Ole Flies the Coop & Daisy Gets Busted

I've been abandoned!! Ole is gone!!

But it's really okay - he just went down to the State Fair grounds in St. Paul for the weekend where the Minnesota Street Rod Association hosts the Annual Back to the 50's Weekend. He left on Thursday so he would have plenty of time to see ALL the cars. Lovely Daughter and the New Man left on Friday night to meet up with him, so you see I TRULY am alone with the exception of the grand doggers. AND IT'S WONDERFUL!! No schedules to keep, no meals to cook, no messes to clean up after everyone else. I LOVE it.

Ole has attended every Back to the 50's event since Lovely Daughter was two years old - and she's 31 now, so that's a lot of events. I used to go religiously, like a good wife, but after all those years I just kind of got burned out. Three years ago I drove my own car down so that I wouldn't have to stay on the fairgrounds the entire time. Ole drove the 1929 Model A (with a souped up engine of course). It took me TWO HOURS to find a parking spot in the parking lot and then Ole came and picked me up in the Model A so we could drive onto the fairgrounds. I was so frustrated I said I'd never drive my own car down there again. I think there were only 12,000 cars registered that year. 12,000 cars, with an average of two people per car, plus all the walk-on spectators that attend makes for a lot of cars and a lot of people on the fairgrounds. So many it's almost impossible to move on the fairgrounds on Saturday afternoons, let alone manage to drive your car anywhere.

So the next year I opted to ride down with him in the Model A. Now THAT was a big mistake. The Model A has a very short wheelbase, which means you only hit the tops of all the bumps on the interstate between here and Minneapolis. It's like riding in a cartoon car - if you can imagine that. And the only air conditioning available is to open the front window, which operates on hinges from the top. And it just HAPPENED to be over a hundred degrees that weekend!! That's when I decided I wasn't going to do THAT again either!

Here's his little sweetheart - designed and built by Ole from the ground up. He's gotten a lot of awards for this little buggy when he's entered it in some fairly large car shows. The first year he received the Builder of the Year award, which is quite prestigious for you non-car-aficionados.

So anyway, the next year (last year) I decided not to go and Lovely Daughter went along. There's only room for one passenger besides the driver unless you want to ride in the rumble seat, and that gets a bit on the breezy side. It's just like riding on the Harley for getting bugs in your teeth!!

Well, Lovely Daughter is built a lot like I am - somewhat well-endowed on the top half. Sorry guys if that's TMI but that's the way it is. Anyway, she took off with her Dad on a Friday morning, made it fifteen miles down the road and discovered that the only way to ride the rest of the way was to fold her arms under her boobage and hang on tight!! The "bumps and grinds" of the little car were causing her pain. So this year she decided to take her own vehicle too - much smoother ride (less pain) and besides that it has AC.

I told Ole he needs some kind of a sling hanging from the roof of the car if he intends to have female passengers ride with him for any distance. Men just don't get it, do they?

So I've spent the weekend dog sitting the grand doggers. I'm sure they're quite bored with me as they're used to being outside all the time with Ole. I did spend about six hours outside yesterday futzing around in the backyard just so they could be outside. But Daisy ended up being a very bad girl. Beau stayed right with me and would on occasion wander off to check out a rabbit or bird or some such thing.

Beau is very possessive of all of us and when he's outside is constantly checking on each of us. He makes the rounds, runs up and gives you a lick and then goes on to the next one. He's also VERY protective when a stranger comes onto the property. He's what I call an "in your face barker." He definitely lets people know they better not be messin' with his folks.

That's Beau on the left with the ball in his mouth, and Daisy on the right.

Daisy on the other hand is so devoted to Ole she's like a piece of velcro attached to his leg. So when Ole took off on Thursday afternoon and didn't take her she was heartbroken. When I finally let her out she ran immediately to the shop to see if he was there. Nope, no Ole. Then she started checking out the other buildings, and of course, couldn't find him. She came back to the house, went directly to the basement and sniffed every corner - nope, no Ole. That's when she came back upstairs and lay down dejectedly in the middle of the living room and pouted.

So yesterday afternoon when I was outside futzing she disappeared. I called and called, but no response. A neighbor, who had just come from town, stopped for a minute to tell me that she thought it was my shepherd that was going down the highway toward town. I immediately hopped in the truck, sped down the highway and there she was - trotting just along the pavement on the shoulder of the road. I suppose she has seen Ole head for town on the tractor to fill it with gas, but she's never been allowed to follow him in that situation. So I suppose her little brain had deduced that that was one place she hadn't checked yet to find him and she was going to go take a look.

When I stopped the truck she was very sheepish and hopped immediately into the back of the truck with her head hanging down and her tail between her legs. She knew she was busted, and she pouted for the remainder of the evening.

I don't know what she's going to do when Ole and I take off for a month, or when we go for the winter next time. Poor soul will just pine away - where Beau is much more adaptable.

Well, anyway, my dog sitting time is about over for the weekend. Ole, Lovely Daughter and The New Man were going to spend some time at the swap meet that takes place on the fairgrounds every Sunday of this event and then head for home. He took the camera with him for the weekend so I'm sure he'll have lots of pictures and I'll share if I see something worthy!!