Friday, May 1, 2009

HORSE TRAILER DOES DOUBLE DUTY

In early April of this year, we loaded some of our furniture and bedding and housewares into our three horse slant trailer and along with our daughter, Stephany, and grand-daughter, Keeley, began the 1,400 mile trek to move into our summer home in Mobridge, S.D.

The weather was wild in the Dakotas and Snoqualmie Pass in our own state of Washington was closed due to snow only hours before our departure, but we left on schedule.

North Dakota was experiencing record flooding and record snow fall, but we found the roads to be clear and dry all the way to Mobridge. We were in awe of all the snow in the fields and heaped in huge piles along the streets of the towns along the way, and were grateful to the road crews who did an excellent job of clearing the highways.

Besides our family, we had two canine travelers in the truck, my dog Oliver, a silver poodle, and a dear little poodle/yorkie mix, Grover, that is the care of Steph while his owner is deployed.
Grover's owner is my nephew, Casey, who is in the Navy and out to sea. Fortunately for us, the two dogs were very good and cheerful travelers. We did have to look for motels who accepted pets, (for a fee), though, and I wondered if the rooms for people with dogs might have been second best, but other than that, things went very well, and the dogs loved the pet place adventure at the rest stops.

We arrived in Mobridge and with the great help of our daughter and other family members, unloaded our furniture into the house we had rented, sight unseen. We were very comfortable there and Stephany purchased and cooked a wonderful family dinner for Grandma Hardcastle,
my brother Bill Hardcastle and sister, Carol (Hardcastle) Fischer and her husband, Dennis Fischer as well as for Jim and I and Keeley in this house. We were a little short of serving dishes and used paper plates, but didn't feel at all deprived. It was all very good.

Stephany brought all the furnishings for one of the bedrooms, a set of twin beds, with bed clothes, and matching curtains. They (Steph and Keeley) also brought a bedside stand and a lamp and some wall hangings. So, that room will stay just as it is, and will be known as The Teffy Bird Room. For those of you that don't know, Steph has been the Bird since she was a newborn, our own dear little Teffy Bird.

The trip was short; we could only stay a week. We had an appointment at the Ag office and got moved in to the house with great love and support from our daughter and grand-daughter, Keeley.

Stephany felt really good about helping us because she knows we really needed her and that she made a difference.

And we are blessed to have such a wonderful family.