2001 Chi-Fest

On July 22, 2001, the First Chi-Fest of Massachusetts was held at Micheal’s and Stephen’s house.

Despite the lack of a spouse to accompany me, I bravely set forth to drive to Malden to pick up Ricarda. As I wandered around my house, looking anxiously for more items I needed to bring for the day, Mina Bean jumped into the crate and waited for me to bring her somewhere. Paco understood this to mean that he might have to go somewhere also, and promptly raced to the couch where he hid under a blankie.

I dragged Paco from his nest (”No, Mommy, noooooo!”) and plunked him in the crate with Mina. After some arguments over who got to sit nearest the door, the dogs settled themselves and we were off.

My first stop was to pick up Ricarda, her chi Yoda, and her visiting chi Paisano. One look at Paisano, and I wanted to adopt him immediately. Unfortunately, he already had a doting, though temporarily vacationing parent, and so I had to resign myself to patting him, instead of ripping him from Ricarda’s arms and booking it out of there. (Also, I didn’t know how to find my way back to the highway…)

Ricarda was detailed to read directions and help me navigate out of Malden and back onto the highway. I was highly suspicious of Malden, because it had too many cars on the road for my taste, and Paisano was equally suspicious of my driving ability. He sat in his borrowed crate and howled mournfully for the first 10 minutes of the ride. We were still in Malden, so I pulled over and Ricarda switched Yoda and Paisano.

Yoda settled down to sleep in his crate, and Paisano stopped howling, although he still peeped out of the window frequently to be sure I was not going to hit anything.

We finally arrived at Micheal’s and Stephen’s house. Quickly, we posed for a picture.

(Photo courtesy of Rita)

I then unpacked all the doggie things, while Paco yelped at the chis around him to warn them away, with his little head whipping back and forth rapidly. Mina, on the other hand, was sure that with this many people around, there was bound to be some sucker who would give her some handouts, and without a backward glance at me or Paco, she plunged into the crowd to try her luck.