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Dora has been loving her time at the dog park with her dad. She is a very social dog who only wants to play, play, play with every dog that comes into the park. Recently she meet her yin to her yang, or yang to her yin, or whatever.The bottom line, the…

Any time the Red Head crew stays at a spot for more than a few days they develop a routine. Their Baltimore routine is a bit different than ones of the past.

The first day here, Dylan, Dee Dee, and Dora walked to the Canton dog park. It’s a bit less than a mile each way. Dylan sat in the shade and then dragged most of the way back to the boat. Dee Dee was not behaving so her dad took her out for a walk.

The new morning routine is as follows. Up (early) for breakfast, a bit of play time, and a snooze. Around 8 am, Mom takes Dylan for a walk on the waterfront promenade, before it gets hot. He loves sitting in the air conditioning when he returns.

At 9 am, Dad takes Dora for a walk to the dog park. He returns with one throughly exhausted pup.

About 9:15 am, Mom takes Dee Dee for a walk on the promenade, using the one-on-one time to work on leash and other dog manners. She has never liked small dogs and while she won’t approach one, if she is approached it can be ugly. This has now spread to pretty much any unfamiliar dog. Hence, her dog park restrictions. Mom wonders if Dee Dee is feeling her dominance challenged by Dora. It’s hard to know what is going on in those little brains. Fortunately, she is improving and seems to like the special attention.

For the next few weeks we have a routine that seems to work for everyone.

Dylan and Dee Dee discovered the small “window” outside the port galley door soon after moving onto Red Head. That pic was from October 2016 while at New Bern, NC.

Dora loves her little window. Every time she steps out the door, she stops to take a peek. You never know what you might see…

Our sweet Dylan turns 12 today.

He’s just as cute as the day we brought him home.

Dad is lobbying for birthday cupcakes. Mom just wants to cuddle her handsome boy.

Thank you, Dylan, for 12 wonderful years. There’s still many adventures to come.

What could keep the Red Head crew from putting up a blog entry for over a week? Start with some engine problems, add in ridiculously hot weather, throw in a haul out and 3 days living on the hard (in said hot weather), and top it off with poor WiFi.

On the bright side, they did find two dog parks.

Three days on the hard meant getting the crew off and on the boat. We used a series of ramps, much like Stewart a couple years ago. Tried airplane stairs but Dylan would have none of that. On the final day, we used a lift to take them off one at a time prior to Red Head going back in the water.

It’s been a rough week, culminating in a sad change of summer plans. Dylan, Dee Dee, and Dora are now off to Baltimore for a month. More on the Red Head saga later.

For now the crew needs a couple days to relax.

It’s been a hectic time for Mom and Dad. There was the anchorage with the million tiny bugs followed by hours of cleaning them up. The engine troubles as we headed up the Chesapeake Bay that ended in one engine going down. Dad’s first docking with a single engine. He did great. The gale warnings that occurred in the midst of said engine troubles. And even an infestation of frogs (OK, one frog) hiding onboard, most likely to eat the remains of the bugs. 

Dee Dee and Mom arrived home yesterday afternoon. Mom called when about 20 minutes out so Dad could setup the ramp. Then he told Dylan and Dora we were coming. Soon after was the happy reunion.

We arrived at grandma’s house to find a momma robin sitting on her nest in the corner of the front porch. Dee Dee has been through the front door for a walk numerous times but she has never suspected a thing. On the other hand, the momma robin has kept a keen eye on us, flying away each time we exited and return to the house. Finally captured a picture of her.

This morning Mom and Dee Dee headed out to Tennessee for a visit with Grandma. Dad and Dylan and Dora will be staying on Red Head to finish up some projects. It’ll be 5 days with Dee Dee the sole crew member. She’s never been without the others for more than an hour or so. Will she bask in having the attention all to herself? She is a little diva. Or will she miss the rest of the crew and decide Dora isn’t so bad after all?

How are the other two crew members doing? We’re sure Dylan is fine. But we could hear Dora crying all the way out in the parking lot. Dad will have his hands full.

After 4 days and 3 nights, not to mention several days moving across the Bahama Banks to setup for Red Head’s crossing, the crew finally touched paws to land on Wednesday. They were pretty happy.

Mom picked up the rental car and Dad arranged for a playdate with Callie, a fellow yellow Lab. The crew was excited to be going on a toot, even if they didn’t know where.

Callie’s people have a lovely house right on the ICW. Dee Dee immediately figured out how to get into the river and spent most of her time swimming. Dylan joined her for a bit.

Dora wasn’t so sure…

But she quickly figured out how to watch from the dock.

Everyone was having a great time.

Callie even showed off her favorite toy.

Dylan, Dee Dee, and Dora were ready to move in. But we did eventually have to go back to the boat. The Red Head crew will be here for a spell. Dora thinks she’s gonna like it.