A Fish Tale and a Bear

I can only laugh at myself when I look at this.

Bears need assistance, too.

Happy 40th to Me!

July 1 was a great day, celebrating both my 40th birthday and the 10 year anniverasry since I took ownership of my shop. My friends and family surprised me with a party at work. It was so much fun and so unexpected. Thank you all!

Two Days Off

It's not often I have two days off in a row that aren't completely booked with tasks to complete. Not that there aren't things at home I could be doing, there always will be, but some can be put off indefinitely. So I took advantage of nice weather to do a few things that are more fun. 

Wednesday-

I started by meeting Megan for breakfast at our favorite greasy spoon, and then driving around the neighborhood together looking at houses - always fun. Then I headed to Jacksonville to help Judy install her new wood duck house and letting Sly play with her dogs in her wonderfully large fenced yard. We followed that by installing all the knobs on the new kitchen cabinets. They look great, aside from the one drawer front with too many holes drilled in it. Sorry!!! Finished with a nice meal at the Mexican food joint with a very nice server.

Inspection crew - 4 out of the 5 dogs decided they needed to be "helpful."

OK, Sly actually was helpful. The ladder was steady.

 Quack, Quack?

Project complete.

Thursday-

I slept in 'til 7:45 before catching up on some little projects around the house. Picked up Jane and ran the usual errands, adding to them a nice stop at The Gables Market Days. They had many local artist in attendance, along with live music. The weather was perfect.

Grilled Salmon & Bacon sandwich. Delicious even if the bacon seemed to have gone m.i.a.

After dropping Jane off at her home, Sly and I headed to Starbuck to relax and do some computer work. It always seems less tedious if accompanied by a coffee and cookie. We followed that by a walk through the park. The light breeze made it very nice, but didn't do much to deter those nastly little buffalo gnats.

 Hmmm, evidence would suggest Sly did, in fact, eat part of that dog toy at Judy's yesterday. 

Formby, Nov. 17, 1995 - May 29, 2011

We lost our littlest friend today. It's hard to believe Formby had been with us for over 15 years. It was my idea we get a toy poodle. It seemed a tiny dog would be an easier second dog in the small apartment we lived in at the time. I don't think Lyle was thrilled with the idea, but he went along for my sake. I quickly learned a small dog needed just as much training as our larger dog and a poodle needed decidedly more grooming. Lyle found that little dogs can be fun after all. In fact, while Formby became my obedience and agility competition dog and she did quite well, her heart belonged to Lyle who spoiled her terribly. Formby really didn't love competing, so after an assortment of titles were earned she retired early and spent the last half of her life living in luxury with Lyle catering to her every desire. She traveled happily back and forth between our house in Springfield and the apt up north, never bothered as long as she had a soft pillow, and a ray of warm sunshine or a space heater to curl up to.  So many nights Lyle and I would talk on the phone before bedtime and I'd hear him exclaim that he and Formby had shared a New York strip for dinner - nothing less for Formby. As it should have been…

Lyle shares an epithet: 

Sacred to the Memory of

Formby

Beloved friend and pet.

Remember, Lord, not our transgressions,

but forgive when we transgressed,

and be thou our correction.

Formby Makes Headline News CDX OA NAJ RN