Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Nomadic Life with Pets

I know it has been awhile since our last update and for that I am sorry. Things don't always go as planned but most of the time it has been surprisingly happy mishaps.

Since the last post we have traveled to Kentucky back to PA and then to Ohio and landed back in Kentucky for a bit. After the last day of work in Eau Claire, PA the crew and I headed to Kentucky to see my friend C. It was nice to see him and just catch up with him.

C has rats named Fred and George so there was some trepidation about the cats being inside the house but after a close call in the van, the cats were slowly introduced to Fred and George and there was no issues at all.

Nope I didn't hold them as chisel teeth and I don't mix well. Fred is the darker one. They are cute and make C smile.

After two weeks I made the trek back to PA to pick up some mail and spent the month hanging out at the local park in Grove City and boondocking between Wal*Mart and the TA. Boondocking is dry camping in a parking lot. Wal*Mart allows you one night in their parking lot and then you have to be gone for 24 hrs before you can do it again. The TA is a truck stop so overnighters are normal there.

The park was great because at the front of the park was a pavilion that had free wifi so I was able to stay in touch with friends and family...at least until my computer decided it was going to have some problems staying on. Typing on a smart phone can be difficult as the keyboard is small and even with my small hands I often hit the wrong button.

At the back of the park away from the crowds was pavilions that had outlets so I was able to do my sewing and stock up my inventory of ferret clothing and other items to sell. So my day was get up and go to the park after feeding and watering the crew and if I had enough change I'd get a coffee from Sheetz for a $1.00.

Believe me rewards cards are great. Once you get ten cups of coffee or soda you get a free one from Sheetz along with three cents off of gas.

Spend an hour online checking emails and conversing on Face Book, occasionally updating my GoFundMe campaign then to the back of the park where I would set up the playpen for Marcuz and Marylin inside the pavilion  
 and at first the cats would go in their crate since they had the run of the van at night. But after I started getting them use to being on leashes I was able to make a small run from the pavilion to the van, which Boyd thought was great as he prefers to hang out in the van and come out on his own terms. Dood on the other hand thinks he is a dog and will run back and forth while learning some tricks for a treat.

                              Boyd has the white paws. Hanging out in Wal*Mart's parking lot.

Don't let anyone ever tell you that this life is glamorous it has it's moments but there are days when everything just goes wrong and I had one of those days. It was a tuesday and nothing went right from the computer shutting off seconds after it loaded up, the phone acting up, it raining so badly that I couldn't sew, ate half cooked zucchini since I couldn't keep my fire going long enough to get the water to stay boiling. Boondocked at Wal*Mart routine was to walk the ferrets, then Dood, and lastly Boyd. I put my phone, keys down on the floor board just inside the door and took Boyd out closed the door and we went for our walk. once back at the van Dood came over and locked the door. Yep he stepped on the lock, normally he unlocks the door. I tried to get him to come back and unlock the door to no avail. 

The driver's side door wasn't closed all the way but I had nothing long enough to hit the button to unlock the door. Two girls came and tried to get the door open as well. At one point I must have leaned just enough on the door to shut it the rest of the way. The stress of the day came to a head at that moment as the frustration welled out and the tears flowed down my face.

Those two girls stayed helping me find a way to open the van at one point one of them went and found two guys and a girl in jacked up truck. It was them that got the van opened using a fence post and an antenna to hit the button. Needless to say that one set of keys is always attached to my hip now so that will never happen again.

Then thanks to the generosity of two very awesome ladies I was able to go to the Ferret Buckeye Bash, which is considered the largest ferret show on the east coast, as a vendor. These same two ladies made sure I had a place to stay for two nights and the crew loved being in a hotel room with Craig who Boyd decided to adopt as his human for the time period. 

My table at the Ferret Buckeye Bash.

I had a lot of fun again and got to meet Travis Livieri in person. I interviewed him via email back in 2009 regarding the Black-Footed Ferret when I first started this blog.

After the Bash the crew and I have landed once more in Kentucky at C's and the crew got a vacation from us as we went camping, a neighbor pet sat for us. The trip was suppose to be for two nights but rain dropped it to one night.

We were going to hike a trail that was 13 miles one way but after hacking for 4 hours to make it only 2.5 miles and not being able to see the trail markers we returned to camp. Which was a good thing for me as my feet were covered in what are called seed ticks. These things look like strawberry seeds and are tenacious about hanging on. Thankfully C had a scrapper and knew what I needed to do to get rid of them. Only problem I've had is that my psoriasis has flared so badly that is has shown up on my legs which it has never done before but at the same time I am wondering if maybe I brushed up against some poison ivy and when I took my shower I spread the oils. Either way I am scratching badly.

So that is where we are at now. I am running low on ferret food and at the moment no one is buying anything on the auction site that I have some items listed on. We also need some gas money so we can get headed west to Oklahoma where I am hoping to meet up with my dad for a bit and help him out somehow on the apartments he owns there. I owe him a lot since he did buy me the van so I would at least have a roof over our heads.

The plan after that is to head towards AZ where I plan to find a place for the crew and I to land, but as I said plans can change quickly in the nomadic life.


Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo and the Crew