Wandering Dawgs

Teal Tuesday – Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September 3, 2019September 2, 2019Posted in ovarian cancerTagged ovarian cancer, ovarian cancer awareness15 Comments

September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S.

Teal is the color for ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is often called the silent killer because the symptoms mimic so many other diseases that it is sometimes misdiagnosed and the cancer isn’t found until it is in late stage.

Did you know…

A woman’s lifetime risk of Ovarian Cancer is 1 in 75.

A pap test does NOT detect ovarian cancer.

There is NO early detection test for ovarian cancer.

Symptoms include but are not limited to:

Bloating
Pelvic/abdominal pain
Difficulty eating or feeling full after a few bites
Urinary urgency/frequency
Menstrual irregularities

Please be your own advocate and listen to your body. If you have these symptoms and they persist, please see your doctor. Early detection is the best way to beat this horrible disease.

Last year I posted about my ovarian cancer journey. I will be forever grateful to all of my medical team, family, friends, and total strangers who helped me through the toughest time in my life.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancers in the United States, and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in American women. Please see your gynecologist every year and if you suspect something is wrong, see your doctor right away.

Photo Challenge: Lens-Artists #61 – Precious Pets

September 1, 2019Posted in PhotographyTagged Labrador Retriever, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Photography, Precious Pets19 Comments

For this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge Tina has challenged us to show Precious Pets.

We lost our precious dog Blondie almost 2 years ago. She lived a full life and traveled over 200,000 miles on her bed in the back seat of our truck as she accompanied us in our RV travels through the U. S and Canada. She loved to swim, chase tennis balls, and go for a boat ride. During our travels she swam in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, all the Great Lakes, Cook’s Inlet in Alaska, and even the Yukon River in Canada.

Blondie returns with the tennis ball — Blondie was happiest when she was in the water

Blondie and the salmon at the fish hatchery in Valdez, Alaska

Blondie in Cook Inlet in Ninilchik, Alaska

Going for a boat ride — Blondie loved going for a boat ride

We don’t have a pet these days but we have a grand dog and two grand cats.

20181201-Jack-(2) — Grand Dog Jack the Dachshund

20190707-Sandbar-with-Bela-(36) — Grand Dog Jack studies a crab at the beach

20190418-Tubbles-(4) — Grand Cat Tubbles

20171123Thanksgiving-at-the-Badgley-(16) — Our grand cats Tubbles and Tootsie anxiously await Thanksgiving dinner

This post is dedicated to the memory of all the pets who have made our lives so much richer – FD, FD2, Shadow, Howard, Blue, and especially Blondie.

Thanks to Tina at Travels and Trifles for the Lens Artists Challenge – Precious Pets this week

Throwback Thursday #5 – August 29, 2006

August 29, 2019August 28, 2019Posted in RVingTagged Canada, Driving Day, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon3 Comments

We’re not traveling as much in our fifth wheel anymore so I thought it would be fun to relive some of our most memorable days from previous RV trips.

Some days on a long RV trip are more exciting than others. Even some of the less exciting days days are memorable because of things we saw as we drove down the road towards our next destination. This day 13 years ago was one of those days. It was a day spent driving through the plains from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada to Williston, North Dakota.

We started the day with delicious homemade cinnamon rolls from the RV park in Saskatoon. This is what I wrote in my journal about the day.

“Driving through Saskatchewan was interesting. There were fields of wheat, barley, and alfalfa as far as the eye could see. Some of the farms had really pretty red barns.

We drove through Moose Jaw. All day there was a really strong headwind and we got terrible gas mileage. We crossed the border into North Dakota and drove to Williston. The last 15 miles or so of road in Canada was gravel.

We had a good dinner in Williston and left early the next morning.”

What I didn’t write was we both wanted to kiss the ground when we crossed the border into the United States and didn’t have to bounce along in the dust on a gravel a road any more!

I only have a few pictures. Here they are.

20060829Saskachewan-(3) — The view from the truck pretty much all day

20060829Saskachewan-(5) — Every once in a while we’d see a train

20060829Saskachewan-(6) — Sometimes there were barns

20060829North-Dakota — Welcome to North Dakota

What I remember most about the day was seeing the crops growing on the vast plains as far as the eye could see. Driving through farmland like this always makes me grateful to the hardworking farmers who grow the food that ends up on our tables.

Photo Challenge: Lens-Artists #60 – Framing the Shot

August 26, 2019Posted in PhotographyTagged framing, framing the shot, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Photography24 Comments

This weeks challenge is to choose photos that illustrate different ways of framing images.

When shooting landscapes I like to use trees, flowers, and other foliage as a frame.

Double Rainbow after a summer storm — Palm trees frame this double rainbow after a summer storm

20130728Day-74Homer-(48) — The fireweed on high on a cliff provides the frame above foggy Kachemak Bay in Homer, Alaska

20180916North-Beach-and-Lighthouse-(4) — Sea oats frame the Tybee Island Lighthouse, Georgia

Doors, windows and arches provide frames for some of my photos.

20160305Ft-Pickens-Fort-(32) — Arches at Ft. Pickens, Florida

20110601Custer-SP-(204) — Mount Rushmore from one of the tunnels on Iron Mountain Road in South Dakota

20071002Blue-Ridge-Parkway-(14) — Cyclists on the Blue Ridge Parkway framed by a tunnel

Thanks to Amy at The World is a book for the Lens Artists Challenge – Framing the Shot this week

Throwback Thursday #4 – August 22, 2009

August 22, 2019August 20, 2019Posted in RVing, Tourist Attractions, WisconsinTagged brewery, Good Old Potosi Beer, National Brewery Museum and Library, Potosi Brewery, Potosi Brewfest11 Comments

Welcome to #4 in my Throwback Thursday series of flashbacks to memorable days from our past RV trips.

Flashback to ten years ago, August 22, 2009. We were camping at Grant River Corps of Engineers park in Potosi, Wisconsin, across the Mississippi River from Iowa.

Potosi, Wisconsin side of the MIssissippi River looking toward Dubuque, Iowa

After spending the previous day exploring across the Mississippi River in Iowa, we stayed close to our campsite and enjoyed lunch in the outdoor beer garden at the Potosi Brewery in Potosi, Wisconsin (population 711 in 2009). The National Brewery Museum is located at the brewery.

20090822Potosi — Outdoor beer garden in front of the brewery

20090822Potosi-(7) — Springs at the Potosi Brewery

20090822Potosi-(3) — Natural Spring Water used to brew Potosi Beer

20090822Potosi-(5) — Good Old Potosi Beer

They were having their first annual Brewfest that day which brought lots of people into town.

20090822Potosi-(10) — The town was set up for the The First Annual Brewfest

20090822Potosi-(13) — The town was set up for the The First Annual Brewfest

We enjoyed a Good Old Potosi beer with lunch and bought a Growler to take with us. Sadly, the bottle is long gone and I never even took a picture of it!