Monday, September 1, 2008

We Bid Adieu to John and Suzan, plus ZZ Crew Pix

Sunday, we loaded Zack and Zanna in the crate, and headed to Woolforth. Our friends John and Suzan are heading northeast to join the crazies in the Pennsylvania Marcellous Shale, and this would be our last time to see them for a while. (John came out of retirement for the second time to take a VP position for an oil company there.) We met John and Suzan in 2001, when they transferred into Midland from Guatemala, and have been friends ever since. Our plans were to pick them up, go to lunch, and head out to view their property at Lake Alan Henry, then head home.

Right. The best laid plans...yadda, yadda, yadda.

We took our time, going back into Lubbock to eat at Rockfish (yup, my diet blown all to hell, but who can pass up Rockfish??), then back out to their house at Woolforth to load up Zack and Zanna again. Since we knew it would be some time before we were together again, we decided to all ride together. We headed out to the lake property, dogs in the big crate in the back of the Yukon. We almost asphyxiated en route, a la “eau de Zack”. The boy had some major gastro going on. It became quite the joke, that is, after we wiped our eyes enough to be able to see to roll the windows down. Several times. The boy is pungent – it gives a whole new meaning to being gassed. By the way everybody carried on about it, I can tell it will soon develop, with probable exaggeration, into one of those stories that are told for years to all of our kids, their grandkids, etc. What a thing to be remembered for, LOL - Zack The Wonderdog's farts.
Anyway, back to the lake property at Alan Henry. It is beautiful place, 10 acres, with a beautiful view of the cove. It’s rained quite a bit there, thus the overgrowth. The build site is on top of the hill, looking down into the cove. The properties surrounding John and Suzan’s acreage are beautiful, with gorgeous houses and rock fences, boat barns, and paths down to the lake. We walked the perimeter of all 10 acres. It was fun watching Zanna trying to keep up with Zack, jumping over cactus and mesquite bushes, and dodging the big grasses. Zack flushed a couple coveys of quail, and was one happy camper. He’s more than ready to start hunting season again.

At one point, the dogs had been running for a while, and were hot. The property also has a natural pond, and it wasn’t long before Zack found it…and in he dove. Oh, yes, he did. Zanna, hot on his trail, arrived about two minutes later (well, she is still pretty small, but you sure can’t fault the little thing for lack of determination!), took one look at the situation, and went leaping off the rock into the water. They were swimming, and Zanna was still after Zack, biting his ears and messing with him. They loved it. We finally got them out of the pond, and trekked on down to the cove at the waterfront. The grasses were quite tall due to the recent rains. Zanna was having to do a “hop run”. She couldn’t see around the grasses, so she would try to hop over them while running. We were almost to the cove when Zanna jumped into a huge cactus plant. She didn’t even falter. MLH picked her up, and called me to rescue her. She was full of cactus spines, but still wanted to “hunt”. The girl just wasn’t stopping. I got her back up to the road, and Suzan and I had to do a little “operating” to get all those spines out of the Zanna girl. It didn’t phase her a bit, she just wanted to keep on going. Here are pictures of Zanna running. She’s beautiful.
And here Zanna is, at the beginning of a scent of quail, not yet quite on point, but getting there. A second later, the covey flushed. She was definitely trying to do her job!
By the time we got to Post, it was 8:30 pm. We were hungry, so stopped at Holly’s drive-in for burgers.

As we headed back to John and Suzan’s, another smell permeated the truck. It was horrible. After some investigation, Sherlock (me) deduced it was pond smell. N.a.s.t.y. After such findings, el teamo scientifico decided to spend the night at John and Suzan's house, where we were able to utilize their awesome designer walk in shower, complete with 5 shower heads and a wand, to bathe the dogs. Soon, everybody smelled better, and we all had a good night’s rest.
This morning, we enjoyed a Cracker Barrel breakfast, and parted ways.
We’ll miss John and Suzan living in West Texas, but I guess that’s what planes are for, right?
(Wonder if I can get Zack a ticket? He does love him some Aunty Suzan.)

**Sniff**

23 comments:

amelia bedelia said...

You were almost up in my territory! Hubby fishes at Lake Allen Henry, too!

That Janie Girl said...

Oh, girl, where do y'all live?

catd264 said...

Zanna is so beautiful.

That Janie Girl said...

Isn't she pretty?

I'll see ya tomorrow...

Pam said...

I know you will be missing Suzan. Doesn't Zack crate up? No biggie for the Zackster when he's needing an Aunt Suzan fix! Love the pictures of Zack and Zanna they are too cute, and determination on Zanna's part, whew! Glad you had a great day together. Hope to see you soon.

Gwynne said...

Sounds like a great weekend. Zanna is so small compared to Zack. Glad she wasn't phased by the cactus. That could have been a disaster!

That Janie Girl said...

Pamo - Zack crates up well...but they won't let me buy him a seat on Southwest Airlines! It was a fun day. Isn't Zanna growing?

Gwynne - she is rather small up against giant Zack. But, she makes up for it in bravery! And yes, I'm glad the cactus wasn't a disaster. She's a trooper.

Lone Chatelaine said...

Lol! Zack was just clearing himself out so he could run better and show out for Zanna.

Fun day, though :)

Doozie said...

I have a little bit of what the doctors call "idiocy" so I have no idea what is going on here

That Janie Girl said...

Chatelaine - yup, no doubt. heh.

Doozie - don't worry, girl, I NEVER know what's going on. But here's a synopsis...my friends are moving to Pennsylvania. They have a lake place they want to sell to us. We went to look at it, and took the dogs. Zack had gas so bad he nearly made us exit the truck at 70 mph. No biggy. Just a boring synopsis, complete with pictures of the non-existential stuff that makes up my liesure time.

Pam said...

Okay, how about this? Buy him an orange vest and a harness. You wear dark glasses...Zack is your service dog! You don't need documentation or anything, right? Right!

Gretchen said...

They're coming to my neck of the woods. :)

Dogs look like they're having a blast!!

That Janie Girl said...

Pam - now THAT is a smart idea! Heh.

Gretchen - we'll have to hook y'all up! Suzan is a super neat gal! And those dogs were having a great time, make no mistake!

jill jill bo bill said...

Great post!!! I miss the cacti and the pond smell...sorta.

Beautiful dogs!!! We are definitely going to have to hook up soon. And yes, you get first dibbies on Coop. One day rummaging in your drawers and he will know where EVERYTHING is. It's a gift.

Wish y'all had a trip to Dallas planned soon. Plan on doing the Canton trip with us. I think we are going Oct 4th and Nov 1st. My sister is coming to the Nov trip.

I will have to limit your gazing at the pets there...you will be coming home with more dogs and your hubby will kill me.

Webradio said...

Hello !

Are they your dogs ???

That Janie Girl said...

Jill,

Thanks. Zack and Zanna send love and lickies to you, Cooper and your entire family. I'm coming to Dallas...TOMORROW! I'll be staying in Fort Worth, actually, and coming home Friday afternoon late.

But I will definitely think about Canton. We have to go the the NMOGA convention on the October date, so it will have to be November.

That would be fun!

But no puppies? Waaaaaaah.

That Janie Girl said...

Webradio - yes, they are my dogs. Want to rent them? ;)

jill jill bo bill said...

Are you seriously coming tomorrow? Email me at jillkordsmeier@yahoo.com with the info, girl!!!!

spookyrach said...

You were definitely in my 'neck of the non-woods'. Great pictures! You have some beautiful dogs!

That Janie Girl said...

Jill - e-mail is awaiting in your bin.

Spooky - we HAVE to get together soon. We're just going to have to plan it.

That Janie Girl said...

And Spooky - Zack and Zanna want to meet Zoe.

i beati said...

I( like what I see in these pics - lived there for awhile people are cold like the weather - sorry that slipped out - Look at that young dog /Wow

Snooty Primadona said...

Zach and Zanna are beautiful together and so are the pictures.

Okay, I have one word. Matches. When we used to take Lulu with us to the lake she came close to asphyxiating us many, many times. Matches were our saviors.

Is Zanna going to be a ring-tailed-tooter or what?

I just found out we have more friends in common... Ricky & Lisa. We need to do lunch again, so call me!