Our local dog park is Banjo's new favorite place to be. She has met all kinds of new friends. Jax is checking her out before he lets her around his owner and his biological sister.
Once Jax taught Banjo a few lessons, they became fast friends.
It wasn't long before Jax felt comfortable around Banjo, he soon allowed her to chase lizards with him and his sister, Phoebe.
Not seeing any lizards, Banjo wasn't sure what they were suppose to be chasing but she had fun just the same.
Watching Jax and Phoebe was enough entertainment for Banjo.
They chased lizards around benches, trees and any place else that lizards might be.
Banjo played for quite a while and then she got tired and needed a drink and some rest. At five months old, she does her best to run with the adult dogs. We were doing our best to get some of Banjo's energy spent...
because little did Banjo know, she would be learning to socialize with a toddler. Our sweet little grand-daughter came for a visit. Banjo felt a sense of duty making sure all alligators and other scary things stayed away from her new best friend, Kendall.
Along with Kendall came a new found human brother that Banjo knew nothing about until this visit.
While out on the boat, Banjo was happy just to watch others swim. Her new found sister-in-law and Kendall were having a blast.
She dreamed of swimming with the human folk but stayed in her comfort zone on the boat tucked safely on her seat.
Banjo was happy to share the back yard with Kendall. Oh if Banjo could just get two seconds of playtime with that dolly.
Banjo wasn't invited to the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs. She was fine with that.
It gave her ample time to rest up for when we returned.
Banjo didn't get to go to the park because she was a little too rambunctious that day.
But she heard about it and sniffed every scent off of everyone's shoes when we walked into the house. Even though she hasn't seen a slide, she has stored that specific scent of plastic into her smell file for future use.
After Kendall and her parents left, we were all feeling sad. So we went on a boat ride. It felt lonely and quiet being on the water without, Brandon, Lauren and Kendall.
Mi Miguel decided to go for a swim. When he jumped into the water, Banjo decided it was high time she learn to swim. And she did. She too jumped into the water and swam a few doggy paddle strokes and wanted back on the boat. She longer dreams of swimming. Water is not her friend. I so feel her pain with the fear of water.
We thought that watching the sunset would take our minds off of the kids going back home.
But you can see on Mi Miguel's face and Banjo's face that not even a stunning sunset can fill the void of Kendall going back home.
While Banjo no longer dreams of jumping in the water, she does have great hope that her best friend Kendall will come back to see her real soon.
In the meantime she will continue to keep the waters safe and await for Kendall's return.
We've been back to the dog park. Banjo met a Catahoula mix, but was too afraid to play with him. They spent a good thirty minutes running along the fence. Even though she is scared of him, Hunter is cooler than cool.
We also spotted (no pun intended) this bird in Tarpon Springs last week. Any idea what kind of bird it is?
Banjo also had the drooling opportunity to play with this little guy. My goodness, we've never seen so much drool. Needless, to say Banjo had to have a bath after this adventure.
All in all, we had a great visit. You know the saying, "The two best days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it." It doesn't ring true for us.
We've enjoyed each and every day of our boat so far. If you don't believe us, just ask Banjo.
As you already know from previous posts, the seawall really took a toll on our budget for our fixer upper. We've finally saved up enough to buy lumber for the master bedroom closet.
And so now, after a hundred dollars in 2x4's Mi Miguel is now starting the closet. My job is to keep Banjo away from the work site.
In one evening the walls are framed out and ready to be secured to the floor.
Lining it up and making sure it's level, Mi Miguel has it all squared up.
Just a few more wood screws, then cut away the carpet and he's ready to secure it into the concrete.
It's hard to believe that all of this mess will soon look a lot like a very organized and functional closet.
If we keep it fairly simple the closet will look similar to this one but not as elegant. Maybe not so many mirrors either. We have a window in the closet just like in the photo, all the mirrors casts too much light, maybe?
If all goes well and I find my motivation, I'd love to paint the organizing units cream with an aqua ceiling and do something like this. Staggering three retro amber hanging lights would be gorgeous in this closet.
While the closet is under construction, we'll be researching for the best place to get guttering and downspouts replaced. It's making it more challenging to do our fixer upper task list with very limited funds. But true to who we've always been, Mi Miguel and I will find a way. We've always worked hard and figured it out. No matter what comes our way, we figure out a way to get through it.
The boat and Banjo have set us back a bit financially as well. But, we can't imagine life now without our boat and especially without Banjo. She has definitely found a place in our family. I feed her, train her and bathe her. And yet, she is becoming Mi Miguel's dog more and more.
This is where you will find our girl every morning as her master drives away from our house. She loves that man.
If you follow my Florida Restaurants A-Z page on Facebook, I've recently added the letter O restaurant.
The blog posts are easily accessed and posted individually on my Facebook Page: Florida Warmth and Water.
The last five days Banjo has learned so much. She is still a puppy and reminds us of that constantly. For example, when she sees a bug of any kind the chase is on and she has no regard for my Amaryllis or any other plant, tree or bush. Those Amaryllis, they were finished blooming anyway.
I would like to say that she is trying to save the earth by diligently hugging that tree. Unfortunately, she is desperately trying to bury what was a bright and shiny, brand new plush bone that our friends bought for her.
She wouldn't budge form this spot. I stood my ground and she definitely stood her ground. Her repeated attempts to bury the toy were futile. She ended up with nothing more than a dirty a bone. I washed it and distracted her attention to other things. The plush toy now stays inside. Anything she loves gets buried in the back yard. I'm not sure what that's all about, why do dogs do that?
I made up a trail mix over the weekend. Those peanuts with the candy corn is a sneaky way to eat a Payday candy bar. We headed out on the pontoon to meet up with other boaters. We've been slow to make friends because we have so much on our plate right now.
Banjo always starts out the boating trip by flashing her pearly whites at all the neighbors and other boaters. She is ready at a moment's notice to alert us of any dogs, alligators and even the tiniest insect. She is one happy dog.
Here is Mi Miguel living the happy life. It isn't long though until she does what Mi Miguel has taught her so well.
Just like him, she reclines, relaxes and drifts off into a deep sleep. She too is living the happy life.
While they rest, I do what I do best, scrub down the floor of the boat, wipe down the dash and seats and then think about how I'm going to hand thatch the front lawn first thing in the morning.
Since we've moved in our front yard looks a lot like the Malcolm In The Middle lawn. Now that the seawall is finished there shouldn't be anymore big trucks on our very sad lawn.
Yesterday morning, I set out to thatch the grass or what little we had left. Trying to keep Banjo in the yard, the neighbor cat out of the yard and deal with the heat, the front lawn was finally thatched. All we need now is grass seed and a little bit of rain.
We have a happy dog and a (so-called) happy life. That happy lawn though, it's going to take quite a while before we ever see that. Oh well, two out of three aint bad.
Blog posts are easily accessed via my Facebook Page: Florida Warmth and Water
We are on the letter O for our Florida Restaurants A-Z. Read about the ones that we've been to from A-N on my Facebook Page: Florida Restaurants A-Z
