My Life As A Hobby

This is not lazy writing   I wrote this piece a couple of years ago when the pain from the loss of my dog soulmate Precious was still raw.  Since then I have a lot of new followers/ friends who have lost pets.  I hope this will give them some comfort.  You are gonna see them again   “ If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” - Will Rogers WARNING:   Before you begin reading, understand that what follows is written from  the perspective of a dog lover. I freely admit my bias.   And I don’t care if you agree, since it’s my opinion.    A friend of mine has told me on more than one occasion that if dogs lived 60 years he probably I wouldn’t  have any children.  I couldn’t believe that statement in my heart - well,  that is until I had teenagers of my own.  But the fact is our dogs don’t live as long as we do. We only get about 10-15 years. With Reese and Roscoe only a few months old I...

It seems there’s so much nastiness, rudeness, and hate in the world now. It’s everywhere, and it makes me sicker than the thought of drinking warm buttermilk.  If not for football and HGTV, I would consider throwing my TV away. And without Candy Crush and calls from my Granddaughter, my iPhone could probably go too. But occasionally you run across someone that gives you hope - someone that gives you the notion that maybe most people are good, and the venom filled trolls on TV, Facebook, and Twitter are in the minority. That happened to me yesterday. I was walking my dogs last night and stopped to speak to Nell, one of my neighbors. She’s been widowed for sometime now. She also has dementia. This makes living alone a challenge. Until a month ago, a relative was staying with her. But no more. That’s a story for another time. Nell had locked herself out of her house. Knowing there was no one there to help, I drafted myself into neighborly service. I began by checkin...

He wasn’t surprised when the e mail pinged on his phone.  It was a message he had been expecting.   Nodding his head as he opened the file,  he seemed to know what the request was before he read it.  Amazing - all it took was an Apple computer, some basic video editing skills, and a willingness to do the job for them to reach out to him.   Fortunately, it wasn’t steady work. However, every time someone he knew died,  he would be asked to do the video slide show that would be shown during the service.    He didn’t mind.  He had always viewed it as helping a family that he cared about.  In a way,  it was an honor.  But it was always difficult because he knew the people who passed away - sometimes very well.  He wanted to do the job perfectly, giving each photo the right amount of screen time, correctly mixing young pictures with the old, using the appropriate transition, and having the proper background music.  It may h...