Our day in Columbus

Skippy's plane should be landing in Sacramento any minute now. He is no longer a resident of Ohio, but a cool California dude. Our 2 hour drive to the Columbus airport went rather smoothly. We had planned on stopping somewhere before "checking him in" at the freight facility to let him run off some energy and go potty. Beleive it or not, but there is a pet cemetary (not like Stephen King's) adjacent to the airport grounds. We figured that was a pretty appropriate spot to let him have his final run before being caged up all day. Since none of us had ever been to a pet cemetary before, it was quite entertaining. Most of the markers were pretty old, dating back to the 1940's and 50's. Some even earlier than that. It was interesting to see how the popularity of certain pet names has changed over the years. We found a few to be very entertaining and had to take pictures of them. I hope y'all get a good kick out of them, cause we sure did. There were lots of markers with the typical cutsie names, only one Fido, lots of Skippy's(yah!), and plenty of Mitzies and Rusty's. There was even one that hubby announced must be the trailer park dog because it's homemade marker was a sign on a pole with those stick on letters/numbers that you typically use for address markers on a mailbox. I agree it was quite tacky next to all of those beautiful stone markers. Some people go to great lengths to bury their pets. When I was growing up we had quite a few animals (horse, chickens, goats, pig, dogs, cats, fish) and we always just buried them in the side yard with a small wooden cross.

Our next stop was the freight facility. We found it with no problem, were getting all the dog stuff situated, papers in place, kids where they needed to be, and locked the van. Just as the final door was being closed, "Do you have your keys?" "No, do you have your keys?"

We have a dog and his belongings all set to go.....and now no way to pay for him to go on the friggin' plane. Hubby and I each have those handy dandy credit card size car keys that AAA will make for you.......except they are BOTH stuck in the van also. So we go inside the freight office, the woman working the counter is quite helpful and let's us fill out the paperwork while we wait for AAA to come rescue our keys out of the van. Luckily, LUCKILY we had planned ahead and were at the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Bobby got emotional and Jesse was only concerned with how hungry and thirsty she was (and all of our drinks and food were locked in the van). He asks, "Now why is it that we have to get rid of Skippy?" I thought we had gone over this a million times already, but in the last couple of weeks he has become quite attached to the dog. Of course it was probably related to the fact that he knew his days were limited with him. But still, the guilt feelings had already set in with me. So I tried to explain to him AGAIN that Skippy turned out to not be the type of dog that would be well behaved around lots of others kids and adults which would not work out with daycare in our home. We don't want to have a dog if he has to be caged up or contained to a small area of the house all the time. I don't think that's fair to the animal. They deserve better in my opinion. I explained to him AGAIN that he will be in a home where he gets lots of attention and has lots of space to roam outside.

After we bid Skippy goodbye, we went to the COSI. It is a really cool Science Museum in Columbus. The kids loved it, we loved it and we plan on going back sometime in the next few months or so. They are opening a new snake exhibit where you will be able to handle snakes and actually get to milk a snake. How cool is that?

So long Skippy ole buddy. Hope you like your new home. Hope the plane ride wasn't too rough. Hope you remember us when we come to visit you this summer.*sniff, sniff*