" Having A Second Home will change your life forever."

My good friend was so happy for us when he heard we had taken the plunge and purchased a Vacation Cottage. His first words were, " Having A Second Home will change your life forever. " That was a little frightening until he explained. What he meant was we would have the knowledge that when it was available to us (he rents his too) that we would know that OUR things were there and that off season we could just decide in the middle of the night if we wanted to run away from home for a few days. A big plus for him was knowing that he could always take his golden lab buddy with him and know that he was welcome and would have what he needed to make his doggie vacation perfect for him. I grew up having all types of pets. I always had large collies, ponys, horses, goats, cats, you name it...I an outdoor gal for sure!  We had a run of bad luck with our last three dogs...let's just say they went over the Rainbow Bridge...and it was painful. I decided I did not want to go through that again. I did agree to adopt two older cats mostly to help out a friend so that the two cats could stay together. Mike is more of a cat person so he was on board. They turned out to be awesome pets and were more like dogs...they loved company...the more the merrier. But as with all things they each had health issues...we drove back from the lake to give Alex our black cat insulin shots for almost two years. He left us first. His best buddy...lasted another year or so. He was the biggest white cat in Franklin County...hence his name...Frankie. We cried like babies the day we buried him. So... more hurt. I was determined to go pet less. After a few years on the Mountain a thin ugly grey striped stray cat showed up...she needed help...we helped. She lived with us for about 5 years mostly in the garage. She had her own cat bed with a heating pad for colder weather and she also would come in the house. We live on Windy Gap Mountain...found her here so...Windy was her name. She turned into a pretty sweet little cat. Technically she was never our pet...but the stray cat that lived in the garage. She was a feral cat, probably older than we thought. She had never been to a vet. We were the only ones who could touch her. She generally ran from everyone else...she did warm up a tad to our sailboat friends when they fed her in our absence. Last summer she got thinner and thinner. Then she slipped away too. I missed her more than I thought I would. I think I am not a cat person...but I am a pet person for sure. Then we went Cottage Crazy and bought a place on Tybee. I saw how much people enjoyed their pets...especially the dogs. We made our Cottage pet friendly primarily because of Mike's Mom and Sister Deb. They have two Black Poms and they go everywhere with them. It is often a struggle to find accomodations. So here I am with a pet friendly Cottage on Tybee Island...and no pet! Jane even made us a dog bed for the great room to match the slip cover on the chair and ottoman. I always wanted a Chocolate Standard Poodle...Chocolate because large black dogs...I have to admit kind of scare me. The Chocolate Standards are quite large but are more like big old loveable clowns with feet and legs that seem too large for their bodies! That is the back story on how I let Hershey slip into my heart. Let's hope he doesn't break it...