To the river and the beach

SANDY: Yesterday was kind of an unusual day. Dad dressed in his shorts and sneakers and that's generally the key to going to the beach.

COCO: Oh, Yeah!!! And we create quite a ruckus. We're going to the beach!! We're going to the beach!!

JODIE: It didn't go quite as we thought. Oh, we three girls were in the back of the Jeep and we were making a lot of noise. We REALLY like going to the beach and we DO get all excited. But when Dad drove out of the campground, he drove past all the streets that lead to the beach. That came as a shock and Sandy, Coco, and I got very quiet as he drove out of town and then took a left on the highway. Perhaps we were just going for a ride.

SANDY: A ride is OK, I like a ride. I like the beach better, but I like a ride, too

COCO: It wasn't just a ride. Dad took us to a river a few miles from the campground. He left us in the Jeep while he checked out the river. We could see the water and we were in an uproar, waiting to get in the water. The noise inside the Jeep was deafening!!

JODIE: The younger girls have no patience!

COCO: What the......you were making as much noise as Sandy and I were!

JODIE: I must have gotten caught up in the excitement, I don't quite remember.

SANDY: I'll continue if they're going to argue over nothing. Dad came back and started the car and drove the Jeep right down to the water. When he opened the rear hatch, the three of us FLEW out of the back and raced to the water. It wasn't quite what I expected.

COCO: No, me neither! The water was shallow, never getting up to my chest and the bottom was muddy. The water was nice and cool, but there was not enough to swim.

JODIE: That's right! Upstream the river was narrow and deeper and there was a nice current, but we couldn't get there because the land was fenced off. Where we were the river was very wide and very shallow.

COCO: Then Dad called us back to the Jeep, but I pretended that I didn't hear him. The river wasn't great, but it was better than going back to the campground.

JODIE: I'm ashamed to say that I didn't return to the Jeep either.

SANDY: I didn't hear anything!

COCO: I'm not surprised!

JODIE: Girls..... Dad solved the problem. He started the Jeep and took off. As much as we like the water, we DO NOT WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND. AS he drove away, he left the rear hatch open, and when he stopped all three of us very quickly jumped in. I thought our swimming was over for the day, but Dad had one more surprise for us.

SANDY: Yup, on the way back to the campground he took a left turn and drove to our spot on the beach. We were in the surf in a dash, then we played fetch with the balls.

Here we are on the beach chasing sticks. Dad didn't take any pictures at the river. We did have a geat time, though.

This is Archie and we have an amazing story to tell about him. Some time before we got here he was hit by a car and his back end was pretty broken up. His people were sure that he would have to be put down, but they brought him to a local Vet. The local Vet couldn't help them and referred them to a vet in Puerto Vallarta. Xrays showed a lot of broken bones in his rear, but not his spine or legs. I guess it's the bone that connects the hips and legs and spine. There was no way to put a cast on it. The Vet put on rubber gloves and went in through the butt and very carefully put the broken bones back in the proper position, without surgery. A week later they went back and the Vet had to make one minor adjustment and now Archie is a lively pooch. To see him run and jump, you'd never think he had a problem. Amazing!!!

COCO: I don't know about tat kind of treatment, but I suppose that if it works........

SANDY, COCO, and JODIE: Hasta luego from the Perras at Punta Perula

We're back at a beach

SANDY: We're at the beach!! We're at the beach!! We're at the beach!!!

JODIE: OK, we're at the beach. Calm down a little. It was only a few short weeks ago that you didn't even know what a beach was.

SANDY: Yeah, but now that I know, it is AWESOME!!! I LOVE THE BEACH!!!

COCO: What a goof!! Was I ever like that, Jodie.

JODIE: Oh, Coco.....you're goofy about almost everything. Now, how about showing some pictures. Also we'd like to say "WOOF" to Riggs, Tucker, Sadie, the other Sadie, and all the other canine friends we have.

These three bathing beauties are US!!! Having the greatest time.



A couple of things about this picture of Dad tossing sticks. First, Mom is SO PLEASED to see dad get some exercise that she wants him to play wit us more often. Second, you can see Sandy on the left as she takes off after a stick, ears flying.



Sandy has a lot of energy as she is the youngest of us, but Coco is still the fetching champ. Even when Sandy gets the stick first, Coco will often take it away from her and return it to be thrown again. What Coco may lack in energy, she make up for with pizzazz!



This guy came a long the beach walking with a group of people . After a controlled smellathon, he joined us in the water. I think his folks were surprised to see him in the water. He was in the company of three beauties, why would he not follow us?



Unfortunately, we girls take fetching seriously and he couldn't keep up, so when he couldn't get a stick, he went back to his people. Males!!!

Dad got this picture of these two in the campground. We've heard them bark, but have yet to meet them. Dad says the one on the left is friendly and likes to be scratched, but the one on the right is protective of his people.

JODIE: It's mid afternoon and it is warm, so Coco, Sandy, and I are spending the time in our siesta, lying in front of the fan.

JODIE, COCO, & SANDY: Adios!

It's us again, and so soon!

JODIE: Yes, it's us again and I know a lot of you will be shocked. The truth is that Tilly and Osa didn't care for the pictures that were in the last blog, and we don't blame them. Sometimes when we want Dad to do something we get the bare minimum, and this was one of those times.

COCO: Yup, we asked for pictures of our friends and we got pictures all right, but they were hardly flattering.

SANDY: I couldn't believe it when Jodie told Dad to "take a hike and bring back some decent pictures this time. The last batch embarrassed us!!" Even harder to believe was when Dad grabbed his camera and walked out of the camper muttering something.

JODIE: Well, girls, you can't let things slide. If we let him get away with those poor pictures, we would have to resort to standard imaged from the internet or no pictures at all. It's not as if he didn't have a camera and the ability. He was just lazy.

SANDY: He still plays ball with us and walks us doesn't he?

COCO: Sandy, if you were paying attention you would notice that Mom walks us every morning and gets our breakfast. Sometime later on the Old Man drags his carcass out of bed for a cup of coffee.

JODIE: Coco's correct, but I didn't want to bring it up. I'd like to turn this blog into a new introduction of our friends. OK?

COCO, SANDY: OK.

JODIE: Very well, then. I'd like you to meet Tilly and Osa.

This is Tilly. She's a dool and here she's looking for direction from Brian, one of Tilly's wards

Here's another one of Tilly. Same situation. Tilly has a very sweet disposition and apparently likes to travel.



This is Osa, named for a bear. She is furry and might look mean, but she's a real pussycat! She'll bark at people coming into the park. That's her job, as the guard dog for the campground, but she is as sweet as can be.

Here is Osa again with Barb, the woman she has befriended and cares for. Fortunately it's often very quiet in the campground and you can see Osa taking a nap in the sun.

This last picture shows just a small part of our running area. As usual, Coco is returning a ball, Jodie is keeping Mom company, and Sandy is lying in the shade chewing a tennis ball.

JODIE: I hate to say it but this is the last of our stay at Hacienda Contreras for a while. Mom and Dad have decided to move to a spot on the coast. It will be good to get in the surf again, but we'll miss our friends here. If I'm correct, we'll be coming back here sometime in February, so we'll get to see some of our friends again. Osa will be here, but we're not sure where Tilly will be. Our next blog will be brought to you from some beach south of Puerto Vallarta, where ever that is.

Hello from Mexico

JODIE: Hello all! I'm sorry that it has been such a while since we posted, but we've had a hard time getting the Old Man to do his share. He moans and groans and says he's too busy to transcribe our thoughts, but he seems to have plenty of time for other things. He reads to much and, between you and me, he eats too much.

COCO: Aren't you getting on dangerous ground, calling Dad the Old Man?

JODIE: Who cares? He has been negligent in his duties as a blog writer and someone has got to give him a kick in the butt.

SANDY: I just want everyone to know that I have nothing to do with this mutiny. I love Dad just the way he is and I would NEVER refer to him as the OLD MAN.

JODIE: Sandy, you are a wuss!!!

COCO: I'm with Sandy, I love Dad just the way he is!! Think I can have another cookie, now?

JODIE: Oh, if I was only a biting dog, I'd latch onto a couple of butts around here. However, I want to bring things up to date. We've been having a pretty good time here, playing ball every day, sometimes twice. We've got some friends that we associate with.

This is Osa, which means bear, and she looks kind of like a bear. But, she is the sweetest dog. She is the guard dog for the campground but I don't know how that works out because she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She gets along with everyone and everything. There is a donkey, visitor's dogs, cats, and even cattle over the fence. She gets along with everyone. She does bark when someone new arrives and I guess that's part of her job, to announce new guests. She roams free and will sometimes join us at the far end of the campground.

This is Tilly. She takes care of Brian and Sue. Tilly is definitely a low key dog and though she will occasionally offer up a woof, there is nothing aggressive about her.

This is Donkey Hotay (Don Quiote, get it??). He got here after us and is apparently part of the campground staff, working in the landscape crew. Most of the time he wanders the campground trimming grass here and there or getting rid of the old corn stalks. He's very quiet, as we've never heard a bray out of him. Trimming the grass seems to be his only interest as he never wants to play.

This is part of the gang next door. They are quiet and mind their own business, but they're nice to have around.

COCO: What about those three little dogs??

JODIE: Patience! I was just getting to them. We had a family of three cuddly little dogs here for a couple of days. What is interesting is that we first met them at Celestino RV a month od=r so ago. I'm not sure what kind of dogs they were bit they were very small compared to us. There was the Mama dog, the Papa dog, and the little Boy dog. Sounds a lot like Goldilocks and the three bears, doesn't it? They came up from the coast for a few days, but their family decided to move on.

SANDY: I've been having a great time in Mexico. I thought that down here the other dogs would bark in Mexican, but that's not so. I guess dog-speak is a universal language. Osa is Mexican and we've met other dogs from Quebec and we all get along just fine. We have been getting in some trouble with Dad and Mom over.........

JODIE: STOP!!! STOP RIGHT NOW!!! WE are not going to discuss this with the public. It's bad enough that Dad and Mom are upset with our dietary supplements, we don't want to upset our readers.

SANDY: But I just wanted........

JODIE: ENOUGH!!! Don't bark another word!

COCO: Yeah, Sandy. We're in enough trouble already. Don't make matters worse. Besides, they may be taking us back to the beach to get away from Donkey Hotay and the cattle.

JODIE: No, I think that Dad is cold and want's to go where it's warmer. Anyway, at the beach we can supplement our diet with fish remains.

SANDY: You two are leading me astray!!! I was perfectly happy with the food Dad and Mom provided. Then you got me on fish remains and that wasn't too bad, but here........

COCO: If you say anything else, Jodie will bite your butt and if she won't I will. Just shut up about what we eat. Nough said?

SANDY: OK, nough said.

JODIE: I guess that will do it for now. The days have been pretty much the same for the last few weeks, but I understand that we'll be heading back to a campground right on the Pacific in a few days, so we'll have more to report. Hasta luego!

COCO: Yup, hasta whatever.

SANDY: Good bye until later, aloha, adieu, and caio!