Well, that was quick!

 We've been planning on a quick trip up to Washington state to see the family but it kind of got shaken up when we had to put Ollie down.  However, we finally hit the road.  My wife has a brother, sister and her birth-mother all living on the Olympic Peninsula in Western Washington so once we get there it is easy enough to visit everyone.  That's pretty much what we did.  Just a quick 2,500 mile journey.  Don't all crazy people do that?

Of course those folks live very differently than we do here!  My wife's sister and her husband have this to look at every day.

Yes, that's Mt. Rainier across the water there.

My wife's brother has to look at this.

That would be Vancouver Island across the straits.  Of course they don't want us visiting these days but maybe we'll get cleaned up in a few years!

He also has neighbors with infants.

That last little one was born while we were visiting!  It was a good trip and it was great to see everyone.  My only problem is that I'd really like to do the trip over again but taking my camera and stopping about 20 times a day to take photos!  

Now we are sitting around home, going out to eat at our favorite restaurants and dreaming up another trip.  This one should be even shorter; just a few days over in California to see No. 1 Son and his wife.  It won't be a long trip but you've got to check up on these people once in a while.

Thanks for stopping by and keep washing those hands!

The laughing has stopped!

Right now we are going through a rough patch.  We had to put our dog, Ollie, down on Monday.  Ollie was only with us for about 18 months but he was a good old guy.  He started out (with us) with a nasty hair cut that our vet thinks could have injured a bunch of hair follicles

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He was only about 55 lb too which seemed a lot skinny!  He'd been found by Animal Control out in the desert and taken to our local animal shelter which seems to be run by a bunch of idiots!  They told us he was 18 minths old!  We (and our vet) believe he was well over 10 years old.

It took a few months but he was soon stable at about 75 lb and his fur did grow back mostly!

He was a good dog but had his odd spots just like we all.  He didn't mind if you put a collar on his neck but he HATED having a slip lead put around his neck.  Then, after all that fuss, he walked very gently never pulling or hesitating.  Someone did some very weird stuff to him on a slip lead!  He could only just manage a couple of stairs so we bought a ramp so he could get into and out of our truck and RV without falling.

Unfortunately he had a limp which gradually became worse and worse.  He would sometimes even fall when he walked.  Then he started pooping while he walked; it was as though he didn't know it was happening!  The vet suggested that he had a problem with his spine and it was not signaling his brain properly.  You couldn't really correct him for something he didn't know was going on.  At the end we were giving him two pain medications twice a day and he still limped; at least he seemed to know when not to poop.  Finally he stopped finishing his meals and he'd certainly never had that problem!  He was also sleeping all day and all night which was probably the pain medication but he was still limping with every step.  Finally we all decided it must just be his time.  RIP Ollie.

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

A laugh a day

 Well, we can hope it will keep the doctor away!  

I think my county has some kind of dumb commissioners but at least I'm not living here!  I mean, really?  At least it makes the rest of the country look better.  And it makes me want to go out and buy more Coca Cola not that I need the sugar. 

Here in Nevada we have an official mystery.  The body of a young boy was found by the road between here and Las Vegas.  At first the authorities thought they knew his identity but later that boy was found alive and well in Utah.  So now we have an unknown child dead and abandoned.  So sad.  The FBI has been looking at missing children from all over the country for heaven's sake.

I've got a few blogs that I read almost every day and here I found one that refers to my town!  It was published quite a while ago.  Here is a link to the not unfair review.  I must say that not a lot has changed in the last 11 years so I guess he doesn't need to return.  I really liked the comments though especially where one woman started in on 'fortification' at our local brothels.  I get the idea she has a problem or three.  Actually I've never visited any of our local sex businesses but I doubt if there is much fortification going on in them.  Per my earlier comment on dumb commissioners, the owner of one of the local brothels was a commissioner who was elected to the state legislature a few years ago but he died before he could take office.  Apparently that bothel has gone out of business.  Check out the photos. 

Weatherwise, we are in the 105F range most days.  Yep, welcome to summer even if we aren't quite there yet according to the calendar.  Our solar array is slaving away most of the time.  We had to laugh at yesterday's production.  We had a bit of a cloud problem about midday.

This morning we did have a lovely almost-a-sunrise.

We got down to 79F last night.  What would we do without air conditioning?  Have a good one and keep washing those hands.