SUMMER PROJECTS

Summer has turned out to be a busy time for me. There have been many home upgrade projects. They are taking much longer than anticipated. The heat is taking it's toll. In the first place, I hate heat and summer. Perhaps it is because of my years in the Pacific and Texas with my Navy pilot husband. I missed the seasons. Fall is my time to really move and get things done, so I guess I'm doing a lot of stalling, waiting desperately for reasonable temps.

My biggest project stems from re-connecting with several of my cousins. We lost contact some years ago because our lives went in many directions. I have been without any family for some years now, so this has been an exhilarating time for me. We have been sharing so much. Just catching up with their lives is exciting. But they are happy to reconnect too. Thanks to all of the marvelous electronics, we are able to share pictures....many, many pictures - old ones and new ones.

We all agree that we never asked enough questions when we were growing up and now that our parents are gone, it's been so nice to share information that we did have to fill in some of the family gaps. There are also weddings and births on the horizon and I am so happy to be involved and share.

I have deleted posts about Dakota because I felt they were far too long and probably not very interesting. I am trying to condense all of the information into one short post. This is very hard for me because it is a personal thing. As a tech writer, I do an excellent job, but when it comes to personal documentation I really struggle. I will tell you that Dakota is doing so well with the summer storms. He's made a huge amount of progress and I'm so proud of him. He also has made great strides to being our dog and this as his home. It has been so much fun watching him slip into guarding his home, his family, and taking over duties of all sorts.

I also received a picture of my 'adopted sister.' She was a foreign exchange student when I was in high school and lived with us when I was a junior. She just celebrated her 70th birthday. It is really hard to believe so much time has flown by. I had hoped the day would come when I could travel to see her in Germany but it will not happen and I'm quite sad about that.

I will do my best to post more often for those of you that still come to read.

SUMMERTIME

Summer has arrived. There are so many projects that must be done before the snow flies, leaving very little time to get all of the plans, that were laid out before a roaring fire and snow on the ground, completed. Every year it seems like there is less time and more work.

If there are any readers left, I apologize for my lack of updates. There just isn't enough time to do everything I'd like to do. It's so easy to sit at the computer and write. But if I let myself do that, the garden goes to weeds and the projects fade away.

I will continue to write, but it will be limited. I hope you won't desert my forum on my favorite subject - dogs - and check back once in a while to catch up. I have some interesting things in the back of my head, but they must wait until I have more time to assemble them.

I will be doing an interesting update on Dakota in the next day or two that includes some very interesting new data relating to his storm fear and how I am finding it quite successful. The theory behind it made sense to me and it works in well with all of the other tools I'm using. I hope you will find it a possible approach if you have the same problem or pass it on to someone that is dealing with this doggie dilemma.

Dakota is enjoying his summer and has absolutely no doubt that this is his home. He has both of us wrapped around his paw and protects and defends his forever family. I will update all of his summer accomplishments this week so come back and share in his fun.