A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}

[Dixie_Flyer]

Went camping this weekend at a campground on the lake, had not been there for a few years. Once there I began to walk around looking at the different sites when I noticed a very old dog. He just lay there until I got too close then he got up on three legs and hobbled away. Just judging I would say he is at least 11 years old. Well back to my story. The next afternoon he wanders into camp and just sits there looking. He looked so sad, so the wife got a bowl of our dog's food and put it down for him and he came over and ate. He then walked over to our dog and the two of them sniffed each other over and then they lay down together for the rest of the afternoon. That night he disappeared.
The next morning he was back and was a little more receptive of me. I looked at his injured leg and found that half of his rear foot was gone. It had healed and was not causing any problem except that he was walking on the stub that was left with no foot pad which causes him to limp. His front teeth were gone except for one canine tooth and it looked decayed. His eyes were tired looking and showing his age. He spent the rest of the day just laying around looking for a handout and by afternoon the campground host came around and saw him. I enquired about the dog and was told he had been there for three years and that most of the campers were tolerant of him and gave him food.
So what to do? Do you pick him up and bring him home or do you let nature take it course. He can't harm anyone, he has no teeth and he isn't a nuisance unless you don't like dogs, and no one seems to mind him being there. He is gentle and likes other animals as seen by his interaction with our dog. He still would not let me touch him but he would eat from my hand. Enough said, what would you do???

On June 28th 2008 Old Fella passed away of complications caused by bone cancer. Fella spent almost three years with his new family and became the icon of rescued old stray dogs. He will be greatly missed but his foot prints have been left in our hearts forever.

Now Charlie, the ten year old rescued Golden Lab has come to be a part of the continuing Old Fella story. (*Note, Charlie took his journey to Rainbow Bridge unexpectedly September 30, 2008)Suzie continues to charm her way into our hearts with her antics as she has grown from a puppy into a young lady. Togther they will carry on the Old Fella legacy. Come join us in their daily lives and be a part of the best feel good thread in RV.NET history. The legacy lives on.


HIghways Article Puppy Love

Old Fella Burke County Animal Rescue

[Scottiemom]

Wow, sure glad nothing visible was broken and hope that all is well. I have the habit of slowing way down for RR tracks for this very reason. I'm like a school bus. . . stopping at every crossing. LOL But years of towing boats and cars. . . well, you know.

I belong to RV women and they had a campout at Canopy Oaks. I didn't go but I do hope to go more this winter. They usually pick really nice (and expensive) resorts. My neighbors just got back from Margaritaville at Auburndale, which is just 7 miles away. They said it was super nice, new and expensive. But they went with family and had a great weekend and it didn't cost much in fuel to get there.LOL

I'm finishing up doctor appointments and then will be leaving the end of the month. Going over to Melbourne to see my son and family first. He has a boat club boat for Saturday. I told him I don't know if that's a good idea. Everytime he gets one lined up for me, it gets cancelled for weather. LOL I've only been out once. As a family, we boated for years on Dale Hollow Lake. It's in our blood, so I hope we get to go this time.

Take care fellow FOOF's and enjoy your summer.

Dale

[MetalGator]

Dale, I hope you have a safe trip to Indiana. We had a great time this weekend at the new RV resort. The place is kind of in the middle of no where and we took back roads to get there. It was such a pleasant drive with not having to deal with the interstate highways around here. I don't think you can go more than about 20 miles in any direction without road construction on I75 or I4. The only issue I had was a very rough railroad crossing. I was on a county road and had already gone across a few railroad crossing (got stopped one time by a train). I was approaching one crossing and when I got close, I noticed there was quite a bit of rise on the tracks. The speed limit was 55 mile an hour. There wasn't any signs indication a rough or raised track. This is a road I had never traveled before. I slowed down to about 40mph and when I got close, I realized I had made a mistake. I hit the brakes and when I hit those tracks I swear the motorhome got airborne! I heard a bunch of crashing sounds behind me. It really freaked me out. There was nowhere to pull over (two lane road with no shoulder) so I continued on. Motorhome was driving fine so drove another 20-30 minutes until we got to the resort. Once setup, I looked underneath the motorhome at the suspension and didn't see anything broken. The crashing sound I heard behind us was the cabinets in the bathroom that had come open. Our master bathroom is in the back of the motorhome and when I hit those tracks, all the cabinets opened and everything came out onto the floor. Was a big mess. I sure hope I didn't damage or weaken anything in the suspension of the motorhome. On the way home, every time I saw a RR crossing I slowed WAY down. I won't make that mistake again!

Burch

[Scottiemom]

Good to hear from you Burch. I am leaving the end of the month for Indiana. I will go up to Virginia first to see my daughter and family. Then on to Indiana for a graduation celebration. My great-niece was born with a heart defect 19 years ago and had to have surgery in the NICU. She had a kidney that wasn't functioning 100% too. I think that finally resolved itself. She has had a few heart procedures in her young life, the most recent was an ablation to take care of V-tach. She is a sweet girlie and we all love her and takes her problems in stride. She was behind her age group in school, so my niece homeschooled her for two years. When she went back to school, she went into the grade behind her and has just flourished. Her grandmother is a cook and has had her cooking from a very young age, so it's no surprise to us all that she is headed to culinary school. When my Mom died a year ago, she took most of mom's pots and pans and cooking utensils for herself. Mom would have loved it. After that celebration I plan to travel in my new motorhome before attending my 55th h.s. reunion in August in Indiana, then I will probably head home.

Coach House is having a rally in September in Natchez and I want to go to that. After the rally I hope to visit some of Terry's relatives in Baton Rouge and Mississippi. I can see a drive on the Trace for me and the new moho. My favorite all time drive.

Take care, fellow FOOF's.

Dale

[MetalGator]

Good Morning FOOFs

I was finally able to get the oil changed in the motorhome last weekend. Boy, I am getting too old for this stuff. Getting the oil into the engine is harder than draining it. They sure don't give you much room under the hood to get to the oil fill. If it wasn't so expensive to get an oil change (places around here want $250), I would have someone else do it. I can do it myself with synthetic oil for around $50.

The wife and I are taking a weekend trip in the motorhome. We are trying out a new RV resort called "Resort at Canopy Oaks". It about an hour and a half drive from here (a little east of Lake Wales Florida). It's only been open a couple of years and looks really nice. They have a big Tiki bar on an island on a big lake. They also have a Pizza and Sanwidth place, a hair and nail salon, a spa, a big workout room, an arts and crafts area, a business center, a big pool and clubhouse, and a country store. All onsite. I don't even think we are going to take the Jeep this trip. They also have golf cart rentals so we rented a cart for the weekend.

ZuZu has only gone on two motorhome trips and we haven't taken a trip in about 2 months. I got the motorhome out of storage last night and parked it in our driveway. I wanted to dust and clean the floors so I took ZuZu out to the motorhome with me. My wife came out to put some stuff in the fridge. When either of us would leave the motorhome, ZuZu would start crying. She was having some separation anxiety. I am hoping that she gets over that as I don't want to leave her in the motorhome if she is barking or crying. Maybe it was because I didn't have the other dogs in the RV with her. The last trip we took, we ran out for lunch and she was barking when we closed the motorhome door. I went back inside and told her to be quiet and she did finally quit barking. We hung around outside for a few minutes to make sure she didn't bark and when we got back to the RV a few hours later, she was passed out asleep. Hopefully she will learn after a few more trips. She is a very smart dog.

I hope everyone is doing well. Does anyone have any good trips coming up this summer? We are going to Mississippi for a week later this month. There is a new resort in Biloxi right on Biloxi bay. We like staying on the water and the wife can get her gambling fix at the casinos while we are there.

Burch

[Scottiemom]

We all miss you, Richard. Happy Heavenly Birthday.

Dale

[2_many_2]

SGTJOE wrote:
Happy Birthday in Heaven Richard, I and I'm sure all the rest really miss your posts and stories.

X2

[SGTJOE]

Happy Birthday in Heaven Richard, I and I'm sure all the rest really miss your posts and stories.

[Toolguy5]

Happy birthday Richard.
You are missed.

[dturm]

Scottiemom wrote:
Sorry you're getting those surprises from Zuzu, Burch. If it continues it would be good to rule out any infection, but that prolly wouldn't cause the pooping. Any changes or disruptions to the routine of the household? I'm sure Dr. Doug can chime in.

You nailed it, I got nothin to add.

[Scottiemom]

Sorry you're getting those surprises from Zuzu, Burch. If it continues it would be good to rule out any infection, but that prolly wouldn't cause the pooping. Any changes or disruptions to the routine of the household? I'm sure Dr. Doug can chime in.

I'm trying to get jobs done around here so I can take off the end of May. Have a graduation party on JUNE 10 for my great niece, then I have no plans till mid August when my 55th high school reunion will take place in northern Indiana. So I thought I would just travel around Michigan, Ohio, Indiana bumming around till then.

I broke down my patio set and put it in the trailer. Now I have to move the lanai furniture. Some of it goes in the trailer, some comes in the house. I have to put everything up because while I'm gone, it will be hurricane season and that way no one has to do that while I'm gone. Just easier for everyone.

I got a Komo carrier for the back of my motorhome. My new e-bike goes in it and fits nicely. I don't have to fold it up. I sold my other e-bike because it was 70 pounds and I couldn't lift it. This Lite version is 49 pounds. It folds as well, but that's still very awkward for me to do with only 2 hands. LOL I can also put Brendon's trailer (folded up) along with my patio mat windshield covers and some tools, etc.

I am getting this all done before Tuesday when I have my house power washed. I have to have everything up and the drive/ports emptied, so anything I can do ahead of time will be good. Once I put it all up I won't get it back out till I get back end of summer.

Take care fellow FOOF's. Safe travels.

Dale

[SGTJOE]

Always good to hear from you and you're right not many post on here anymore.
We have let our Tradewinds sit almost 5 years since we moved to Saint George, Utah. The Winters hear are so mild. We are thinking of taking her out up North this Summer since our Summers here are 100+. Haven't decided where to go yet.

[MetalGator]

Well, it's another Friday. It's been awfully quiet on here. I hope everyone is doing well.

ZuZu is in trouble this morning. I thought she was pretty much potty trained but she has pooped and peed a couple of times in the house the last two days. Not sure what is going on with her.

I still need to get the oil changed in the motorhome. I am going to try and get it done this weekend.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Burch

[MetalGator]

Good Morning FOOFs

Glad it is Friday. It has been pretty hot here in West Central Florida. It hit 90 degrees a couple of times this week. We haven't had any rain in over a month. Everything is brown. My grass is crunchy when I walk on it. We really need rain in a bad way.

I have to change the oil in the motorhome this weekend. I really am not looking forward to crawling underneath the motorhome but it's a lot cheaper to do it myself. All the places around here want $200+ to change the oil on a Class A motorhome.

The fur babies are doing well. Monty is getting old. He will be 13 in a couple of months. He is very healthy and still looks great but he can't hold it all night anymore. He seems to drink a lot of water and needs to go out about 4am every night. He will start panting and then will bark when he can't hold it anymore. Pinto is getting grey but is doing well. He just turned 12. ZuZu is still a puppy and keeps us on our toes. She will turn 1 on August 4th. She has really grown and is a big fur ball. Full of energy.

I hope everyone is doing well. We don't have another trip planning until the beginning of May.

Burch

[SGTJOE]

The prices have really gone crazy these past few years. I have a 15 year old Gran Daughter who works part time at a Burger place for $17.00 an hour. She makes more in 4 1/2 hours then I did as an active duty Marine for a month.

[MetalGator]

Good morning FOOFs. I hope everyone is doing well. I am just trying to get through tax season (I work in IT for a CPA firm). Looking forward to April 18th when the tax deadline passes.

ZuZu continues to grow and get more stubborn! We started letting her stay in our bedroom during the night. We have doggie beds in our bedroom and our two older dogs sleep in the bedroom with us. We tried letting ZuZu sleep in the bedroom starting Friday night. She did very well. Sometimes she was in one of the doggie beds and other times sprawled out somewhere on the floor. She did good again on Saturday night and Sunday night. Monday night and last night she drove us crazy. I guess she slept too much during the workday as we are gone all day and she wasn't ready for bed when we went to bed. I finally had to put her in her kennel in the other room about 1:30am so we could get some sleep.

We don't have another motorhome trip planned until the end of May. We will be staying at the Biloxi Bay Rv Resort and Marina in Mississippi. It's only been open a couple of years and it's close to the Beau Rivage hotel and casino so my wife can get her gambling fix. Its right on Biloxi Bay and we have a water view site.

There is a place in Tarpon Springs we like to stay during the summers when the rates go down (after the snowbirds leave). They have 7 sites right on the water. They are pricey, but we would only go for Friday and Saturday nights. I just checked their summer rates, and they want $285 plus tax per night! We defiantly won't be staying there anymore. When we first started going a couple of years ago, it was around $165 a night. Crazy....


Burch