Phoenix For the Weekend...

Hey hi everyone,

I hope you all are doing great. :-) Harvey, Pearl and I had a really good weekend. We high-tailed it over to Phoenix and hung out with Debbie at her place. She has a nice place there and the backyard was perfect for H & P to play in. She has her dog Angel - a real sweety - who put up with my two running around making noise, so we had a really nice time.

Here are some pics of the weekend. The one of Pearl is proof that even cute dogs take bad pictures too. This is the truck all packed up to go and Pearl in her dress...and then a ten foot tongue hanging out her mouth. :-/

This other pic is of Harvey, ready to go. He is the smarty pants that as soon as the duffel bags come out he crawls in one to ensure his passage also. But in this pic he hopped in the truck and wouldn't get out.

Here is a pic of something I picked up for walking my babies. After our attack last winter I said to dad, "man, I just wish they made cattle prods that a person can carry with them in case something bad happens..." Well, they kinda do! A lady on the trail who carries paper spray just in case they run into a big out of control dog told me about a website for dog attack defense. When I visited it they had lots of items, such as the key chain pepper spray, which I thought was good except that the dog may be kind of close to me before I could spray it...and with the wind in the desert periodically I had visions of myself rolling on the ground due to the spray...and the dog just chewing on the three of us like a banquet. BUT they did have an electric baton that is 18 inches long. It will not kill the dog but just stun its muscles to stop it. Perfectly fine after 5 minutes - just enough time for the three of us to run like crazy over some fence, or hog tie it. And it can't be taken away from its user because it has a safety feature. Anyways, that is the one I went with because I figure if a big dog is running at me with fangs beared and gets within 18 inches that basically says to me, "My intent is to eat you...or at least chew on you or your furbies". Besides it says by other owners on the website that attacks are basically deterred by just holding the thing up and pressing the button because the dog sees the blue sparks coming off the end and runs the other way. Sounds good to me. It still does amaze me how many owners of big dogs walk them without leashes and insist that the dog is harmless and then it lunges and they say, "I have NO IDEA what got into "Ginger"!" Or the 98lb elderly fellow that wrestles with his own salivating 150lb dog when it sees other dogs just to keep it from jumping away from him. I love all dogs, I just wish the owners were more responsible. :-/

Well, anyways, time to run and get busy with the day.

Everyone have a wonderful week!

Love,

d :-)

Billy Goats and MORE Billy Goats!

Hey hi everyone,

Today I thought I would show you something that I think is very unique. As you can imagine the Desert has very pretty sculpted yards and buildings....BUT tucked in behind are some really cool things. On our walk every morning we pass by an estate that is tucked well behind trees. The estate manager says that the people rarely come, but it is a $12 million dollar estate with a billy goat yard. So that is his job, just maintaining the estate and feeding the goats. They are the sweetest little things and this morning when we walked by a new little one had arrived.

Everything is going good. Work is good, the weather is lovely - it is much cooler these days in the morning and this morning I was walking along with a toque and scarf, and sweaters on Harvey and Pearl.

I have attached a few pics. Finally found myself a cheap deal on a camera. Some customs agent in Korea is enjoying my old one and my MP3 player. Unfortunately, when I had to empty my case on the way back for the scanning machine at the airport I must have missed putting them back in. No problem though, just a little hiccup in the big pic of life. :-)

Pic 1. Harvey and Pearl sitting on their pillow outside the RV.

Pic 2. Our transportation for close destinations - the bike and bike buggy.

Pic 3. The motorcycle enjoying some sun time.

Pic 4. My shiny truck - all washed up. :-) BTW, don't think that H+P ever see the inside of those cages in the back of the truck. I just put them there so that people think I have huge dogs inside the RV.

Pic 5. A left over pic I found in the folder from Korea. A typical sunhat/face protector for walking.

Love to everyone!

d :-)

Thank goodness for the old-fashioned way!

Hey hi everyone :-)

I am big on technology, especially since living in small quarters it has helped me keep organized and streamlined - such as instead of owning a TV, now I just watch TV on my computer so I don't have to have two appliances, and instead of having lots of photo albums laying around I use online albums. HOWEVER, I did learn that there is a lot of good to the old-fashioned method too. My handy dandy computer died a sudden and terrible death some months ago, and thousands of pictures that I hadn't backed up went with it. So now I have learned to back everything up. I do have several old albums underneath the couch though and they came in handy this week. I had to phone NET10 to activate my cell phone and on the other end was a ultra polite young man. I mean ULTRA POLITE. Everytime I said anything, he would respond with "Thank you so much for your response mam." Toward the end of my call I was so curious I had to ask him where he was stationed as I knew he must work in a call center somewhere in the world. I told him he had done wonderfully handling my call but I needed to know. He asked me to guess, and first I guessed Northern Mexico, and then India, but then he told me Georgetown, Guyana. Of all places! I told him that several years ago I had lived in a village there for a bit doing volunteer work. It was such a tiny village I didn't expect him to know as it was out in the jungle area. Kuru Kuru. He was so excited as this is the village he lives in. I told him that I imagined it had changed a lot, but he told me it hadn't. So I went to my old ratty albums under the couch and found this picture to share with all of you. This is Ruth and me in the village doing service. This is a typical home in Guyana. Most people would work in the jungle, but now there is a big call center where people can find work to if they will move to Georgetown. Anyway, it was so exciting for him and me to find someone working in a place that I, nor ANYONE, would ever imagine a company to establish a call centre.





This week has been excellent. I am off to the meeting soon. I am helping Eric move a table with my truck first. Then next week we are off to Mira Loma for an assembly day. Anyways, it has been excellent this week. I bought one of those bike buggy things and have been hauling Harvey and Pearl around town in it. As usual Pearl thinks it is totally hers and Harvey is just a privileged guest to be riding with her, so I often hear growls and barks, but the good thing is I always know exactly where they are. :-) We are getting tons of exercise walking these days too. There are so many trails we seem to be going for longer than our two hours everyday but I am loving it and so are they.





Okay, I hope everyone is having an absolutely wonderful weekend!





Love to everyone,


d :-)