Bill and I have two adopted dogs that reside with us in our owners' quarters at The Buttonwood Inn. We adopted Clyde, our Black Labrador Retriever/Doberman Mix, in New Jersey five years ago. His former owner kept him in the basement and one day he escaped. Unfortunately, he was hit by a car on a busy highway and suffered a severe injury to his back right leg. Fortunately, a person from the area shelter drove by and rescued him, then arranged emergency surgery at the Raritan Animal Hospital to save his leg. Clyde healed fairly quickly and now goes on hikes with us.
When we moved to The Buttonwood Inn the Summer of 2007, Clyde had a canine brother from NJ, Gus, a Golden Retriever. He was rescued by our son, Tom, when he jumped up and down in the dog pound expressing adopt me! Tom informed me immediately since we lost our beloved Golden to cancer and knew I wanted to get another dog. When Gus turned nine years old, he contracted mast cell tumor cancer. At Raritan Animal Hospital, the tumor was removed and he underwent chemotherapy, which put him in remission for a year.
After we moved to NH, Gus was enjoying life roaming the 6 acres around the inn until he developed another mast cell tumor. Six weeks later he passed on. Finding it difficult to live without our good-natured Golden Retriever, we decided to adopt another one as a new companion for Clyde who also missed his buddy, Gus.
During our last two trips, we reserved a "room" for our two dogs, Clyde and Britt, at Karla's Pet Rendevous in Conway, NH. It's located 15 minutes south of The Buttonwood Inn on Route 16, a convenient drop-off and pick-up point.
Karla's Pet Rendevous is a one-story building set up with a reception area, dog bathing and grooming room, and individual glass-enclosed rooms for the pets to stay during their vacations. Beds and blankets are also provided, but you provide your pet's food. The place is clean with no hint of pet or cleaning agent odors. The staff is friendly and interested in interacting with your pet. Our dogs were immediately greeted by their caretaker and taken outside in the back yard to play with the other dogs (under supervision to ensure that everyone got along), while we checked them in.
When we returned to pick up Clyde and Britt from both trips a week later, they were calm and quiet, yet happy to see us. So that is my clue that they were well taken care of while we were away. I almost didn't recognize Britt, our Golden Retriever/Collie mix, since he was bathed and trimmed/combed of all of his unruly hair (looking 5 pounds thinner). Clyde was also bathed, groomed, and nails trimmed, providing him with a shiny, new coat.
So if you want peace of mind in leaving your pet under someone else's care while you're traveling, we would highly recommend Karla's Pet Rendevous.
Just four years ago, it was determined that in the U.S. there were 3,000,000 dedicated bird watchers. Bill and I have been fascinated for years watching birds.
As a result, we put out feeders with bird seed all year round and hummingbird feeders in the spring and summer. Bill makes the sugar syrup with a ratio of 3 cups of water brought to a simmer, then stir in 1 cup of sugar until dissolved; let solution cool completely before adding to the feeder.
On occasion the hummingbird feeders have attracted a bear, which soon learned that in trying to drink the syrup, it didn't get any "bear candy" because he drained it onto the ground when knocking off the bottom of the feeder. Last time that happened, our guests were very amused and privileged to see a young bear on our front porch and captured the event on film.
In our New Hampshire location, we are amused by hummingbirds throughout the day from May until early September when they fly off to South America for the winter. We've seen countless other types of birds from piliated woodpeckers to Cooper's hawks. When you come to The Buttonwood Inn, you can view a video in the Mt. Surprise Room of our wonderous nature, both fauna and flora.
