There were a few pictures I didn't have enough time to include when I posted our last entry, so I thought I would take a few minutes to do so now. Unfortunately, I was almost done (and yes I did save as I was going along) but all of a sudden, everything was gone and I am now starting over!
My dear friend Diane sent me this cute picture. She & Jim have those adorable Chihuahuas that were our house guests last week. I could just picture her Lucy in this outfit trying to drive their car. I looked everywhere trying to find a sweater and hat like this for her girls, but sadly to no avail.
Here are our two sharing Willie's bed. Yes, Millie uses her own bed, but they looked so cute cuddled up together that I had to take this picture.
I believe I posted a picture of Millie's bed in front of the storage ottoman under the window, but we have made some more improvements that I think look really nice. We removed the ugly, dirty window shade and replaced it with a room darkening curtain. Then I decided to make a magnetic tieback so we could look out the window. Willie liked that. Then I decided to add a panel of sheer beige curtain to provide a little privacy while still allowing the kids to see outside. As you can see, I have added a blue owl bell that is hanging above the dogs heads. He is, as yet, un-named since we just got him yesterday.
Another new addition to the owl collection is a lovely white owl that holds a tea light which can shine out through the cut-outs on the front.
He sits below the TV on a carpeted mantle, I didn't want to take any risk of fire, so we use a battery operated candle inside it. I liked it so much I went back and got a second one that I took over to my sister Donna yesterday. She was delighted with it!
There is something else that I should have shared the last time I posted, but I was not ready to talk about it yet, so here goes. My brother Michael, in Elmira, lost his battle with cancer and went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus early in the morning on November 4th. Tony flew back in October and spent a week with Michael and our other brother Jeffrey and with Michael's son Douglas.
For those of you who don't know my brothers, Tony is on the left, Michael is in the middle and our baby brother Jeffrey is on the right. Part of me will always regret that I didn't go back to see him one last time. However, another part of me wanted to remember him as he was when we saw him in July 2015. He was not sick and was enjoying his life then.
The picture on the left was taken on the back patio of Michael's home while we were there.
The one on the right was taken at the reunion. He was enjoying life. He loved to go line dancing at the VFW hall in Elmira Heights on Friday nights and he loved sailing his boat on Seneca Lake. He took lessons and was learning to play the piano. He even tried his hand at learning to play the bag pipes!!! His former wife Judy has remained a true and devoted friend to him through all of this. God bless her for being such an amazing person.
The take-away that I would like to share today is that we have to live with the decisions we make every day. We are all so busy and all too often we put off for another day the things we should have done yesterday. Michael died on a Sunday morning. The night before that day, I had told Jim that I was going to call Michael on Sunday, but I never got that chance to talk to him once more. I never got to say good bye or tell him one more time that I love him. This is what I will have to live with. If I can spare one of you this pain, it will be worth sharing this today. Please don't put things off. Even difficult things that you knew you should do. None of us knows if we will get another day to do those things. Call your parents, or your kids and tell them you love them. Apologize to the person you have been feuding with for so long you can't even remember what the fight was all about. Please don't put things off any longer. You might regret it for a very long time.
Hello dear friends and readers,
I am sorry it has been such a long time since my last post. We spent two weeks down at Wilderness Lakes before coming back up here to Silent Valley for another month. We didn't get our favorite site (#400) but we got one at the four corners again, next to the one we were in last month. We drove up here last Thursday despite very bad Santa Ana Winds. Jim is an excellent driver and got us here safely. We got into our site and leveled the RV and then Diane & Jim Hubert came over to help us get settled in. I was so very grateful for their help because that day I had two brief but scary bursts of vertigo. We now do NOT call by name as we only refer to this disorder as IT. Our only problem with the setting up was that in the high winds (gusts up to 50mph) we couldn't get good reception from our satellite dish. Alas, we gave up that night. On Friday we heard about the tragedy of the shooting at the Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks. Along with that, the Santa Ana Winds and very low humidity increased the risk of brush fires, and California suffered from two very bad fires. One called the Camp Fire completely devastated the town of Paradise in northern California. The Woolsley fire and the Hill Fire continues to do a great deal of damage to the areas around Malibu, Calabasas, Westlake Village, West Hills and Thousand Oaks. Sadly the death toll from the Camp Fire is about 48 and may go even higher. I believe there have been 3 deaths and many injuries in southern California. Last night another fire has broken out near Rialto and Interstate 15 which is only about 46 miles from where we are. They expect the winds to ease up today but the relative humidity is still very low, and that means there is still quite a lot of fire danger throughout the area. All I can ask is that you please pray for people who have lost their homes and loved ones in all these tragedies. It's hard to imagine Thanksgiving in the midst of so much destruction. Donations to help the victims are being collected by the Red Cross and other organizations. We saw them on the NBC news so one could check them out probably by going to NBC.com /California fires if you wish to make a donation.
We have been busy again with a few little home improvements. First, Millie started trying to sleep in her little bed, which was really only big enough for her toys, so we got her a bigger bed.
As you who have been in our RV can see, we have removed the chair that was in front of the window beside the house door. We put this storage ottoman there, and it still gives us more space in the room. We moved the folding tables so we could look out the window. The window shade was very dirty, and we have not had good luck cleaning them, so we replaced the shade with a new curtain for privacy. It can be pulled aside to permit looking outside. The dogs like getting up on the ottoman to look out the window too.
Diane and Jim are such fun people and on Friday I got this cute picture of them.Those are supposed to be sprinkled donuts...and after all we are all kinda nuts! Jim is wearing a deer head that's supposed to be mounted on a wall! Luckily, I was holding the camera, so I am not in these pictures. On Saturday Jim Hubert had to have extensive surgery on his shoulder, and of course Diane wanted to be with him, so we offered to babysit their two two adorable Chihuahua girls while they were away. It was so much fun having them in our house.
In this picture Millie is in Willie's bed next to the girls in their beds. At night Millie still sleeps with us in our bed, and Willie got to sleep in his own bed. I put the girls' beds up on the couch and they spent the whole night in bed. It was happy chaos when we took four dogs out to walk! We had a grand time, and the girls were happy here, although every time they heard noises outside they would run to the door expected Jim or Diane to appear at the door. I got to spoil two more girls with loving care and doggie treats. I was very happy when Jim finally got out of the hospital so he could come home and sleep in his own bed, but we were sorry to see these sweet girls leave us. Diane and Jim are always ready and willing to help us out when we need anything, so we were delighted to be able to do this for them so they would NOT have any worries about their beloved girls. That's what friends are for. We are so glad to see that Jim is recovering well with no apparent problems or complications. He has been through a lot with his shoulder, and we hope now his problems are over.
I'm running out of time to write now, so I will close with a brief message, asking all of you to be grateful for your many blessings and share your blessings with those less fortunate than yourselves. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.
I believe I posted a picture of Millie's bed in front of the storage ottoman under the window, but we have made some more improvements that I think look really nice. We removed the ugly, dirty window shade and replaced it with a room darkening curtain. Then I decided to make a magnetic tieback so we could look out the window. Willie liked that. Then I decided to add a panel of sheer beige curtain to provide a little privacy while still allowing the kids to see outside. As you can see, I have added a blue owl bell that is hanging above the dogs heads. He is, as yet, un-named since we just got him yesterday. 
The one on the right was taken at the reunion. He was enjoying life. He loved to go line dancing at the VFW hall in Elmira Heights on Friday nights and he loved sailing his boat on Seneca Lake. He took lessons and was learning to play the piano. He even tried his hand at learning to play the bag pipes!!! His former wife Judy has remained a true and devoted friend to him through all of this. God bless her for being such an amazing person.
