Shabby Shelby Wind Creek State Park

I have been wanting to tell you about Shabby Shelby for a week or so now.  I just couldn't fit her in.  But today is again stormy and gloomy so I decided to share my story of  Shabby Shelby with you. Before I do, though,  here are a couple pics to share with you:

These birds were circling over our RV today. Jack said they were waiting for me to drop dead from the many aches and pains I've been griping about since yesterday's bike ride.  He's a real riot.  And Sydney goes totally bonkers when it storms; she also gets nutty if you fry anything or play music. Can you say doggie therapy?  Today, though, it was storming and she shakes as if she is in blender and pants like a dog in the desert.  Can't calm her down know matter what we try.  Here is a pic of her panting uncontrollably:

And here is she and Tanner checking things out to make sure things are okay outside:

 Now on to my story of Shabby Shelby........

When we were at Wind Creek State Park we were doing our afternoon walk.  At that park we would walk a little over a mile each trip. By the time we got to the end of those walks I was exhausted.  One particular afternoon I noticed a dog running loose in the park. He seemed very interested in our whereabouts. Again I was too exhausted to run or go back the way we had come. So we kept a close eye on him.  He would walk towards us then stop.  We'd keep walking, cautiously, watching him, watching us.  Then as we'd get close to him, he'd turn and walk away, very slowly.  Now for those of you who walk dogs you know that any interference by another dog can often lead to disaster.  Especially with our two.  We've seen Sydney go after really, really huge dogs, instigating growling, nipping and everyone trying to get them apart.  So we try our best to stay away from those situations.  But when dogs aren't on leashes there is little we can do.  We've learned though, well, okay, I have learned to pick up Tanner to avoid Tanner going nuts on me. And to me, if the dog is a big dog, all I see is a dog having my dogs for lunch, regardless of Sydney's little attitude.  As quickly as the dog had come stalking us though he disappeared........until I saw his ears standing straight up as he hid in a ditch just waiting for us to walk by. BAM!!!  He came out at us so quickly I had little time to scoop Tanner up.  I started yelling for the dog to get back when his owner came strutting over as if I was some kind of idiot.  "Git back (Shabby) Shelby.  Git back over there now."  Shabby Shelby wasn't having any of it.  She was too interested in Tanner.  Finally the guy gently schmucked me on the shoulder and said in his cajun, southern drawl, "Y'all can tell she is a female, can't cha?  She don't listen too good. She won't bite cha though."  And I thought "You are so lucky I'm holding my dog."  Have no idea what I would have done but the thought of schmucking him back just felt right. Off they go back to their camp and the evening ended peacefully.  "Shelby really was a cute dog but she really did scare me at first," I say to Jack.  "I thought he called her Shabby," Jack said.  "I could have sworn he said Shelby but maybe it was Shabby.  Who knows?"  And hence my story of Shabby Shelby.

And before I forget...just wanted to mention that while we were at WalMart this week we saw, on the end shelf, a whole display of  canned, green,peanuts.  Can anyone please tell me what the heck people do with canned green peanuts? 

We are heading further south Wednesday.  Hope the weather is better there than it was here today.  Have I mentioned I hate rainy weather while living in an RV?