New Sleeping Arrangements And Lake James, North Carolina

                  Thursday 4/10/2014

Well, Joe and I sleep in a playpen at night now. We had to come up with a new plan for Mallery. The other plans of action were not working. For all you who have not read past blogs, Mallery is our Yorkshire Terrier who is almost 13 years old with cataracts. She has always slept with us, but has fallen out of bed 5 to 6 times, because she does not see the edge of the bed at night. First we put her kennel next to and bed level to our bed. She would get too hot because she didn't have room to  stretch out in it. Next I put her harness and 5 ft leash on her and tied the leash to a cupboard handle that is above the bed and between Joe and I. I was not sleeping well, because I always worried about her getting tangled in the leash or Joe or I  rolling over onto her. One night I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I put her in the kennel, only to wake up hearing her snorting snot out her nostrils. Her trachea had collapsed ( it always happens at night) and she was in panic mode. She could not bark to let me know she needed help. She couldn't get to me by tromping on top of me. I threw open the kennel door and spent over an hour reassuring her she was OK. When she calms down, her trachea relaxes and she can breath.What if I had not heard her!

We rigged up a blanket to attach to the two bed rails. It is difficult for Joe and I to get out of bed at night, but this is our reality with a dog who is aging and needs our patience.

Because the rails are not long enough, we put in cardboard between the rails and wall. It is almost impossible to make the bed, but this has been working out well for Mallery.

Another turkey shot at camp.

On this day we took a drive east of Marion to Lake James State Park.

We wanted to get a look at Lake James so we took a trail to Lake Channel Overlook. The sign didn't tell us how long the trail was.

It was a beautiful day, but a little on the warm side for us, and really warm for Mallery. We ended up carrying her a lot.

After about 25 minutes we got to the overlook. Appalachian Mountains in foreground.

View to the west.

A few homes across from the overlook.

After 25 minutes of hiking back to the car, we took a drive around the lake. Here we were crossing a dam.

View of an island from the dam.

View on the other side of the dam.

We continued our drive around the lake, going west back toward Marion, NC.

We stopped for our sack lunch at the Mimosa Boat Landing.

Looks like the owner of the house below, got a brainy idea and turned their large front yard into a parking lot and gold mine.

On the north shore Joe almost ran into about 5 turkey that flew in front of him. There were about 10 to the left of the road, and 10 to the right of the road also.

Last stop was Bear Creek Marina on the north shore of Lake James.

The lake is beautiful with the mountain views, but it still does not compare to northern Michigan lakes.

This part of the lake is a cove that goes out to a bigger section of the lake.