Monday, January 21, 2013

Arizona can get COLD!

2002-12-08 12.00.00-7-1

Molly the Desert Dog on her morning walk.

We survived the Arizona deep freeze. For 5 nights we had overnight lows in the teens and one night our thermometer said 10 degrees!  Even though we wrapped our hose and ran a trickle of water, we would wakeup to no running water. One night we unhooked our hose, but the next morning we found the RV Park faucet had frozen. We always keep some water in our fresh water tank so it wasn’t a catastrophe. Prior to this the lowest temperature we had been in with either of our 5th wheels was 17 degrees.

Back in December the locals were saying “it is never this nice in December”; this month they have been saying “it never gets this cold in January”. The good news is we are back to the real Arizona with non stop sunny, clear days in the 70s.

Molly has now been with us 2 months and continues to be a sweetheart. We have been told by many people how lucky we were to get such a wonderful, sweet tempered dog as a rescue. If she had any issues about being a rescue she is over them. Molly has filled out and her coat has come in nicely, she now looks like the Diva she has become. Her crate has become her den. We leave it in the living room and open all of the time. When she decided she needs a nap she goes into the crate and curls up.

 She gets along with everyone she meets, person or dog. This RV Park has its own Dog Park and Molly loves being able to play with other dogs off leash.

The only information we had about Molly when we got her was that she became a rescue because she had run away from home so many times that the Animal Shelter told her owner that he needed to think about finding her a new home. That is when he surrendered Molly to the Animal Shelter. We have been extremely cautious about making sure she doesn’t slip out as we go in and out the door. However, Molly has never once bolted for the door and never tried to go out the door at any time. She has also always been responsive to our calls when playing in the Dog Park. So, after her being with us 6 weeks we where brave enough to let her off leash on the desert trails behind the RV Park. Now she could run with her big black Lab buddy, Hunter. We were very anxious but she always returned to us when called. Since then it has become a regular part of our day to take the desert trail to or from the Dog Park. Also she and I have made a number of exploring forays, just the two of us out exploring the desert around the RV Park. She has been eager to sniff and explore new areas, but also stays close enough to keep me in sight.

Since the weather turned nice we where all eager to get to see some new sights, so we went to the Ghost Town of Fairbank, Arizona. Fairbank was the railhead for Tombstone back in the silver mining days. It was also the location of the stamp mill that crushed the ore. We took the trail from the town to the old mill site and back with a few detours. We weren’t sure about leash laws in the area so we kept Molly her leash. Our walk turned out to be 4 miles, the longest walk we have had Molly on. She did great and saw as far as we know her first horses. Molly looked at them but didn’t move and didn’t bark. She was one tired puppy when we were done and slept the whole way home.

One tired puppy

One tired puppy.

I know what you are thinking: “So where are the pictures of Fairbank?”. It has been so long since we have used our cameras we forgot to bring any with us.

Molly and her "baby"

Molly and her "baby"

Molly LOVES her bell scracth position

Molly LOVES her bell scratch position