked and dreamt of his homecoming. The arrangements were made that we would go get him on Veteran’s Day (Special, of course, as Keith is a veteran, retired Navy Chief Petty Officer). Well, we got a call a couple of days before that Ken and Hong would like us to wait a few days, and wait we did….. a long, miserable week, but early on Monday, November 16 we loaded up our car, like parents expecting a baby, with a new kennel, blankets, and toys and headed east to OKC.

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So, we drove about 17 hours, spending one night in beautiful(?) Moriarty, New Mexico to pick up our new boy. Fittingly, his name is Chief (remember the retired Chief Petty Officer Joiner I was telling you about?). Well we have a new Chief Joiner! We picked him up and drove about an hour to spend a night with Keith’s wonderful Aunt Maxine Busbee (Uncle Loren passed away in June). She made us a homemade chicken pot pie, salad, and fried apples in cinnamon to which we added saltine crackers and French Vanilla ice cream. (Try it! It was great!!) Yes, she spoils us, always has and probably always will! We enjoyed the meal, and time around the campfire in the chimenea outside with Maxine, Keith’s cousin Sarah and her daughter Ashley and her two sons, Levi and Rowan. What a great time, and great memories! Chief was soooo well behaved, no accidents, woke up once at 1:00 for a potty trip. The next morning we had breakfast at First Watch Cafe (new to us, trendy, good healthy food and socially distant, of course), then we hugged and hit the road back to the west! Another night in beautiful Moriarty, New Mexico, again he woke up one about 1:30 for potty. Thursday we made a quick stop to find a corner in Winslow, Arizona for a photo op (Just had to do it, thank you old rock and roll days and the Eagles!)

We arrived back to Coach in Wenden about 3:00 Thursday afternoon and introduced Chief to his new abode. He seems to love it! We had a great afternoon, an evening walk, introducing him to the other snowbirds, he even met a new friend, Chico, and they hit it off very nicely.

He is eating and drinking well, playful, cuddly and cute! He is very calm, the rode trip did not faze him at all, he slept on our laps, on the pillow behind Keith’s head, just as peaceful as can be! He’s not all peaceful though, Joanette has all the bruises and razor cuts on her hands from his sharp little teeth and toe nails!

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Our walks in the dessert will change a little, and our bike rides, they won’t end, we have a trailer to pull behind Keith’s bike. Another thing, his first night at home, he slept through the night! Keith woke him at 5:30 and they got up together, pottied and watched Leave It to Beaver and Perry Mason on t.v. !

Tomorrow, Saturday, November 21, we are going over to Quartzite to visit John, Bill and Mouse, who are boondocking for a few days before they come here for Thanksgiving! After Thanksgiving, now that the weather is a bit cooler and we have Chief with us, Joanette’s cousins Kathy and Karol who are wintering about 30 miles away in Brenda, Arizona will be coming up to visit!!! Our social circle is small, but that is what is supposed to keep us all healthy. Let’s pray for an end to this and celebrate the coming of a new and better year!