Camping with Tia

Sept 5-28  Camping -all 3 and dog!  A new experience for us! - And what an experience! :)

In previous years, I’ve usually been referred to as  “the girl with the big white Airstream”

This year it was, “the girl with the cute little dog (& the big white trailer)"

And Dad was previously   "the elderly man on the bike with the water jug" .  This year it was “the man with the escaping puppy”  - no just kidding, it wasn’t quite that bad!

We usually get Airstream/Argosy fans stopping by to get a closer look at my trailer, inquire of its age, and tell us how great this make is and how indestructible –  "Aah, it’ll last you for years yet!"

If my Argosy trailer gave us an opportunity to meet fellow campers, we found out this year that a dog does so much more!  Tia doesn’t let us be unsocial or shy - she wants to greet everyone!   And she makes it easier to strike up a conversation with dog owners/lovers as we immediately have a connection – and some of these people we’ll likely meet again and hopefully be able to progress in our conversations.  Here she is with Dad meeting a huge Newfoundlander and the friendly couple who owned it.

We met other regulars again – the couple with the 3 tiny dogs and the Argosy (Kees-look-alike & Rita-look-al-like),  and the Prowler couple (Les & Lynn) with their black dog & 4 cats!

Dad’s chess partner, Ron (& MaryLou)- former Argosy owners – now A-frame owners.

Julianna (nurse at Sick Kids) & Darryl and their 2 cuties.

We met them 3 yrs ago and had lots of meaningful conversations - harder this time with the kids &Tia always needing attention.

Carrie-Ann & Kathleen were crazy about Tia and would hardly let us take her back!

 

 Tia loved camping - especially when she got her freedom (sometimes intentionally –often not). It was wonderful to see her run along the beach – wow she is fast!  If you saw her doing her laps in our yard at full tilt and thought she was fast, you ain’t seen nuthin!  She outran racers training on the beach with ease, ran with Dad on the bike - and pulled him when he wasn’t going fast enough! (wish I had my camera on hand!).  I tell ya, she’s a Super Dog!  She gave me a few scares though with the road being close by. The wild animal comes out more when she’s living outdoors like this it seems - not to mention she had to take advantage of this opportunity for socializing with other dogs since she doesn’t get enough at home.  She was still her gentle loving self the rest of the time

 and was a great heating pad when needed – made watching sunsets more enjoyable on the cold nights!

 

Tia also came in handy when it came to doing dishes - just let her lick them out – she gets them super clean - no need to wash them! 

  LOL! Just kidding! This is the only time we let her lick out a pan/dish & yes, we did wash it after!

and she loved to sun-bathe with me

- preferably sharing my pillow!

At night she slept in her crate outside or in the tent if cold, raining or windy (good thing I had cleaned & fixed it last year instead of tossing it after the mice got at it).

 The couple nights that I felt really cold, I took her into the van with me to warm my feet :)
Thanks to R&S generously lending their van again - it served us great!

 

Tia turned 1 while we were there so we had a few moments of celebration – good excuse to have a fancy picelli tart with fresh blueberries & raspberries & coconut cream!  Yum!  And even Tia got a little (with rice cake crumbs)

 

Her birthday present (a bone) she immediately dug into the sand and spent some happy hours finding & hiding it and eventually chewing it. However when I tried to take it away, she was not happy and showed her wild nature – which quite shocked & disappointed me seeing how good she is with her bowl & eating!  (So kids, don’t ever try to take a bone -or any food or prize toy- from a dog – not even Tia.)

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We felt so cared for by our heavenly Father:

Were protected from harm and accidents during the trip and Ralph's old van, proved itself quite worthy despite its owner's negative opinion of it's abilities :). 

 Any trailer anld bike problems were solved easier & cheaper than expected.

 One example: One of the main support bars holding my bike together broke so Dad brought it to the Bloomfield bike shop and was told they’d have to send it away – take a few weeks, cost a lot, bike not worth it. He then took it to Walker’s Garage in Milford where the kindly owner welded it together on the spot for $15

Dad was the main rider of my bike - even biking all the way to the office occassionally (15 km), I was   able to ride more this year and trained Tia to walk nicely beside the bike - but she wouldn’t run with it – until Dad tied her to the front with a long line, then she ran! Galloped -pulling him!!

Smiley (aka LaVerne) & Elliot, our favourite park maintenance men!  Elliot pretends to be gruff & uncaring but underneath he’s a softie. They charged our battery twice (it wasn't holding) so Dad brought them an apple pie.

 This year they put the wind fences up right down the whole beach in front of the beach-side campsites effectively blocking our access to the beach & ruining the view! (unless you stand back higher on the dunes and look up! 
 What an awesome sky!! 

 Thankfully I was there when they were doing our section and they kindly granted my plea to leave an opening by our spot since the access path for everyone was right beside our spot. So we could still sit there & have our sunset views

 

We enjoyed the extra time to refresh, renew, fellowship with Him and even unexpected fellowship with a fellow camper
Isabel is a widowed Dutch lady who I’d briefly met a couple of years ago and now, upon recognizing her, invited her to tea. As it turned out, she is also a reformed Christian - from Ottawa and their church is very involved in the campus ministry at Ottawa U (where Mark is)! We had several nice visits with her during the week she was there.

We were so thankful for the good weather (for Sept!) that the Lord gave us overall!

And weekends were not such a problem this year because it became stormy every Friday evening till Sat or Sunday and the wind &/or rain drove away the noise & smoke, so I was able to have much better sleeps in my cozy cocoon! (and Mom & Dad in the trailer)

 

Increasing strength and health for all of us living outside - all that fresh air (& also all the exercise! )

and thankful for Tia's safety too and being returned to us each time after her escapes!
And many other such helps and gifts from our heavenly Father!
He is our help and our refuge, our God in whom we trust!

All creation joins the chorus of praise to the Creator, our Awesome God!