Busy Week

Wow! Where did the time go? Marty and Sue will be home at dinner time and have requested "Chicken a la Doll". Not a problem. Besides, it will make the house smell good, and with the rain, the temps been a little cool today. It rained all last night and most of this morning, a really nice steady rain. That ended my watering chores.

Wednesday was Skyler's 17th birthday, so I went to her BBQ, and took pictures of her friends. Yesterday, we went to the Botanical Gardens and really enjoyed the Castle, Butterfly cage, model train setup, and the Japanese Gardens. We went to Monroe's for lunch, and walked it off in Old Town. We both got a lot of nice pictures. We almost didn't go, because the rain was threatening; however, by 11 AM, the sun was out and things were warming up.

I thought I would be taking a lot of pictures of the dogs, but the opportunity never presented itself.

Busy Week

My G-Dogsitting Vacation

Am I having fun yet? You betcha! As soon as I got here yesterday, it seems that another client was added to my hair coloring schedule. Tammy decided to finish up her birthday present. I was supposed to color her hair as part of her birthday hair cut, but Annette, the hair dresser, cautioned against it. Yesterday, we carefully went against her advice, and Tammy is smiling, because her hair didn't come out green or purple. Susan got her hair done in anticipation of their trip to Ohio to see Fred and Norma, hence my g-dog-sitting gig. Bob and Rose (bottom right) came over to say "goodbye" before they leave for Casa Grande for a while. Tuxedo T(rouble). Loftus (top left) is getting groomed tomorrow at 9 while I run my errands. I'll have to take an "after" picture. The picture of the crest and the rose are just some fooling around with the camera.

As one can see, I've been playing a lot, both with my new camera and my Elements7. Top left is a background paper I made for one of my scrapbooking projects from the photo below it. Then the other evening while it was trying to storm, I started taking pics of the clouds. Bottom right is my "monster" cloud and top right is my "explosion" cloud. I've been feeding and watering everyone (my bushes and plants) religiously, and I'm very thankful when it rains as it did last night, and if we're lucky we'll get some tonight. The weatherman, who is never right, has even forcasted rain for all day tomorrow. Doesn't he know this is the desert, and it doesn't do anything all day.

Elephant Butte

Yesterday out on the lake was incredible. After giving Deb a tour around the Butte watching for goats and showing her the "swallow condos" (gone for the summer), we began looking for a spot to play in the water and sit and relax. Notice how clear the water is! Mom ceremoniously handed down the Captain and First Mate shirts to Marty and Sue. We had "tunes" for the first time, the whole beach to ourselves for a few hours, and then we started getting company. We demonstrated the "mesa cerveza" and Deb caught on quickly. However, she did want her own floatation device, so she breathed into the project. Susie found a new friend for Deb after Sue went on a jet ski ride with the crazy woman. Deb couldn't pass up the chance for a fun ride. Needless to say, they are both feeling the effects today.

Elephant Butte

My Friend Nancy

Last Sunday, on Mother's Day of all days, my dear friend and playmate Nancy Joseph passed away. On Friday, we had just been emailing each other back and forth trying to decide which digital scrap booking tutorial videos we would buy. I printed out her last three emails she sent me, so that I would never forget the last bit of fun we had together. She collapsed at home and was taken to the local hospital where I joined Ted, her companion of twenty plus years, while we waited for the staff to find her a bed in either Albuquerque or Las Cruces. Ted told me to go home, and he would call me when he knew where they were taking her. She was not conscious, but on life support. Ted called at ten to say she was being taken to Albuquerque. I had several conversations with her daughter Sharon on Saturday and none of the news was good. On Sunday with her three children there, she left us to go on without her wit and engaging smile. All of the genealogy society and many many friends and neighbors along with her family tearfully celebrated her life on Wednesday afternoon. I have included some pictures of Nancy. One was of the local scrap booking club get-together; another of Nancy taking pictures of me at a genealogy meeting we went to at a museum south of Socorro; the other is of her and Ted Christmas Day at my house.