Peace and Groom

A deer stops by our camp to stare at us. We stared back at him. Then I snapped his picture, but something wasn't set right, so it caught him less than perfect.

Peace.

Harley and I have made peace with the grooming brush. He isn't sure he likes flea sprays and pawfumes, but he's willing to tolerate them, preferably when I spray the brush rather than him. Mostly we rely on the monthly flea killer, but if he dares to scratch... heaven help him. He sees his pet parent frantically race for the flea spray, spritzing him, me, the furniture, the rugs. I am paranoid about fleas. One is TOO MANY because they multiply worse than my RV repair list. One female flea can have 600 babies PER MONTH. So there is some justification in my extreme flea paranoia.

I really don't need these chemicals,in my condition,  even if they are safe for pets and humans, but I detest fleas, so we are happily flea free.

At first Harley thought the grooming brush was not his friend. So I make sure he is relaxed and comfortable. He likes this because I pet him, rub his belly, stroke his fur gently with a light massage.

Spoiled? You bet!

Next I show him the brush so he knows what's coming next. I start out very delicately with the soft brush side, then work up to the stiff metal bristle side. I clean the brush afterwards.

Sometimes he is so relaxed, I end up just grooming one side, letting him drift off into la-la land. Other times, I move him around, to groom all areas. He now looks so cool when he is being brushed. He has that "This is heavenly" look on his goofy face.

Still... no matter how much I bathe and groom him, most folks say "He's so ugly, he's cute!"

When Harley was still new,  I presented him to a long term friend of mine, who was familiar with all my past dogs, which were all large. So when I showed him little Harley, he laughed "What? Is that a toy? I thought you were getting a real dog."

Today a sickly looking coyote came scampering through our campsite. We were out on the patio. At 6am I dragged poor little Harley out of his bed to go for a walk before the heat set in. Then we settled on the patio. He was on a long tether playing golf. I kept hearing Big Foot tiptoe  in the woods, so I went to investigate. But it wasn't Big Foot. It was a coyote chasing a rabbit.

Later the coyote was back again, racing around the forest, then he popped out of the thick woods, ran through the lawn when Harley set up a commotion, chasing him out of here again. If he thought Harley was going to be brunch, he gave up the fight pretty easily. He looked like he was missing a few meals. His tail was very long and thin, not thick and bushy. His ribs were showing. His tail  had a bright white tip, as if he had dipped it in paint by mistake. His body was gray and mottled.

Then when we went for our next walk, we saw more deer. We had a staring contest. The deer won. He out-stared me.

When we returned,  Harley alerted me to a big spider heading for our front door.

That looks like the one that bit me last year. Good grief. He has a brother.

Well, the engine is mostly all fixed now. Changed the oil, topped up the tires, checked the fluids, repaired two annoying things. They fixed my big mirrors so they will stop flopping around like Dumbo the Elephant. I think Big Foot messed them up. When I fly down the highway, they flip flop so that I can see anything but what I want to see. This is rather dangerous. The other annoying problem was ever since I bought the RV, the right hand armrest has been broken. Now I can rest both elbows while driving.  That will surely come in handy on longer trips. No wonder I never liked driving more than 50 miles a day, what with the rear view mirrors flapping around and not being able to rest my arms when steering for a long time or on a highway.

But now there is the transmission seal and the gas hose leak. I go back next week, when they will have the big lift available.  My wheel estate is 10.5 feet high.

Almost as tall as Big Foot.