Tibbie Tailgate Party

Day: October 29, 2005

Today Kelly and I drove to Chowchilla to deliver the last puppy in her litter to a family that lives in Southern California...Chowchilla was sort-of halfway and there is a restaurant there my family has used to meet at in the past. In addition to the family coming to get the puppy, another family with 2 tibbies of their own came to meet us and we had a verifiable tibbie tailgate party admist truckers and farmers showing up for the great breakfast at Farnesi's Steakhouse and with the smell of cow dung hanging heavily in the air. I took my beloved dog (Simon) seen above keeping a lookout for his tibbie friends. Simon had a grand time and we got a phone call that night with a report that the puppy got to his new home safe and sound and was being introduced to the household. We came home and put our house back together after weeks of makeshift barricades to keep the pups separate from the "big" dogs.

A Day in Bodie, CA

Day: October 23, 2005

Road trip! Organized by my brother: 2 trucks, 2 kids, 2 in-laws, 12 hours and lots of fun! Victor ate spicy cheetos (you know, the red kind) and then barfed going through the curvy roads. The kids and I sang all the old songs and recited the tongue twisters my dad taught me when I was their age (old Clementine and "round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascle ran!). Bussels and bussels of pinecones were collected for holiday decorating. A couple of picturesque reststops. Unbelieveable bumpy road to Bodie (my precious truck!) and then a walk through an old ghost town. Bodie is an old wild west mining town where, according to the literature provided by the State park, "murders were so common as to be mundane". We were there on a perfectly great day--not too hot, not too cold--but most of the year it is either sweltering or frigid (as in 104 degrees or 5 feet of snow)...the town was evacuated in the 1930's after a fire broke out and the state has preserved it exactly as it was left. Eerie to say the least. Great photo ops. There is a legend that says if you take anything from Bodie, bad luck will befall you (very smart of the people who are trying to maintain the town and at the same time make it available to the public) so we very diligently took nothing but our memories and a few pictures.