Shenandoah Weekend

This weekend we took the XTerra and the Cub for a "trial run" up to Shenandoah (we've been so busy on weekends we haven't gotten to do that recently!).  For the past years that we've lived in Fredericksburg, we go up to Shenandoah quite frequently but we're now realizing that we won't be able to do that much longer.  We're hoping to take one more trip up in August with Ricardo's mom Perla and aunt Ingrid. 

We snapped a few pics from this weekend's trip and added them to our Picasa Web Album.  You can access them by clicking on any of the thumbnail pics that should appear to the right on your screen.  The link that says "View My Gallery" doesn't seem to be working, though, for some reason.  And yes, we know, there are way too many pictures of Daisy, but she IS by far the most photogenic of the three of us!

We had an exciting time...on Saturday's hike we spotted a bear running along the path ahead of us (away from us, not toward us - I think it was scared of Daisy).  It was the first bear we have actually seen while on a backcountry hiking trail (we've seen them before but only near the road/campground areas).  By the time we could get the camera out, the bear had taken off into the woods and we didn't get any good clear pictures.  But we do have proof...see that black spot behind the leaves?  That's our bear!  Really!

A Tribute to the Babies

Our "babies"

As we get closer to our departure date, we have been busy researching, getting the car and trailer all fixed up, and making preparations for the move.  We will be getting a container and shipping many of our things (furniture, etc) to Chile.  Everything else will be either sold (massive garage sale coming up...oh, and anyone interested in buying a car?), given away to friends/family, or taken to Goodwill.  That leaves one question...a question we've heard many times in the past months....

"Are you taking the pets?"

If you know us well, you know that we love our pets.  We have a dog, Daisy, who is a real pain sometimes but loves hiking and camping with us...

Daisy in action

We have two LAZY cats...Bean and Flan, who both feel that they rule the house...

Fine, Flanny, I will open the door for you.

Bean enjoys an occasional nap in the bathroom sink.

And we have two ferrets, who we call our "babies".  They definitely have their own personalities!  Shapini, for example, will follow you around when she's hungry, like a magnet to your feet, so that you constantly kick and trip over her until you finally give in and give her food:

Shapinski

And Testicle, famous not only for his name but for the way he loves to play in the water bowl, in the end usually knocking in over and spilling water all over the kitchen floor.

Testicle playing in the water dish

Well, the answer to everyone's question - are we bringing the pets? - is....sadly, no :(

While we would love to bring all the animals along with us on the trip, it is just not possible for such a long journey.  Many people do travel with their dog on overland trips, but there is no way Daisy would make it.  Although we will be visiting many parks and doing a lot of hiking and camping on our trip, the rest of the time she (and we!) would be miserable.  Daisy loves the car but gets antsy on long trips.  She hates being confined to small spaces.  If we tried to leave her in the trailer alone while we visit, say, a museum or restaurant, she would have the inside of the trailer destroyed in no time. 
And the cats and the ferrets, well, obviously they would not enjoy such a long time stuck in the trailer either, and would probably end up escaping and getting lost (not to mention making border crossings even more of a headache - I wonder how many countries would accept the ferrets?).

So, after thinking long and hard about what would be best for the pets, we decided that we are going to fly Daisy and the cats to Chile.  We convinced Ricardo's mom, uncle, and aunt to fly up for a visit in August and they will each bring a pet with them on the return flight!  Then Ricardo's family in Chile will take care of them there until we arrive (thank you so much!).

And then we come to the hard part...the babies.  I have always wondered how people can just give up a beloved pet.  All of our pets are, in fact, "rescues" - either strays or pets whose former owners didn't want them any more.  And I always considered it sad that there are so many animals out there who are stuck in shelters and even put to sleep because some people buy a pet and then just get rid of it because they realize that they don't like the responsibilities that come with having this particular pet (this happens a lot with ferrets by the way).  But the obstacles to bringing the ferrets were just too many...
1) Who will take care of them?  Ferrets, let's face it, are not for everyone.  They are messy and a lot of work.  You have to clean the cage every day.  You have to ferret-proof at least one area of your house for them.  They like to steal your things.  None of my family nor Ricardo's would take the job.
2) Testicle's health - Testicle is getting up there in age and recently has starting showing signs that he may have an adrenal disease fairly common in ferrets.  Traveling probably is not be the best idea for him right now.  He may not even make it until we get to Puerto Montt. 
3) Once we arrive in Puerto Montt, we would not have anywhere to keep ferrets until we have a house built, and we really do not know how long that might be.
4)  The huge cost of shipping them (with no one to bring the pets as luggage it costs much more).

In the end, we concluded that finding them a good home here would be the best option for them.  Ricardo found a friend of a friend who has had many ferrets and agreed to take them.  Today we took them to her house and said goodbye. 

Loading up

It was sad to do, but we are confident that they will be well taken care of there and have a good life...just check out the huge cage in the background that will now be their ferret "mansion" - what a step up from the small cage they called home with us.

The babies at their new home

The new owners kindly said we can come back any time to see the ferrets, so hopefully we'll be able to stop back in sometime in August to check up on our babies and see how they are doing.


This brings us to the title of this post, A Tribute to the Babies...
Shapini and Testicle, we will miss you very much. You have been wonderful pets and we hate to leave you, but we know you will be happy in your new home.  We will never forget you!