Peteyfoozer’s Journey (because journaling’s not enough)
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- Start date
Baymule
Herd Master
Go and enjoy yourself!
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- #1,773
peteyfoozer
Herd Master
Pain Dr tomorrow. Not looking forward to the drive. Wonder how long it will take to recover and be able to load everything up that I need (there is a LOT!) and be able to make the 13-14 hr drive to Calif. not looking forward to that drive either, and Boone is a lousy traveler and makes me nervous as all get out when he’s trying to force his way up front. I can keep pushing him back behind the metal divider from passenger seat but won’t be able to while driving. He just so dang big and powerful when he makes up his mind its hard to contain him. He was much happier with the ‘burb and his soft kennel, which doesn’t fit in a crewcab pickup…It’s going to cost me, both $ and pain to go down there but its the inly way to see the kids, so I’m going…
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Will he sit/lay on front seat? Will he fit? 
Will the back seats lay down = more room?
Can't make the trip shorter for you but, I'm sure you'll make it just fine. Adrenaline for the visit will help
Will the back seats lay down = more room?
Can't make the trip shorter for you but, I'm sure you'll make it just fine. Adrenaline for the visit will help
SageHill
Herd Master
Was thinking the same thing as @Mini Horses
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- #1,776
peteyfoozer
Herd Master
No. He doesn’t fit up front and neither crate fits in the truck. Randy got the divider beefed up enough I think it will work fine. I was all packed and ready to go, but woke up with a real sense of foreboding about taking him. He was so cute, helping me get dressed this morning 
. He really is a love.
Fen oddly woke me up this morning and jumped in my lap. I offered cookies but he wasn’t interested. He’s come in several times over last few days either waking me or asking for me to notice him. I made a last minute decision to switch dogs and locked Boone out back with food, water and a ginormous knuckle bone.
My back is really bad today and affecting both hips so I had to bring wheelchair. I don’t need Boone for mobility today.
Fen seems happy (but resents the divider). He’s tasking well and pointed out a basal cell carcinoma I had not noticed. He’s actually doing a really good job, as long as Randy remembers not to distract him. So it’s more about training the man than it is the dog. I need a Service Human in Training patch for him….
. He really is a love.Fen oddly woke me up this morning and jumped in my lap. I offered cookies but he wasn’t interested. He’s come in several times over last few days either waking me or asking for me to notice him. I made a last minute decision to switch dogs and locked Boone out back with food, water and a ginormous knuckle bone.
My back is really bad today and affecting both hips so I had to bring wheelchair. I don’t need Boone for mobility today.
Fen seems happy (but resents the divider). He’s tasking well and pointed out a basal cell carcinoma I had not noticed. He’s actually doing a really good job, as long as Randy remembers not to distract him. So it’s more about training the man than it is the dog. I need a Service Human in Training patch for him….
SageHill
Herd Master
Ya' know - I had a feeling the other day that you'd take Fen and not Boone. Must've been something in the air.No. He doesn’t fit up front and neither crate fits in the truck. Randy got the divider beefed up enough I think it will work fine. I was all packed and ready to go, but woke up with a real sense of foreboding about taking him. He was so cute, helping me get dressed this morning
Fen oddly woke me up this morning and jumped in my lap. I offered cookies but he wasn’t interested. He’s come in several times over last few days either waking me or asking for me to notice him. I made a last minute decision to switch dogs and locked Boone out back with food, water and a ginormous knuckle bone.
My back is really bad today and affecting both hips so I had to bring wheelchair. I don’t need Boone for mobility today.
Fen seems happy (but resents the divider). He’s tasking well and pointed out a basal cell carcinoma I had not noticed. He’s actually doing a really good job, as long as Randy remembers not to distract him. So it’s more about training the man than it is the dog. I need a Service Human in Training patch for him….View attachment 117503
View attachment 117504
- Thread starter
- #1,778
peteyfoozer
Herd Master
It’s “recovery day”. Pain is pretty significant even though I used a wheelchair. But it’s offset by my excitement of spending time with Chelsea. This girl HATED me most of her life. I rescued her and her sister out of a horrible situation. I fought for them for years when they needed a champion. Both girls despised me. I met her when she was 3. Her ribs showed, she was filthy and covered in flea bites. Her armpits were red and sore from wearing a tshirt that was much too small. Her hair had been literally scissored off by her drug addicted mother. Apparently, she had damaged a baby tooth which became infected. Most of her teeth had turned black and were eroded like a meth addicts. It was heartbreaking.
Randy had never married this woman. I was shocked he had 2 children with her. She was disgusting and out of her mind on drugs. He said she wasn’t that way when they lived together. His family wouldn’t call CPS because they were afraid they would lose them to foster care. Randy lived in an old singlewide with no running water or electricity. No one in his family would take the girls, so I did. I gave them a home with me and the boys. I mortgaged my house to pay lawyers to sue for Randy’s custody. I lost my alimony because he moved in too, as he was their father.
These kids were physically and emotionally damaged. I spent a lifetime being there for them, even when his oldest brother realized a couple years in that since I owned my house and our business that he could get child support if he took the girls in. He had offered to keep them over a weekend to give us a break. Chelsea would scream at the top of her lungs all day. Her sister would steal money, my jewelry (the $500ruby ring my father had made first me. I never saw it again)
While I was working, his brother asked dyslexic Randy to sign some papers for “insurance” in case the girls hurt themselves and needed medical care. The SOB had planned it all ahead and they were legal papers he’d had drawn up. Randy, who trusted him and doesn’t read, signed away custody.
For years the girls were told lies about us. They grew up despising us. I had to pay $1500 a month child support to his SOB brother, as Randy couldn’t get a decent job because he couldn’t fill out an employment application and speaks almost inaudibly, even though he is incredibly skilled as a welder, mechanic, etc.
Of course when Chelsea aged out, the a$$hole kicked her out of his home. (She was pregnant too, but moved in with the father who she married a couple years later) Her older sister had Randy’s brother’s stepson’s son’s baby when she was only 12. His wife wanted the baby to herself so they kicked Bailey out early, and of course, she came to live with us. That’s a whole other drama, but you get the picture.
I am an idiot. But I did what I did.
After all the years of me being a pariah, Chelsea reached out about 5 years ago. I don’t know why. She invited me to her house to visit when I was down seeing Cody. I expected to be vilified but I went anyway.
We had a superficial, but nice visit. Her daughter drew me a picture. Then we got an invitation to Thanksgiving on the Tuesday before. We dropped everything and raced to California. She and her husband put on a dinner outside for about 30 people. We had a good time. Last summer they came to visit us for the first time ever. It was a wonderful week. They drove his motorcycle 3 hours to have my Suburban towed to their place on their AAA when I blew it up.
Now she’s opening this little cottage business. She wanted me to send her my soaps to sell. I told her I don’t have the energy to make enough stuff to sell but would teach her. So as soon as I recover, and can pack up all the stuff and make the drive, I am going to Bakersfield to teach her, and maybe Bailey’s now 20 something yr old daughter, how to make soap, sourdough bread, tallow and tallow balm and Comfrey salve.
She opened the door and I wasn’t about to not run through it. I am so grateful and am really looking forward to spending some time with her and her family
and hopefully connect with Cody and his girls while down there.
Randy had never married this woman. I was shocked he had 2 children with her. She was disgusting and out of her mind on drugs. He said she wasn’t that way when they lived together. His family wouldn’t call CPS because they were afraid they would lose them to foster care. Randy lived in an old singlewide with no running water or electricity. No one in his family would take the girls, so I did. I gave them a home with me and the boys. I mortgaged my house to pay lawyers to sue for Randy’s custody. I lost my alimony because he moved in too, as he was their father.
These kids were physically and emotionally damaged. I spent a lifetime being there for them, even when his oldest brother realized a couple years in that since I owned my house and our business that he could get child support if he took the girls in. He had offered to keep them over a weekend to give us a break. Chelsea would scream at the top of her lungs all day. Her sister would steal money, my jewelry (the $500ruby ring my father had made first me. I never saw it again)
While I was working, his brother asked dyslexic Randy to sign some papers for “insurance” in case the girls hurt themselves and needed medical care. The SOB had planned it all ahead and they were legal papers he’d had drawn up. Randy, who trusted him and doesn’t read, signed away custody.
For years the girls were told lies about us. They grew up despising us. I had to pay $1500 a month child support to his SOB brother, as Randy couldn’t get a decent job because he couldn’t fill out an employment application and speaks almost inaudibly, even though he is incredibly skilled as a welder, mechanic, etc.
Of course when Chelsea aged out, the a$$hole kicked her out of his home. (She was pregnant too, but moved in with the father who she married a couple years later) Her older sister had Randy’s brother’s stepson’s son’s baby when she was only 12. His wife wanted the baby to herself so they kicked Bailey out early, and of course, she came to live with us. That’s a whole other drama, but you get the picture.
I am an idiot. But I did what I did.
After all the years of me being a pariah, Chelsea reached out about 5 years ago. I don’t know why. She invited me to her house to visit when I was down seeing Cody. I expected to be vilified but I went anyway.
We had a superficial, but nice visit. Her daughter drew me a picture. Then we got an invitation to Thanksgiving on the Tuesday before. We dropped everything and raced to California. She and her husband put on a dinner outside for about 30 people. We had a good time. Last summer they came to visit us for the first time ever. It was a wonderful week. They drove his motorcycle 3 hours to have my Suburban towed to their place on their AAA when I blew it up.
Now she’s opening this little cottage business. She wanted me to send her my soaps to sell. I told her I don’t have the energy to make enough stuff to sell but would teach her. So as soon as I recover, and can pack up all the stuff and make the drive, I am going to Bakersfield to teach her, and maybe Bailey’s now 20 something yr old daughter, how to make soap, sourdough bread, tallow and tallow balm and Comfrey salve.
She opened the door and I wasn’t about to not run through it. I am so grateful and am really looking forward to spending some time with her and her family
and hopefully connect with Cody and his girls while down there.
- Thread starter
- #1,779
peteyfoozer
Herd Master
I hate driving in traffic! I am gonna go down 395 through Bishop. It’s mostly 2 lane road all the way. I might cut the trip in 2 and get a room after the first 5 hours as I don’t think I can handle Boone’s howling for 12 hr. He hates road trips…
SageHill
Herd Master
Wow. That is quite a backstory - and shows just how loving and caring you are. So sad you were more than taken advantage of. Have a fantastic trip - you can hopefully reap the seeds you sewed all those years ago. And especially at a time when you need it most.
