"Good news for you - not so good news for him" - and it takes a small village to cover for us

Yesterday Roz hopped on Remy to see how he feels, and also to test the waters as she has agreed to work with him while we are in Europe.

After carefully checking the 'gears' Roz pronounced the good news for me "yes, indeed, Remy is well trained but needs a tune up", the "Not so good news for him: He needs to be sharper and quicker in his reactions". Completely agree. My limited riding due to the breathing issues taught Remy that I will eventually lay off pushing him when he just 'ladidad' because I didn't have the strength to challenge him. So now that this is no longer a problem, Remy needs to learn to listen better and then come quicker with his correct responses.

Other than that JP and I are basically scrambling to get the house and critters ready to leave for Europe. My friend Ellen will stay in the house, Ed and Angie (our friends and neighbors) are checking in on Jaas, Ziggy goes to Carl (bird dog trainer and Viszla breeder), Remy will be at Roz'. The cats stay home but I worry about Jerry, my favorite. He doesn't like to come in the house when there are strangers. I have been typing instructions, contact info, etc. hoping to cover everything (i.e. where's the Bute if Teddy, the pony, gets gas colic?) It's quite the production!

Add to this the gathering of gifts for all the people we are visiting and staying with, plus trying to address a myriad of special wishes such as Nike shoes, smoked salmon, Moose Munch, Allergy meds, Hemorrhoid cream (...) and you can see why we are not doing this too often.

We'll be traveling through France, from Paris to the Loire-Atlantique region and back to Paris with a stopover in Saumur (yay!) visiting friends along the way. Then JP heads home and I continue on to Germany to add more friends and family visits to the mix. Whew!

It truly takes a small village to cover for us while we are gone - including getting us on the road. Thanks, Ed, for the airport shuttle service!

And after all that we will probably be in desperate need for a vacation... but let's make that a 'Staycation'!