Wow, it sure has been a long time since I barked at you. Time flies when you are having fun, or napping in the shade, or, well just loafing. Sometimes, it is just too “hard” to get on the PC and bark out a few lines to all of you. Mike tells me he feels the same way, sometimes. After working on computers all day at the office, he does not want to “play” with them at the house.
I had a chance to ride into town with Mike and Lakota a while back. Seems that Lakota developed an eye problem and Mike asked Doctor Jim to check Lakota out. Just before their trip, Mike received an e-mail from a “Rivers’” fan. The fan's nephew from California was visiting Alaska. The fan asked if they could visit with us. Since the fan lived in Anchorage and, close to where Doctor Jim’s office was, we set up the visit by Doctor Jim's’ office. Mike signed the nephew’s book and the nephew took me for a walk so I could re-mark some of my old territory. Remember, I stayed with Mike when he lived in Anchorage while I recovered from my eye surgery.
It was good to see Doctor Jim again. He told Mike that my “eyes” looked great. It has been 7 human years since he removed my bad eyes, put the artificial ones and made me pain free. Lakota’s eye problem was a mild one and he received some medicine to help him. His eyesight is still good and he will be okay very soon. Lakota told me that Doctor Jim has a picture of Mike and me his office. Wow, I did not know that.
The latest news on Nikky, “Bugle Girl” is that she is doing great and playing “Taps” again. We understand that she is receiving some national recognition for her efforts. However, the bad news is that they are leaving Alaska due to an Army re-assignment. You bet we will miss Nikky and her family. Nikky gives some great doggy ear rubs.
We have not heard from SSG B (Iraq) in a while or Bill L who is in Afghanistan. I bet both of them are super busy. We hope they are safe and well. I know they really do appreciate your cards and notes. So please keep them flowing to them.
Another good friend of ours, Charlee in Germany is dealing with some very serious medical issues. I hope you will keep her in your thoughts. Charlee is a kindergarten teacher and uses the Iditarod and our stories in her classes.
We had a visit from Barbara and Jerry from Tennessee. Barb cuddle with us in the garage for a while. It is always nice to visit with friends.
Mary took some time off from taking care of us and headed to “
fish camp.” Mike took off from work to fill in for Mary as she embarked in another one of her adventures. Mary’s son Chuck and his wife Kristine came up to visit, and fish. They have friends who own some property on the Kenai so they spent some time with us, and then headed to the river to fish. I think Mike is putting some pictures of their trip on our blog. Anyway, we now have some nice salmon and halibut in the freezer.A few weeks ago, Mary told Mike that they needed to go up to Hatcher’s Pass to check on how the berry crop was doing and get an idea when
the berries would be ready for picking. They took me with them. I really enjoyed the trip. Mike told me it was very foggy and cool at Hatcher’s Pass. I was comfortable with the coolness and since I cannot see, the fog does not bother me. We hiked on the trails for a while. We had to be careful because this is bear country. Nope, I did not smell any, but the trails were fun to explore! Unfortunately, the trip ended too soon. I really enjoy getting out of the yard every occasionally.Well, I hope your summer has been a very enjoyable one. Our state fair starts shortly and we are already getting “fair weather”, cloudy, cool, and a bit rainy. Lakota tells me the fire weed is almost up to the top of its stalk and very tall. According to native lore, that means summer is almost over and we may get snow as high as the stalk is tall. I wonder if that means we will get a lot of snow this winter.
Tunny went to the vet to get the stitches taken out of her mouth. For those of you that did not asked for the “Home Depot Gig” from Mike’s log, Tundra had to have one of her upper fangs reattached. She was on soft food and no hard chews or toys for 8 weeks. I know she was bummed out because she could not chase any tennis balls. Tunny is as good as new and was having a great time chasing the tennis balls Mike tossed for her. This morning, Mike gave us each a pig ear. It has been a long time since we had one. Mike stopped giving them to us after Tunny’s accident. It would not be right for us to enjoy them when Tunny could not have them while her fang mended.Did you asked about Rivers Book 3? Well, Mike has been working on it and he is almost finished with the first draft. He told me that Sandy Q did the “Forward” for the book. Mike also told me that he is doing something special for the “Cast of Critters” pages (yep pages.) He said he needs to do the “Acknowledgement Page”, my page and something new this book, a Trail notes page. Not sure what he plans to do with that. July 08 is Mike’s deadline to get it to our publisher and then to market by September 08. Mike did promise me that the readers of this newsletter would get first word of when the book becomes available. Stormy told me that Mike and Mary designed the cover and there is a picture of me on it. Book 1 and 2 were designed by the publisher.
It is a rainy Sunday and a nice day to snooze in the garage on one of the big pillows in there. Yes, this is the true meaning of “Dog days of summer”!Take care,
Rivers
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www.riversbooks.blogspot.com
