I'm a Great-Gema!!!

On Friday, May 16, Amber gave birth to a great big beautiful boy--Hayden, who weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 ozs. He was a big one and I got to witness his birth. He is just so cute and so perfect--has lots of black hair and just looks too big to be a newborn. He seems to be a good baby who sleeps three hours, eats,poops, and sleeps somemore---at least for now. Amber kinda had a rough time with the birth with him being so big and all and has to take it real easy for a few days to recover so it is nice he is so good. Jerry was so excited--like a little kid before Christmas--he was a great comforter to Amber and just did a super job of being a new Dad. Holding Hayden for the first time was real scary for him. I think he was afraid he might break him or something but you could see the strong desire in his eyes to hold his son. Amber and Jerry will be great parents. It was just a blessing to me to get to be there and be part of his birth.

Our Pond

About our photo shoot......

Recently, I spent the weekend with Jenny and one of the things she wanted to do was a photo shoot of her and the boys. We wanted to do this in that wonderful magic hour right around dusk when the light would be just right for scenes of her and the boys at the city gardens downtown. Great idea, BUT, we had been out shopping all day with both boys, taxing them to the limit, and then first thing after we arrived at the gardens, Mason was running and tripped and skinned his arm and leg so was not in a good frame of mind for photos. Grant was in a great mood and absolutely loved all the grass and flowers--too much so--as it was hard to get his attention away from them to look at the camera. And then, you add to this fact that I am the photographer, not my talented daughter, so while we had fun and did get some cute shots, they are sure not in the same class as Jenny’s photo shoots. But I did get some cute ones of Grant taking his bath later, and of them at home. Thought I would share a few in the following slideshow.

Photo Shoot

Free Things I Love to Do

I have been away from blogging for way too long. I awoke this morning full of energy at 5:15 so decided to catch up on reading the blogs and my email. I read Tania's suggestion of each of posting our favorite free things to do so thought I would comply. Here goes.

Read a good book (I love Louis L'Amour westerns--they truly take me away to another era)

Putter around outdoors with Don fixin' or buildin' or plantin' or working with the animals.

Watch the birds at my bird feeders

Take pictures of pretty flowers and birds

Just look at all my favorite photos on my computer and organize them into albums.

Just talk to God and write in my prayer journal and think of all the things I am grateful for and thank God.

Read blogs and write blogs. Must admit that having dial-up keeps me away from computer because it all takes SOOOOOOO long thus sapping up my free time.

Plant things--just digging in the dirt--I love the smell and feel of freshly dug earth.

Watch our goats grazing and playing.

Go to the library and just look at all kinds of books. The library is one of my favorite places.

Talk to my family members on the phone.

Change a room around; organize or clean something;

Play games--dominoes, cards, board games.

Watch a good chick flick or an edge-of-the -seater.

Watch American Idol

Reading--just catching up on reading ministry newsletters from the various ministies we support and learning how God is working.

Learning new stuff--I love to read articles, books, internet and learn new things about what I am interested in (which is a lot of varied stuff)--photography, gardening, chickens, goats, ponds, good health

Brain exercise-- logic puzzles, trivia questions, math problems, sudoku, stuff to keep my brain alive--HINT, HINT--I am really hoping my children will all go in together and get me a Nintendo DS and a brain game for Mother's Day.

Go to garage sales (yea, I guess it is not free--but close to it)

Go for a walk--I especially love walking on the ranch

Ok--that is all for now. Tummy says feed me breakfast

Scenes from Our Life

Saturday Fun

Tammie, Alisa, and I were out the door before 7am to head to the garage sales. It was brrrrrsies! 38 degrees when we left, so we were layered up in our attire. First sale was a barn sale not far from the ranch--how I wished Don was there with the flatbed trailer as they had fencing and ranch gates very cheap. But since they would not fit in my Honda I had to let someone else snap them up. I did get a comforter for the "kids room" for a buck and a cute pair of shoes. St. Joseph's rummage sale was fun--so packed with stuff, but not as great as in the past--sadly, no $3 quilts. We must have hit about 20 more sales after that. My greatest treasures were a tripod for my camera for $1.50 and a great camera bag for $2. Then we found Amber a "baby basket" like I used for her dad as a baby. It is a straw basket with a hood and handles, about the size of a bassinet, that can be used for a newborn to sleep in and as a travel bed.I hope she enjoys it as much as we did with Brian. We all found various other items we could use--got a great camping table--one of those fold-up one that makes into a table and 4 seats. It will come in handy on our family camp-out this summer.
It had turned into a beautiful sunny day--just perfect for being out and about. We had fun just being together and buzzing around Fredericksburg. Went back to the rummage sale before it close in time for the "bluelight special" where you could stuff all you could get into a bag for $1. That was fun. Tammie came out way ahead on this deal as she got a duvet cover they had priced at $35 and a wonderful set of "portly" wisemen that were also pricey.
I have to add that we also managed to pick up a nice lawnchair that was on the side of the road. I mean, it matched all the others I had at the ranch and was just begging to go home with us.....
We ended the adventure by having lunch at Mamacita's. Was just a great day of fun and fellowship and good finds.

Ranch News

It is so good to be back at the ranch. My girl friends and I are having a girl's weekend here to relax AND to go to the multitude of garage sales on Saturday including our most favorite rummage sale at St. Joseph's Hall. Last year we got beautiful quilts from there for $3 each among other wonderful treasures. There are 42 garage sales listed in the paper. No way we can make all of them as around here most sales run from 8am til noon. So I used my super map program and mapped them all out in order so we would waste no time. It is supposed to be a gorgeous day, too.

Don and I came down yesterday to the ranch--Don pulling a trailer full of granite gravel to use to improve our ranch roads here. That was some hard work unloading that trailer a shovel full at a time since Bob is back at home. I did about 1/8 of it and Don did the rest. That man is one hard working machine! Next, we pulled the trailer up to this one field we have that is really covered with rocks and we proceeded to fill the trailer with rocks. Now that is lots of work, too. And we would work and work and you could still see the bottom of the trailer. All that bending over and battling the fire ants often hiding under the rock and the cactus all around--what fun! But it was a nice day--very cloudy and breezy with thunder rumbling in the background. Was a bit humid but the nice cool breeze made it bearable.

We were delighted when our younger cow showed up with her new calf probably born a week or two ago. Such a cute calf--takes after his Longhorn father, for sure. We named him Moon Pie--with help from Beki and her friends who said his name had to have moon in it since they were sure he was born around the full moon. The mama's name is Patty Cake (or Calf Patty, as Don calls her). The other cow is Patty (Cow Patty to Don) and I named her bull calf, Pot Pie. Guess we will raise these two calfs for beef for ourselves.

Back to the rock collecting. We are gathering these rocks to take back home to be used for erosion control for the pond. I ran out of steam much quicker than Don did so he kept on pickin' and I took the goats, sheep, and cows back to the cabin and fed them and started supper. Don moved the trailer closer to the cabin where he had stacked some big flagstone size rocks last summer and he began to load those. He had that whole trailer FULL of rocks. Unbelievable! I don't know how he could still walk.

He showered and collapsed into his recliner and I fed him 4 Advil and a big steak dinner which he devoured. That was one exhausted man! But he was up early and eager to get the rocks home and start to work again putting them where he wanted around the pond. We had a cold front come in during the night along with a brief rain shower but none of the severe weather that was predicted. It is cold right now--low 50's and very windy. I am content to stay inside and catch up my blogging until the sun comes out later on. It is just so nice and peaceful out here. My friends will arrive later this evening.

Ok-it is now two days later. My computer acted up again and I could not post this blog. So here it is.

Jenny's "Try This"

Jenny said, "If you're bored and have nothing better to do, try this:"

Julie said, "Ooh, I love fun stuff like this so here goes....

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Candy Honda
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Cherry Garcia Sneakers
3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Yellow Dog
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): None Colorado City
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name):Barju
6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Apricot Water
7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): William Earl
8. STRIPPER NAME ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent,favorite candy): Honeysuckle GummyWorms
9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Horner Houston
10. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Autumn Pansy
11. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing rightnow): Plum Jeans
12. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Biscuit Pecan

We have a windmill

While I was away at the ranch, Don and some friends set up our new windmill. It is big. It looks so great and creaks and sounds like a windmill should. It will pump air into our new pond. I just love it! I have always wanted a windmill and now we have one. It is quite the envy and conversation piece of the neighborhood. Don has done an outstanding job of digging this pond and putting together the windmill. I am so impressed and so excited by it all. When we get rain and the grass grows and we add a little landscaping it will be so beautiful and relaxing.

Thank you, Don, for all your hard work. I just love it! And, I love you.

Julie, Alisa, and Blue's Hill Country Adventures

What a glorious weekend I had! Alisa and I left for the ranch on Friday about 5. We were driving "Ole Blue", Don's now retired, 1990 old blue pickup, which has become our garage sale truck. It was a beautiful, but HOT, spring afternoon, and Blue's AC decided to go kapoot. I must say this was the most miserable drive to the ranch ever. The sun was so intense and the wind was so HOT. I dreamed of cold ice tea...or a frozen Margarita..waiting for us at Mamacita's in Fredericksburg. It was the longest drive........but finally, we got there, and what a wonderful thing it was to walk into air conditioning and sit down and cool off and have that ice tea, glasses and glasses of it. We tried to stay as long as we could but that sun was still up when we finally left, and since we were driving west, directly in our eyes nearly blinding us. What a relief just to get to the ranch!
All the goats, sheep, and cows came rushing to meet us as we arrived. We had stopped at the feed store so had treats for them--50 pound sacks of feed and a fresh bale of hay. They were all thrilled. We enjoyed watching them. There are 9 baby goats, 7 little lambs, and 1 baby calf--so cute and frisky.
We left before daylight Saturday morning to head out to the garage sales in Fredericksburg--11 of them. BUT, in the early dawn of a beautiful spring morn the countryside was just too alluring with so many sights to behold. We stopped to watch several flocks of wild turkeys, and many, many deer were out, and the sun coming up giving that special haze to the fields and farmsteads--so many kodak moments. We stopped to take so many pictures (we both have new cameras). It was a beautiful, slow trip to town--early morning is just such a pretty time.
The garage sales were fun but not the greatest ever---no real treasures sitting there waiting for us to find them. I guess my greatest find was a hand carved wooden Nativity set from Paraguay. I just love it. And I found a really pretty quilted purse for $1. Found some books for the grandkids and thats about it. But we enjoyed looking--it is fun just getting to drive through all the neighborhoods of Fred. and see all the many old houses. I love Fredericksburg--so much history and German culture everywhere.
We were done with the sales about 11 so headed for Mason to an estate sale there and to have lunch at a little place visited by the Texas Country Reporter. It was a great little Mexican cafe that opened up in an old gas station. Had terrific gorditos and guacamole and lots of cold tea and DP. It all tasted so good. Estate sale was ok--that is where I found my nativity set. Then we just walked around Mason, a really old, small Texas town with lots of history. The writer of "Old Yeller" was raised here and the setting for the book took place here. Lots of neat old buildings and homes. We shopped a little in the shops then drove around taking more photos of grand old houses, old movie theatre, and lots of windmills. Alisa and I both love windmills.
We took a small little county road back toward Doss. Stopped and took lots of windmill, old barn, old farmstead, creeks, Llano river, and livestock pictures. Also, stopped at Hilda and took lots of pics of a beautiful old Methodist church just sitting out there all by itself in a big field. So very picturesque. We stopped and talked with some of the local people who were out and were warmly welcomed. At Doss, we stopped and got a DP at the Doss country store and took photos of the Doss school, one of the few remaining open one room school houses in the state. Then we headed back to the ranch through more back roads taking more pictures of old farmsteads and windmills and anything else unique and interesting. We had such a wonderful time. What a pretty spring day and so much beautiful country to see---and the wildflowers are not even out yet and it is still pretty. Though VERY DRY! We need rain really bad.
We got back to the ranch and crashed. Sat in front of the TV and watched movies and ate fritos and bean dip and Hot Tamales (candy) for supper. We were exhausted but sure had a grand day.
This morning we got up and got to work. Cleaned all the hunter's stuff out of the upper cabin and scrubbed it down and fixed it back up pretty to look like a guest cabin again. What a makeover! It looks so pretty and cute with colorful quilts on the beds instead of camo sleeping bags.
Then we cleaned up our cabin so it would be ready for Beki and her guests Easter weekend. All the critters came down so we treated them to somemore feed and said a sad goodbye. It is always so hard to leave the ranch. We headed home a different way through Llano on the back ranch roads. Stopped to take old school house pictures and then spent some time watching the baby Eagles in their nest outside of Llano. It looked like they were getting flying lessons. They would flap their wings and lift up about 6 inches from the nest and back down again. We took a ton of pics but I think they were still too far away for great photos. But it was fun to watch them. A great ending to our weekend. Just had to share our wonderful weekend with you.

Lovin' this spring weather!

Thought I would catch you up on our life so here come the bullets:

• Don and I went to Kyle to visit Josh and Kara and see their new home. Wow! It is so nice and we both just loved it. Great floor plan, just a great house. And brand new! I am so happy for them and know they will have fun decorating it and just making it theirs. Josh cooked us a wonderful lasagna dinner and we had a fun visit. I was disappointed not to get to visit with their two cats, Sunny and Rosey, who are still traumatized by the move and in hiding. And we all need to pray for Kara to find a job in Kyle---that commute to San Antonio is about to do her in.
• Alisa and I are going to the ranch tonight to check on things AND to go garage sales in Fredericksburg and Mason tomorrow. We are just looking forward to getting out there and having fun together. It has been way too long.
• A couple of weeks ago we had a big group over on Saturday and finally got the liner put in the big pond Don dug on our acreage next to house. It was quite a project. Then he worked for a week putting together the windmill that will aeriate the pond. He said he never had seen so many nuts and bolts in his life......Now tomorrow he and friends will put the windmill in place. Don has been filling the pond for the last 10 days with the hose. I have been really praying that the well and pump holds out. We are on a really huge aquafer but still......I really don't want to be hauling buckets of water to the house from the pond for our use....... It is almost full and looks really pretty. Don wants to put fish in it and get a little boat and just use it to have fun with grandkids swimming and fishin' in it. He is putting some sod and grass seed out, too, and will line it with big flat rocks. It should really be nice when all done.
• Tammie and I leave on our adventure to Georgia to see Adam graduate from boot camp on Tuesday. We are looking forward to the time together and to get to see Adam.
• I have the planting bug. I just love this time of year with all the pretty bedding plants in the nurseries. Love potting flowers. And even wish I still had my big vegetable garden...but we are just gone too much for that. Anyway, I keep looking for the wildflowers to pop out--saw just a few bluebonnets on the bridge going to Kingsland. Can't wait though to try my new camera on the wildflowers though.
• Speaking of my new camera...I have had more fun using the telephoto to take pictures of the birds coming to my feeders. I have a finch sock that is always full of pretty, colorful little finches and another feeder that attracks the cardinals and nuthatches. I just love watching the birds and especially love that melodial water dripping sound the Purple Martins make--and the cheerful songs of the Mockingirds and the mournful calls of the doves. I just love spring!
• That's all for now--I need to finish potting my new marigolds and lantana--the outdoors bekons......

Happy Birthday, Tammie

I have written before about how much God has blessed me by giving me the desires of my heart. Growing up an only child I had always yearned to have a sister--my idea of a sister was like having a best friend that was with you all the time--you got to share living in the same house.

Another desire of my heart was to have a big family--extended family living together or close to each other. I remember my neighbor in Houston sharing with me how she grew up in a big old house in the country with her cousins and grandparents--several families living under the same roof and how fun it was and how close they were. That was the kind of life I wanted.

And it all happened--a little bit at a time--but God fulfilled those desires of my heart. And one of those answered prayers came in the person of Tammie. Tammie and my oldest son, Brian, married very young and had two children--Adam and Amber. Their marriage fell apart and in 1989 Tammie and my two grandchildren moved in with us. Adam was almost 3 and Amber was 9 months old at the time. Our family already numbered seven: Rick, me, Micah, Christy, Josh, Jenny, and Gina (who was then our foster child). And we had foster child number 2, Robert, a failure to thrive two-month old, on his way to us as soon as he was released from the hospital. So we quickly became a family of eleven.

What can I say but that God’s grace was all over this. Tammie and I got along fantastically and shared in the raising of these kids and the many other foster children that would pass through our doors over the next seven years. Tammie blossomed from a frightened, insecure teenager who didn’t even have her driver’s license yet into an awesome, nurturing mother, a fabulous cook, a creative homemaker, an excellent college student, and a leader of the Children’s program at church, and a dear friend. Together, we home schooled, led Girl Scouts, survived T-Ball, Little League, Little Dribblers, Gymnastics, Vacation Bible School and various other kid activities along with enjoying the trials and tribulations of the older kids teen years.

Ours was a crazy, rambunctious, but fairly orderly and disciplined household. It was everything I ever dreamed of and more. And Tammie more than fulfilled my longing for a sister. Yes, technically she was my daughter-in-law, but we just had a closer, more equal, relationship than that. We were peers raising our children together; she became that sister I always wanted. Two women living in the same house can often be a disaster but for us, because of God’s grace, it was a beautiful success. Tammie is my very closest female friend whom I love dearly and thank God for bringing her into my life. I treasure those 7 crazy years together and cherish the wonderful memories we shared--and the memories we continue to make.

I am awed by her--she inspires me. She completed her degree while living with us and is an excellent, well-respected Occupational Therapist. She can just do anything she sets her mind to--a very hard worker whose creativity and love for others just spills over into everything she does. And I am so happy that God saw fit to put Jess Fisher in her life and bless her with such a wonderful husband who loves her so much.

So all this to say Happy 40th Birthday, Tammie. You are wonderful and I pray you will have 40 more wonderful birthdays to celebrate. And may our times and adventures together just get better and better. We soon will be GRAND-PARENTING together!!! Yipee!!!

You are loved.

Time for Bullets

• So good to be home. Got back from Arkansas on Friday night. We both enjoyed working on this Disaster Response--loved Arkansas and the great people there.
• Our weather is sure all over the place....97 one day (in Llano) and then 29 last night.....and that wind is something else.
• We had a brush fire come within a block of our house. They stopped it just before it got to the outbuilding of the house down the street.
• We have a new baby calf--about a week old--so very cute and frisky.
• Went to the ranch yesterday to get the Bobcat as Don is determined to finish his pond here. He worked on it all day today. Has bunch of friends coming on Saturday to help him put the liner in. We have big visions of fishing with grandkids in it.
• It is starting to feel like spring: my Jasmine is in bloom, the birds are singing, just that feelin' is in the air. I expect to see a few Bluebonnets poking their heads out soon. And I can already taste the strawberries from Sweetberry Farm down the road. I love spring.
• We are thankful to have escaped all the flu and bugs going around.
• That's all my news for now. Just enjoying the time at home.

Is anyone out there?

Hey, I am getting real lonely here in blogworld. We are away from home and I miss hearing from everyone and I blogged a bunch and every time I get to log on I am so excitied to see if there are comments and what do I see but......0 comments. I need comments! I need to know someone cares about me out there. I am sad and let down.

And Tania, Christy, Gina, Kara---are you ever going to blog again? I miss you.

ok--I said it, now I will take down the pity party decorations.

Our service center closed down and everyone has left but Don and I who have to stay and do casework out of our motel. There really is not much to do so it is like a day off. It is cold and rainy outside so good day to rest up in motel room. Hastings is across the street so I did have some fun browsing there this morning. We might have snow tomorrow.

Glimpses of the Past

My "H"

Ok--remember a few posts back when I complained about my H on my keyboard sticking and being very cantankerous. Well, after we got to Arkansas, I pulled out my laptop and the H worked pretty as you please--just like it was supposed to. Guess the gremlin just needed a little plane ride.........

Greetings from Arkansas

Don and I have been in Arkansas for a week with Red Cross helping victims of the wicked tornadoes that swept across the state on Feb. 5. We are working in Gassville and Mountain View and staying in Mountain Home. We have done lots of driving doing outreach--where we go house to house checking on people so we have seen lots and lots of awful destruction. Part of interviewing victims and doing casework is listening to their stories of what happened. The people here are just so nice, warm, friendly, resilient, gracious, giving, unselfish,--just plain good people. The communities are awesome. They take care of each other. They are there for each other. Churches all work together to serve their community and open their arms and help. We have to practically beg people to take our help. Never have we worked a disaster where more people have insurance. And these are not wealthy, well-to-do areas. The average income is around $25, 000. But they have ingegrity. They lead decent and orderly lives. I would venture to say the vast majority of them have a strong faith in God and live out that faith. It is such a pleasure to work here and get to meet and talk with this community.
Tornadoes are just so fickle. So very unpredictable. Unless you witness firsthand their destruction it is almost unbelievable. How can they destroy a brick home yet leave a vase of flowers on the table? They mow down three houses in a row, skip one, and mow down three more. They are just so weirdly awesome and so wickedly deadly. I am awed by the stories I hear so in the next post I will share some with you.
We are enjoying our co-workers on this job and just being here to help out what we can. Alisa and the animals are having fun at home. Happy Valentines Day!

oh, and this--the highschool gym where we have our service center is also a donation drop off that the teachers are doing to help the community. It is like being in the middle of a huge garage sale and not able to look or touch----it's driving me nuts!

Tornado Stories

I have an awesome story of survival to tell you about. There was a family who lived on Main St. in Gassville, Arkansas, one of the hardest hit areas of the state, who came to Red Cross for assistance. Gassville’s sirens never went off to warn people. This was their description of the moments before the tornado struck. The mother had been home sick in bed all day. Older son, who normally would have been on computer in his room, had gone to the school to get the younger son from basketball practice. Dad and daughter were in the living room with six year old they were watching for a friend. At about 5 pm Dad saw the friend pull in the driveway and went to tell his wife her friend was there. She got up out of bed, went to kitchen and made a pitcher of tea noticing her friend was still in car talking on the phone. Dad happened to glance out the window and saw the patio furniture levitating and the darkness of the sky. He grabbed the six year old and dove under the big oak dining table in the kitchen, covering her with his body as he yelled for the others to take cover. The mother said one moment she was reaching in the cabinet to get a glass to pour herself a glass of tea and the next moment she was on the floor with rain pouring down. The only wall left standing was the one with the cabinet she was reaching into. All the other walls and the roof were gone. The oak table saved the lives of the father and friend’s child as it kept the wall and roof from falling on them. The daughter described screaming as the wall “chased” her. The friend road out the storm in her car out front--it was battered badly and a large metal object speared the seat next to her but she was ok. The two sons were ok but had they been at home and in their bedrooms, and had the mom still been in her bed they would not have survived. All family members were unharmed except for scrapes and bruises.

And the pitcher of tea stood on the counter undisturbed.


Rob had just gotten home from work when he heard the sirens so he sheltered in the pantry of his older, rock home. His home was nothing but a big pile of rubble in just a few moments but somehow he was able to crawl out from under it unharmed. He looked around him and heard a car horn closeby that kept honking ever so often. He discovered it was jammed into the rubble of his house and contained his neighbor who was honking for help. He had to remove debris and pull the man through the truck window. Don visited the neighbor in the hospital and he said he was in Walmart when he noticed the weather getting bad so he left quickly for home. The tornado struck before he could get from the truck into his house and his house and Rob’s ,across the road, both exploded and jammed his truck between them. He is recovering quickly.


Another family came in---a single mom with two boys. They lived in a mobile home on her brother’s land. When they heard the tornado warnings they evacuated to a neighbor’s home a few blocks away. The nine year old was worried about leaving his pet guinea pig in the house. They returned to find their home totally destroyed but as they walked into what used to be their home they heard a familiar squealing and found the guinea pig still on the bottom of his cage though his cage roof had blown away. He was shook up, but fine, and his boy was elated.

The only death we dealt with was a sad story. A woman lived in a mobile home and when she heard the warnings she evacuated to her boyfriend’s brick home. Her mobile home was untouched but she died when her boyfriend’s home was demolished. He is still in the hospital.

An elderly lady told me a sweet story. She had lost her husband a year ago and had given her son his dad’s recliner and some of his tools. The tornado destroyed most of her son’s home but the recliner was undisturbed and the tools remained on the workbench where he had placed them.

Oh, No!

It seems our dog saga has not yet ended. Today, Don got an email from the guy who took the yellow lab, Megan (the neighborhood menace). Sherman, our neighbor whose lady friend owned the dog, went to this guy and paid him $500 to get the dog back because his lady friend was so unhappy. The guy was not at all happy as he had put lots of time and money into keeping the dog. I so hope Sherman will not let her loose and will be responsible this time. This dog has cost him $2200.00 because of her bad behavior. Just when we thought we could relax and our pets would be safe......