TIA TALKS...

OCALA or BUST!

"Our house in South Florida sold in record time and Mom and Auntie Lesley had a new house waiting for us in Ocala, Florida. At last - a nice place for me to retire.

Well, this was no easy task. Thirty years worth of stuff had to be sorted through and either discarded or packed. To make matters worse, somewhere off the coast of Africa, there was a storm brewing. The Miami Hurricane Center was watching it carefully and so were Mom and Auntie Lesley.

They worked day and night for weeks - "this stays, that goes" was all I heard. I'm lucky that I got fed. The closing dates on the house came and went several times causing them to lose the moving van dates a few times.

There were other considerations as well. There were nine of us. Mom's car was going on the moving van which left Auntie Lesley's big Toyota available. That said, some of us needed to be transported up to Ocala by friends from the Greyhound adoption kennel in their huge bus. Those plans were fine with me as long as I wasn't one of them! I had better be one of those traveling in the Toyota!

Moving day finally arrived. Naturally, it was pouring. The movers arrived late. Four of the dogs had already been boarded at the Greyhound kennel to get them out from under foot. Lucky me ... I stayed home along with two neurotic Doxies (Casey and Zachary), Daniel (one of the Greyhounds) and Kate (another English Setter.) We were the "chosen five" who were to travel in the Toyota along with the four birds.

The movers loaded their van in the rain and departed for Ocala. After checking and re-checking for anything that may have been left behind, Mom, Auntie Lesley, me, the four other dogs, four birds along with everything which didn't go on the moving van pulled away from the house at 7:00 PM in the pouring rain.

The trip was a nightmare. Auntie Lesley's Doxies weren't too bad but Daniel cried for the entire trip! He is the world's worst traveler, however, he is Mom's "heart dog" so he definitely needed to travel in the car. Kate has diabetes and needs insulin every time her sugar level rises from stress. Considering the stress in that Toyota she needed it several times.

Auntie Lesley had just purchased this huge Toyota 4-Runner and she didn't know how to operate anything. It was now dark and raining and they were lost. Mom needed to read the map and that required light so she pushed the first button which she was able to find ... the sun roof promptly opened! As it was now raining inside the car, the birds began to flit around their travel cages which excited both me and Kate (after all, we are bird dogs.) Mom began a search for the owner's manual which Auntie Lesley never bothered to read! Ten minutes later, as the car sat on the side of I-95 while Mom got her bearings, we were on our way once again minus conversation between Mom and Auntie Lesley.

What should have been a four hour drive took seven hours. We all had to make pit stops, never at the same time and Mom and Auntie Lesley needed coffee and donuts to stay awake.

Exhausted, we eventually arrived in Ocala ... they opened the door to our new home to find it filled with a sea of boxes! Even though all of them had been clearly marked the movers simply opened the front door and left them everywhere! Our home was in the middle of horse country, there were no street lights or house lights, this van arrived before we did so as the boxes came off the truck that is how they were left in the house. Mom found a few lamps to plug in, fed us all, let us out to exercise (thank goodness the fencing had already been installed) and we all retired.

At dawn things looked worse than the night before. Zachary, with his leg abnormalities, kept getting lost behind the boxes. This house was huge, the layout was completely different so we all found ourselves lost. Most important to Mom was that we all learned quickly where the back door was leading out to the fenced property. Two days later, the others arrived and our family was now complete.

Mom and Auntie Lesley wallowed in self pity for a few days before getting to work. Two years later, they are finally unpacked - no thanks to Auntie Lesley. Mom did most of the work herself. She claims that Auntie Lesley slept through the entire thing!"