Rhino Ramblings

Quinn helping pull in the net on the boat.

Argo on pickup day (8 weeks old)

For those of you (all of you?) not paying attention to my blog schedule, this blog is a week off.  And so I figured I best write the blog about why I am off (time wise although one could argue mental-wise also).  The past 3 weeks were focused on parenting (dog parenting that is) and grandparenting.  It has been exhausting, exhilarating, time consuming, schedule disrupting and inarguably some of the best few weeks for me.

Let’s start with the dog.  For those who have not read all of my blogs or those who forgot them, if you start with January of this year you can read my journey of loss as my 9.5 years of companionship with Midas ended suddenly.  The following months were some of my most depressed and grief-filled times.  I had such a huge hole in my life.  Bear in mind that Midas was the first dog 100% my own.  As I found myself deeper in the double whammy of depression and grief I guess I had managed to run through the traditional 5 stages of grief and moved onto the 2 additional ones of upward turn, and reconstruction. In late April I decided I would eventually bring a new golden retriever into my life.  I started casually checking out various options, but with no immediate timeline. Then in the middle part of May I happened to check the breeder that Midas came from – Stormy Point Goldens.  Lo and behold, there was a notice of a new litter due within weeks (beginning of June to be exact).  While I assumed the litter would be all reserved by now, I sent an email anyway.  And to my surprise, the litter was expected to be a large one (ended up with 12 puppies unlike their normal 7 to 8) and there were reservations still available.  I did the math, checked my calendar and realized the immediate stumbling block was that one week after I would have the puppy, I would be spending a week with my granddaughter (see next paragraph).  I would need support.  And I thankfully found it in two “Aunts” – Melissa and Theresa.  Once I knew that I could leave for a week while keeping the puppy (hereafter referred to as Argo) at the house and would have future support as needed, I took the dive and signed the paperwork.  As I just noted her name (female this time around) is Argo – for the boat Jason and the Argonauts used when searching for the golden fleece.  She is a bundle (of joy and energy and sleeping and pooping and peeing and eating ….). 

Which brings me to the grandparenting time.  A year ago I started searching for possible summer activities for my grandkids.  As far as I can tell (and partly confirmed by other grandparents last week), the only group that had pre-planned grandparent trips was Road Scholar.  Road Scholar has a large variety of travel options and I have since heard from very satisfied folks who have used them for more traditional trips.  For grandparents, they start with age 5 grandchildren.  At that age there were 2 options – a wildlife trip to the Poconos and a maritime oriented trip to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands (the number and variety of options grow with each age group).  A year in advance, the Pocono options were sold out (I do have Kevin signed up for the Poconos next year).  But I was able to sign up Quinn for the Island adventure.  And an adventure it was.  We were in dormitory type rooms (cots and bare furnishing and shared bathrooms) eating limited cafeteria food, and activities that required 2 to 3 changes of clothes a day – including a trip into the mud (I was not at all sad that Quinn did not want to fully submerge in mud so only our shoes and lower pants were muddy).   As the name implies, Road Scholar emphasizes the learning experience mixed in with general fun including a morning at the beach.  We also spent time in the marshes, on a pony safari (we saw several pony herds), dune building, and net trawling (see picture above) to pull in all types of creatures which were then more closely examined in the lab. Several grandparents had been on other trips including one who had already done 5.  It was well organized while allowing for individual tastes.  Perhaps our biggest issue was that while the ages were 5-7, Quinn was the youngest and everyone else was one to two years older.  And the classroom time was mostly past her 5 year old attention span.  And still, on Friday morning (the day we left) she woke up and immediately asked if we could do this again.  I already have her signed up for St. Louis next year where we will be visiting butterflies, astronaut camp, aquarium, science labs, etc.  And we will be staying at a hotel which I certainly would prefer – too old for the cot and shared bathroom experience. 

So a shorter blog with no real philosophical or deep thoughts or meanderings into the caverns of my mind – I can get back to that in the next blog.  As always, thank you for indulging me by reading this blog.  Please feel free to circulate the link to everyone and every group that you feel might find enjoyment.  This is a fully public blog.