Cel-a-brate Good Times, Come On

This has been a week of celebrations, both in the U.S., as well as Canada. Today is the Fourth of July, a time for Americans to remember and honor the freedoms so many worked hard for us to have. Because we're traveling in the Canadian Maritime region, the 4th is being recognized to some degree, but mostly as a bookend to a long weekend.

This past Friday was Canada Day, or as it use to be called, Confederation Day - when several regions decided to become joined with others. We experienced lots of patriotism on that side of the border, very much like one finds in the U.S. - parades, flags, cookouts and fireworks.

The biggest celebration for me actually occurred over a week ago. I reached a mile stone birthday - my 50th. Like so many others, to me it's only a number, and an incorrect one at that. I honestly feel that I look and act much younger (for some reason I think I'm in my 30's).

To celebrate that momentous event I've opted to do my celebration with others, but without presents. My "party" was a reverse surprise party. I was one of the key organizers of a pot luck dinner at the campground and we didn't tell anyone it was a party until they arrived. We thanked them for coming and that the surprise was they didn't know it was a birthday party. The potluck was a blast.

Later this month I'll finish my birthmonth celebration with the opportunity to give to others by participating in a Mission Trip with the church, doing Housing Repair Ministry for folks in the Cherryfield, Maine area. We're still waiting to hear what work our group will be doing. I'm excited to be part of this wonderful project and wish I had done something like this sooner.

International Travel and trials

Having some free time between assignments in Bar Harbor, we decided to take our "home" and dogs across the border into New Brunswick, Canada. We've crossed the border in Calais / St. Stephen many times in the past 8 years and were ready for a quick, easy passage.

This trip across, they asked to inspect the camper and truck - we think they liked our Cameo and wanted to see one up close and personal. Inspection went very smoothly - Customs opened and closed every closet and drawer and moved on to the next -fortunately the inspector knew enough to keep her hand over the opening of the upper doors to prevent things from tumbling down as items shift in transit.

Our favorite place in New Brunswick is the quaint community of St. Andrews By The Sea. When we first came to the town, we'd stay at the Windsor House Inn, a beautiful property right on the main drag through town. Moneypenny gave them a full four paws on her visit - they spoiled her royally. A few years back we bought our first RV and stayed at the Kiwanis Campground out on the point in the town. We enjoyed our visit at the campground and returned 2 other years before this year. Prior to this year's trip, our visits to St. Andrews have been during "low season", i.e., not during July and August.

We phoned the campground to see if they'd have room for us for 2 nights and they managed to find us some space. We asked about staying 1 more night, so we'd be in town for Canada Day, but they are so full already, there are people "dry camping" or boondocking in the field in front of the rows of RVs. If you have an RV with slides and awnings, you want to put them out as soon as you get on your site so the next unit to pull in beside you knows how much room you need. We saw 2 units so close to each other, they were sharing the shade from 1 awning.

Later today we'll head out and return to a very small, quite campground in Hawkshaw, NB that we stayed at 2 years ago. The view from the campground is wonderful as they've terraced their sites and you look on to the St. John River. Not much to see or do there, but that's what vacations are all about. And we'll want a few quite days after yesterday's trial.

We had taken Rugby out for a walk and a chance to chase his ball. Moneypenny hadn't seemed interested in a walk at that time, so she was left behind in the camper. While playing ball, we noticed a deer feeding along the road and it seemed to be intrigued by our 4 legged creature as it moved in the same direction as us. After the deer left, we headed back to the campground down a trail blazed through the woods behind the campground. After crossing a small wooden bridge, Rugby started acting extremely weird - whimpering, shaking paws, trying to lick them, kicking out in a spasm twitch. We quickly felt his pads for burrs, thorns or rocks but found nothing.

We got back to the camper as quickly as we could and tried to calm Rugby down. He raced about like a crazed creature and wouldn't let us touch his paws. Because we had no idea of what was going on, we got on the internet and found the number for a local vet. We were blessed that there was a vet in the town, and although it was 4:47pm on the day before a major holiday weekend, the vet would be in and we could come by - only a 5 minute drive. As we headed towards the vet, we were trying to remember exactly where we were and what happened when I remembered seeing small ants on the bridge when we had crossed it earlier in the day - could they have been fire ants I wondered? (I thought they were in the southern U.S., but perhaps they were in the Canadian Maritime region.

The vet saw us immediately on arrival and when we made the comment about ants, confirmed that there were indeed fire ants in the region and combined with our description of Rugby's actions, felt it was indeed the reason for his behavior. Dr. Sandra Holdway, DVM quickly checked Rugby over and then gave him an injection. The entire time time we were at the vet, I was thinking in my mind about how much an after hours, holiday weekend, emergency visit was going to cost. The emergency call portion of the bill was only $90 Cdn. Total bill was $200 Cdn. A major relief for us. And hopefully the pet insurance we have will cover a portion of this.

Rugby rested well all night and seems none the worse for wear this morning. Maybe Moneypenny skipped that walk intentionally.

Time to get the camper ready for the road. Happy Canada Day from us in Canada and Happy Fourth of July for the U S - bookends for the weekend. May the only fireworks you experience be in the skies at night.