Our Camping Cats

Don & I camp often.  Our travel trailer is our second home.  We would much rather vacation with our travel trailer than stay in motel rooms.  We like our own bedding, our space & to have our pets with us.

When we travel, we're joined by our two dogs & two camping cats.  Our dogs live to camp and our cats are as comfortable in our travel trailer as they are at home.

Our two camping cats were from a litter we rescued in April, 2010.  They were five weeks old.  We had a camping trip four days later.  All five kittens made their first camping trip to Seaquest State Park, near Mt. St. Helens,  in April, 2010.   Abigail & Muggle have been camping ever since.

Abigail & Muggle

Our cats are house cats.  They NEVER go outside.  This works well because they are perfectly content to spend their time in the travel trailer.  They have no desire to venture outside and are perfectly happy to see the outside from within.

Muggle & Abigail are hardcore bird enthusiasts. Here they are bird watching in Spokane, Wa.

 

Lupine 1/2"  H-Style Pet Harness  

They both wear break-away collars with I.D. tags at all times, at home or on the road.  When we travel, they wear Lupine cat harnesses with I.D tags & matching leashes.  I've tried other harnesses.  I definitely like these the best. I feel secure with the double clip style.  Harness design is important.  Some figure eight type harnesses tighten around the neck if any part of the harness is pulled on or tangled.  That's very dangerous for the cat.

Petmate Ultra Vari Kennel, Pets up to 15 Pounds,

Each cat travels in their own kennel in the back seat of our Toyota Tundra.  They have comfy bedding in their crates, but no cat box.  If need be, we can move them to the travel trailer for potty breaks.  They do very well with this.  We have never had a potty accident in the truck.  Ever.

Once we arrive at our destination, they're turned loose in the travel trailer.

Abigail

We always travel with a variety of cat toys.  During the day, our bed doubles for the kitty toy land.

Muggle

All our cats are micro-chipped for added protection.

BestPet Black 30" Three-Door Suitcase Style Metal Dog Crate - 30"(l) x 21"(w) x 24"(h)

A permanent part of our travel equipment are two BestPet 30" folding metal crates.  These crates are wonderful & economical. They're under $40.00, after shipping. The 30 inch crate is large enough for a cat box and a kitty bed.    We have water bowls that clip to the sides. We don't use the crates too often. In fact, Abigail never uses hers, but they're great to have if we need them.

It does take some extra effort to travel with cats. Our cats are a huge part of our vacation trips.  It's definitely worth the effort for us. I can't imagine going without them.  Half the fun of going is being able to take them with us.  They're our babies.

BUT....Please....be careful.

We only encourage traveling with your cats if you're well prepared with the proper equipment.  It would be awful to be on vacation and loose your cat far from home. It's worth spending a little extra money to be safe.  

We also don't encourage traveling with cats that will be stressed by the trip.  We have two other cats, Cache & Willie, that stay home with a family member when we travel .  They have never traveled and car rides are stressful for them.  In a case like this, it's better to leave them home. You'll have a better time, and so will they.

Best wishes to all out cat loving friends.

If you have stories about camping with your cats, please share them with us.  We love to hear from others that camp with their cats.

Thanks for stopping by. --Jan♥♥

Scrapbooking, Geocaching & our dog, Britt

This project combines two of my favorite activities, scrapbooking and geocaching.  This scrapbook page highlights some of the adventures of our four legged geocaching team member, Britt.

Many members of our family are involved in a game called Geocaching.  Geocaching is a world wide outdoor treasure hunting game using a GPS unit.  The  coordinates are posted on the internet, usually at geocaching.com.  The GPS is used for navigating to the coordinates where the participant then tries to locate the hidden geocache.  It's a really fun activity.  Geocaches are often hidden at a beautiful view point or some other point of interest. Our hunts often lead us to interesting places, historic sites or famous buildings we would otherwise be unaware of. Some geocaches require a hike to reach the cache location.  We often geocache in a family group along with all our dogs.  Our dogs love it. It's the perfect hobby to combine with camping.  We call it geocamping. It's a lot of fun.

Geocaches are often containers filled with trinkets and small inexpensive items for trading.  Cachers are free to trade their own small item for one inside the geocache container. Trading is optional.  Each geocache contains it's own log for the cacher to sign.  The log is then returned to the cache container.  The found cache can also be logged at geocaching.com.

Britt has been geocaching with the family for several years.  She loves it.  She lives for camping & geocaching.  She has her own geocache named, 'Britt's Dog Day Afternoon," hidden in a very dog friendly area of Port Orchard, Wa.

Ammo cans are often used as geocaching containers.  Others, called Nano caches, are  really tiny and sometimes hard to spot.

Dog parks are a favorite place for geocachers to hide caches. 

For anyone looking for further information about Geocaching, please visit the geocaching.com website.  You won't be sorry.


Thanks for stopping by.


I submitted my geohound scrapbook page to the following challenges.

Top Tip Tuesday's -- Challenge #81--It's all about Circles

Divas By Design -- Challenge #44 -- Anything Goes

Scrap Fit Blog -- Workout #72 --Color Inspiration

One Stop Craft Challenge #192 -- Olympics or Sports

A Year in the Life of an Art Journal -- Summertime

The Pink Elephant Challenge --TPE 158 -- Summer

Rebel's Memorial Scrapbook Page

This scrapbook page was made in memory of our sweet little seventeen year old, five pound miniature Dachshund, 'Rebel.'  Sadly, we recently lost our little guy. We love & miss him.

Shorewood's Rebel Red ML
 (September 27th. 1995 - March 9th. 2012)

Rebel has been with us since his birth on Sept, 27th. 1995.  He traveled with us often and loved camping.  We'll be taking our first camping trip without him next month. He always rode in my lap as we traveled.  How strange it will be. 

 We love & miss our little Rebel.

To make Rebel's page, I used a sketch I borrowed from Liz at, 'My Little Sketch Book.'   I love her sketches.  Thank you so much, Liz.

I have submitted our Rebel's scrapbook page to the following challenges.

Lasting Memories CB #80 -'Pawsatively Sweet' challenge -- Anything pets

All That Scraps - Wednesday Challenge - 'Anything Goes'

Frosted Designs - Fabulous Friday Challenge - 'Grids'

The Poodles Parlour - 'Anything Goes' Challenge

MilkCoffee Stamps - Their first challenge - 'Anything Goes'

Flutterby Wednesday Challenge #195- Should include, a butterfly, fairy or angel

Thanks so much for stopping by.

In Memory of Rebel Red

In loving memory

Shorewood's Rebel Red

(September 27, 1995 - March 9th, 2012)

Our little five pound camping companion hanging out on the bed in our travel trailer.

On the road again.

We love and miss you, sweet little Rebel.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

For Don, my soul mate & the love of my life. 

We'll be married seventeen wonderful years in April.

He treats me like everyday is Valentine's Day.

A handmade bottle bib & our favorite wine, 'Hoodsport Rhubarb Wine.'

 I love this bottle bib.  The idea & instructions came from Helen Croft at the 'Scrap a Little' blog.

A fan folded flower & leaves.  A totally fun project.

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.

I entered this card in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks-- 'Love is in the Air' Challenge

DYSU Blog -- Challenge #58  -- 'Love"

Fussy & Fancy Friday Challenge -- 'With All my Heart.......'

Lexi's Creations -- Challenge #58

PaperPlay -- Challenge #12  -- 'Love Letters'

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays -- Red, White & Pink Challenge

Totally Gorjuss -- Lurve Challenge

Uncle Allen's Exploding box.........



My sweet, dear Uncle Allen passed away on Oct, 22nd. 2011 at 96 years old.  He was the sweetest man that ever lived.

I wanted to send something special to my wonderful aunt.  I wanted to send something that would truly be a keepsake.  It had to be something that would not be sad, but more of a celebration of life.. It had to show his wonderfully funny personality. After much thought, I decided on this exploding box.  This box is like a scrapbook in a box.

This box is for my dearest Uncle Allen:

God bless you, Uncle Allen.

I love you, Auntie Judy.

The top of my box. The sunflower is cut with a Nestibilities die.

The box measures 6" x 8".  Each outer side has a pocket.

This handmade card contains a note from my mother. 
She and Aunt Judy have been best friends for over 50 year.

The box before it explodes.

The box after it explodes.

Allen W. Wood

Sept. 15th., 1915 - Oct. 22, 2011

I love you, Uncle Allen.

You're our hero.

 

He is soooo much to so many people.

Every flap has a pocket with family pictures hidden inside. 

Each picture has a ribbon attached.

Some pull townward.........

and others pull out to the side.

His beautiful & adored family.

My sweet, wonderful Aunt Judy & Uncle Allen. 

I love you both.

A Clown Doll using the Kusudama folding method..........

I made this origami sitting clown doll for my sister's birthday in place of a card. 

It was really a fun project.  I think it turned out cute.

He's made using the Kududama method of folding. 

I used two complimentary pattered papers for the arms, legs, hat & body. I used solid red paper for the collar & a small piece of solid yellow for the hair.  There are little pom poms for the hat, hands & feet.  The only other needed supplies are glue, a needle & thread, a couple of toothpicks and a pipecleaner.

 The head is a wooden bead.

At the bottom of this page is a link to a wonderful tutorial for making this doll.

I submitted my clown doll to the following challenges:

Pile It On -- CHALLENGE #19 -- Funny Bone

Charisma Cardz Challenge -- No cards allowed.

PaperPlay Challenges -- Show us your Style

Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog -- Anything goes

The Shabby Tea Room -- 'Ruffled Up'

Divas by design -- Our first challenge Anything goes!

One Stop Craft Challenge -- Birthdays

Here is a link to a YouTube video that is a great tutorial for making this clown doll.  I made a couple of minor changes when I made my doll but for the most part followed the tutorial.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

3-D Origami Fairy

I made this 3-D origami fairy for my step-daughter, Jessica.  She collects fairies and I thought this would be something unique for her.

Jessica's favorite color is purple.

To see my oriental origami dolls & for a link to a great tutorial, please visit HERE.

My 3-D Origami dolls........

I wanted to find something different & fun to make for my brother & sister-in-law for their birthdays. Something special.  My sister-in-law is a beautiful Japanese lady.  They have decorated their lovely apartment with an oriental flavor.  I wanted to find something that would fit in with their style and taste.

These wonderful origami paper dolls perfectly fit the bill.  This is known as the kusudama folding technique.

A Happy Birthday wish for John.

A Happy Birthday wish for Kiyomi.

I submitted my project to this weeks Paper Romance Challenge, 'Anything Goes.'

To see my origami fairy, please visit HERE.

Here is a video tutorial showing how to make similar dolls.