October 4th, 2021

February 1st, 2017
Murphy's our big lap dog. The minute we sit in one of our recliner chairs, Murphy jumps up and in a heartbeat, his head is down and he's fast asleep and oblivious to the rest of the world. Doesn't he make a great desk for Bill's iPad? And check out Murphy's leg. When he gets comfortable, he's like a rag doll and he literally drapes himself across your lap.

February 5th, 2017 ... 8:00am
Bill feeds the deer and turkeys every morning which is why we have so many of them. We've had 13 deer at one time and 7 who come everyday. Most turkeys? Forty-one! That's a lot of turkeys. Bill was filling one of the bowls when Mom and her two babies walked up. They were born this past summer and we've watched them every day as they've grown into adults. Living here is very special. And yes, all the trees you see are ours.

February 6th, 2017 — 8:30am — Grants Pass, Oregon

Every morning, Bill and Andi and Murphy have jobs to do ... Bill feeds the deer and turkeys, and Andi and Murphy chase the turkeys out of our back yard. Here they are afterwards, taking a morning break. — We love the turkeys but not what they leave behind. Enter Andi and Murphy! Andi's a great turkey chaser, and it didn't take Murphy long to follow her lead.

When Murphy first got to our house in Grants Pass, though, Murphy wasn't even sure what turkeys were much less what to do about them. Here's my brother Jeff and Murphy the day they arrived at our house, August 8th, 2016, when Jeff and his wife Julia drove Murphy from Austin to Grants Pass.
You can see Murphy's thinking, "What the ???"

February 20th, 2017 ... 11:30am

The sun came out late this morning so I sat on the back patio and let the dogs roam around the back yard. Andi always stays by my side, but Murphy slowly walks the whole 1-acre fenced perimeter, then comes back around and sniffs every tree and bush, about a one hour process. Today, he laid down at the far end of the yard and soaked up the warm sunshine.

After we came in the house, I sat in a recliner in the great room, Andi lay on the floor by my side, and Murphy lay in the sun in front of the French doors. Suddenly Murphy caught a bug! You know how dogs like to catch bugs. This one, though, got stuck in the fur of his muzzle. He pawed at it for a few seconds, then panicked and jumped right up in my lap. All 50 pounds of him. "Get it off! Get it off!" I got the bug out, just a little one, but suddenly without warning Murphy crawled around behind me in the chair, totally squished, no doubt hiding in case the bug came back. I looked down at his head poking around from behind me and without being asked, he kissed me over and over again. "Thank you, Mom! Thank you!" He kissed me so many times that I was able to snap a few photos with my cell phone. Look at this big wet pink kiss!

February 25th, 2017 — 6:00pm — Grant Pass, Oregon

We lived in Thousand Oaks, California for 25 years, a big beautiful thriving city with every store imaginable within 15 minutes of our house. Three years ago, we moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, a used-to-be lumber town in the middle of a big beautiful seemingly never-ending forest. When the pendulum swung, it lifted me off my feet and flung me into outer space. Life could not be more different. It took me a year and a half to come back down to earth and like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, when I did, I said, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Even after 3 years, I have moments when I say, where am I living? Bill too. Like today. We have one major store ... Walmart. You've seen the Walmart photos. Trust me, they're real. I don't shop there. But Bill's a trooper. Bill went to Walmart to buy deer corn, and since there's nowhere else to shop, he thought he'd buy another pair of sweat pants while he was there. Looking thru the racks, all he found were 3X and 4X sizes. He located a clerk and asked where he could find medium or large sweatpants. She said, "Umm, this is all we have. They're our best sellers."

February 26th, 2017 — noon — Grants Pass, Oregon

After his Walmart shopping trip, Bill and I were laughing over my most memorable shopping experience in Grants Pass. Bill thought it'd be funny if I put the story on my website. So . . .

It was Christmastime 2015. We'd lived here two years and I'd already seen things I couldn't dream up. I was shopping in Safeway and as I turned a corner, I found myself behind a very tall, very skinny guy headed to the check stand. He had a dead skunk on his head. It looked like he'd cut it open underneath from neck to tail and gutted it and stuck it on his head ... head, feet, tail and all. It must have been a treasured favorite because it was old and faded and decrepit. I was amazed. I looked around. Even more amazing than seeing a man with a dead skunk on his head was realizing that no one but me thought this guy was weird. He might as well have been wearing a baseball cap.

Then I noticed that this guy's shoes had a 4-inch thick coating of dried yuck. He must have just come down off the mountain and gotten in his truck without scraping off his shoes. I'm a city girl. I couldn't help but shudder and think, what IS that yuck!!! I grabbed my cell phone, turned on the camera, held it down at thigh level and started clicking. Here you go. Skunk Man.

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Please keep
our soldiers
in your hearts



and stay healthy
and safe
and as always
I hope you find
something here
that makes you
smile!





— Bill —
We'll be celebrating our 35th anniversary this coming New Years Eve. Wow!

Staying home together for the last year and a half because of COVID hasn't been hard for us at all. Bill taught me about golf and I taught him how to cook. We're pals so everything's better together.








— Andi Pandi —
She's my treasure, my little shadow, and still the center of my world.
She owns my heart.





— Murphy —
My big black hunk of pure love. He's 14 now and has changed our lives in so many ways. He's proof positive that two dogs are better than one.





— Boo Boo —
I start every morning with Boo snuggling in my lap. You know how I like my morning coffee? With a little cream, a little sugar, and a whole lotta kitty!