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Establishing who would be driving

Sharing a seat

The girls couldn’t come home for Labor day, so home came to them. On Saturday morning we loaded up the car with the girl’s cats and Sonny and then head over to Tampa. The plan was to check into a pet-friendly Marriott and watch the Gator game and visit with the girls. The ride over went well, considering that other than vet visits, the cats haven’t traveled much. While in the driveway they both tried to claim mom’s lap. After about 20 minutes they settled down, sharing the passenger seat.

Surprise! Your cats are here

The hotel room was a suite with a full kitchen, so we loaded up at Publix with comfort food for the weekend and then unloaded the menagerie at the hotel. The girls knew Sonny was making the trip, but didn’t know the cats would be involved, so they both had a great time hanging out in the hotel Saturday afternoon with their buddies. The Gators won, but only after playing like they were still in high school.

Savannah and Sonny on campus

During the game, Savannah took Sonny to campus to meet all the RA’s also stuck on campus for the weekend. They all had been looking forward to his visit.

Overall, It was a great, quick and painless run. We don’t know if we’ll drag all the animals over again, but it was a cute surprise for the girls and well worth the effort.

The van, after Savannah parked it in a handicap spot

Our old friend, the 2003 Toyota Sienna, was getting a little worn around the edges. So, after car shopping for a few weeks we found a replacement, and sold our van. The van had a good run, Don’s first time driving it was on a run from NW Georgia to the coast with his friend Chip to get to the good ship Anonymous. She was our cruise support vehicle for our cruise on the east coast and has served well for everything from the Flag Team Support Vehicle during high school away games to, most recently, dorm furniture and supply transportation.

So, our mini-van days are over. Two of them (first was Voyager) took us from girls that were 1 and 2 years old to their adulthood (18 and 19).

The replacement vehicle has been ordered and will be on the way to us shortly. No, Don didn’t get his Hummer, and no, Melora didn’t get her Ford F150. We actually bought this vehicle to fit the needs of our yet-to-be-named dog currently living in Washington. Just kidding girls…we went with a smaller car and a better MPG, but one that could still carry a canoe on the top rack in style. Of course.

p.s. Yup, Savannah parked the van in a handicap spot. Hard to believe,

I KNOW, but it’s true. Will update more on this event with a posting of the new car when it comes in…most likely early next week.

UPDATE: Our new car wasn’t available. So the one we ordered is going to be FOB, or “Fresh Off the Boat.”  and will be shipped to our location in the next week. We thought we’d clear up the Savannah parking in the handicap spot thing . We were in a private lot near the airport and they told her to park here. That’s all.

And the new car is a Toyota Rav4 Sport. Nothing exciting, but better MPG, less metal to drive around and the fact that our previous Toyota didn’t rust on the beach helped a lot.

Afternoon delight

In our office/studio we have a day bed. Sonny often jumps up here and kicks back while we’re working. On Friday, Dewey jumped up, rubbed his head against Sonny’s chin for a while (he had his head up at the time) and then he laid down and Dewey tucked in. Too cute.

And yes, apparently we are becoming that couple that takes cute pictures of their pets and posts them on the web after their children leave the house.

It just doesn’t get cuter than this

Adorable

Paperwork has been handed in and the payment has been made. Now it’s a matter of letting the yet-to-be-named puppy grow up a little more. But these photos at One Week were too cute, so we had to post them, The earlier posting of the pups were taken on Day One.

Sassy and pups

Rugg’s niece Sassy had a litter this month in central Washington. Rugg’s breeder knew of Rugg’s passing and our continued interest in his award winning lineage, so when he learned of the litter he passed on word to us. A few days later (Melora was traveling…otherwise it would have been less than a day), a check was in the mail.

“Dad,” Sportin’ Nitty Gritty aka “Ruff”

“Mom” Ever Ready Sassy

Sometime in October the pup will be joining the family. Don has already scheduled his first fall cruise so that he’d be back in port for the arrival of the new prince.

These are prized dogs from an exceptional litter and we consider ourselves lucky that they allow us (mostly because of Rugg’s lineage) to include one into our house. They appreciated the life that we offered to our good friend Rugg, who traveled the eastern seaboard and brought joy to not only his family, but every person he met.

Our new pup (name to be determined) will make his own mark in life, without a doubt. But with Rugg’s bloodline, he has a solid start. Ruff and Sassy remind us quite a bit of Jake and Peach…Rugg’s parents… and that’s what made the choice so easy.

The pup won’t have to put up with hot Florida summers. Our sailboat is ready for anchoring at ports north for next summer, as per our original plan. The pup should be ready to jump from the boat to the dinghy by that time. And if he misses a few times, it’s OK…they’re water dogs, much like us.

Pepper C and Savannah in Pepper’s dorm room (aka residence hall)

What began at Parkwood Pre-School in Vienna Virgina, with the Foley’s pulling their mini-van up into the parking circle to drop off their children for the day, some 16 years ago, came full circle when the Foley’s pulled their mini-van (different vehicle) up to the dorms at USF this weekend and dropped off the last of their children.

Pepper C, Mom and Savannah in front of Castor Hall

On Sunday we drove Pepper’s van load of college supplies to Tampa. The check-in went quick and we soon had her moved into her 4th floor room. Her window has a waterfront view of a nice little beach and pond, very nice. A quick trip to Target allowed us to fill her room up with all the basic essentials (shampoo, granola bars, snacks…etc) and we left her to settle in for a couple hours. In the afternoon we picked up Savannah and Pepper for some shoe shopping and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (great meal) and then dropped off the girls and head to our hotel.

We saw them Monday morning for breakfast and a quick tour of their dorm rooms and then we head back to the east coast.

We can’t begin to tell you how proud of our girls!

Dad and his girls

Savannah in her OWN ROOM!

One of perks of being an RA at USF is that you get your own room. On Tuesday morning Don and Melora helped move Savannah into her room. Her 3rd floor room, without an elevator…about a quarter mile from the parking lot…in 95 degree temps. But hey, that’s what good parents do!

After moving in we assembled her new Ikea furniture (above) and later went out to get her a bike and some more ’stuff’ for college survival. She will be the RA on a coed floor, all freshman. Her RA training begins today and goes through next week.

Good luck Savannah!

Ginny will help other students move in, this is called the “Bull Haul” so she’ll move in a little early too, August 15th.

Rugg, our friend

Scrolling through the Denizen Blog, it was pretty obvious that we didn’t have the news of our good friend Rugg’s passing. We kind of went straight to posting his own tribute page. But we should include a link to his site here. Honestly, up now, it was too difficult.

The point was brought home today from our friends at the Rockledge Animal Hospital, who gave us his paw-print because they also knew how special he was. We didn’t ask for it, they just did it for us.

Rugg, you were a class act.

You ARE a class act.

The Rugg Dog Tribute page

Quick Sail after the fire

Don sat down Monday morning to read the paper, as he is wont to do. One sentence into the story about a fire at the yacht club…and he was out the door. A few minutes later he was helping the owner of the Quick Sail hoist his mast off the Windtalker and the Lady Liz off their boats. The carbon-fiber mast burnt about 6 feet off the deck.

The fire destroyed three boats at the club and damaged two (including the Windtalker and Lady Liz). Best that we can tell at the moment…the official report is in the works…is that a fishing boat between two sailboats caught fire, the powerboat melted it’s lines and with an east wind drifted out of our marina to the west…towards the Ocean Club marina. Meanwhile, two sailboats on either side were on fire and were, for all accounts, destroyed. Nobody was hurt.

Our boat was fine, about 10 slips away from the fire.

Here’s a quick graphic Don put together for the club’s website that morning.

Spencer, Kylie, Savannah, GC Pepper and Sonny…who found a squirrel in a tree and doesn’t want to lose eye contact

Don’s brother Terry’s son, AKA Don’s nephew, also known as Savannah and Ginny Cate’s cousin, Spencer, had a happy birthday/graduation party this weekend and we head down to Lake Worth to help celebrate. Spence will be heading off to Liberty University in Virginia next month.

Spencer’s REAL birthday isn’t till next week, on the 25th. When Ginny was born on the 24th we called Terry and family to let them know…but they weren’t home. They were out birthing Spencer. GC Pepper won by six hours! Not that we’re a competitive family.

Both kids, in the long run, turned out pretty good. Four Florida Foley’s will be in college in a few weeks.

Amazing.