Come on, keep up!

She has four legs, I have two. We went visiting over the week-end and folks who have never seen her or have not seen her for a long time said "That is one fat dog!" I say "She isn't fat, her legs are short!" My daughter says "She's fat because Mom keeps feeding her people food!"

Okay. I'll start again. No more people food. Well, no more after the left over eggs and bacon we gave her a few moments ago. Somebody gave her a green onion Saturday and she was sick all day Sunday. Sigh. Drunks. This photo was from early Sunday morning.

And, before the Amish buggies whisked by us on their way to Sunday services. Sable was quite frightened of them. I don't sleep well at other folks' houses so I was up early Sunday and decided that it was such a beautiful morning and I was out in the country, why not take a walk and get some photos along the way? That is exactly what I did. On the way back to my sister's house the Amish came trotting up the road and poor Sable thought she was done for.

I did not have a collar or a leash on her. She can barely walk some days and she listens to me very well. Not one car came along the road. The country road pictured above is where my sister has lived for more than 35 years. There were perhaps 3 houses back then. Now there are a dozen.

Living in the "sticks" has it's advantages and it's disadvantages. You can think of the advantages. The beautiful scenery. On my walk I was drowning in the smell of sweet country grass and woods that I do not recall smelling for quite a long time. It was very heady. The solitude and the serene atmosphere. The privacy. All wonderful perks.

The downside for me would outweigh the advantages. Poor roads and difficulty getting out in the winter. Isolation from medical help and the law. (might be an advantage to some not to have the law around! LOL!). Telephone, cable and electrical problems. It is a fact. The utility companies do not give folks like this as much attention as they do for people in town. There is not enough money coming from the end of this long and isolated lane for them to put in decent equipment or to spend any significant amount of time repairing things.

My sister has a satellite dish for television. She had a phone with a "party" line until the mid-80's. Do you remember a "party line?" It was very bizarre to me. Sometimes she would want to make a call and when she picked up the phone, you could hear other folks talking. You would either ask them to get off the line or try again later. Wow. She has a private line now, but sometimes when her telephone is out, she doesn't even know it until she picks it up to make a call. When somebody calls her, it just rings and rings when her phone is down. Forget cellular phones out here.

Internet is very new to her and completely erratic. She has been without service for a week now until the company she hooked up with (wireless) gets over their cold and can come out, climb her old T.V. antenna and troubleshoot the problem. He has been out a dozen times to work on her signal. Or lack thereof. I told her when the trees started to fill in, she would be down a lot. She is up high on a ridge and this company could "see" the water tower in town so they set her up with wireless. That was the middle of winter. She is frustrated to say the least.

When her electricity goes out, it is out for hours. I love the country. It's a nice place to visit. Now, excuse me while I go and check Sable for ticks. Ugh.