My sister's cat, Tiger Bunny, enjoying the shade on the carport, with all ten dogs swirling around him.

This is why you haven't heard from me. I am sitting in what is essentially a pasture (my neice Sheri's..that's her laughing at me...front yard). There are cows off to my right. We have some extension cords strung together connected up to an outside electrical outlet, and I am using something called an aircard. Well, it didn't work.
We had a big family get-together to celebrate the 4th at Sheri and Melvin's house which is near the little town of Boling, TX. Lots of family showed up: Melvin's parents...we were also celebrating his father Gene's 85th birthday. Sheri had put 85 candles on his cake; amazingly the smoke alarm did not go off when he blew them out. My neice Laurie (Sheri's sister) and her boyfriend Jimmy, her son Jeff who just graduated from Texas Tech and his girlfriend Faren, my neice Marla and her husband John, Sheri's daughters Lauren, who is in college, and Sierra, who is 11. My sister Kiki came with me; it was a beautiful drive down through the country to get there.
Last night all hell broke loose when nine dogs, including mine, rushed through the pasture gate and stampeded the horses. For a long time. And Toby was (foolishly) leading the pack (the others all knew to stay back from the horses' heels). We finally got that situation under control, amid much dust, and mud, and barking, and shouting and snorting. Then Toby spotted a loose chicken in the barn foyer. He caught but hadn't managed to hurt it much when we pulled him off and tossed the chicken into the main part of the barn where it lay motionless in the dirt. Kiki went to get it and it hopped up and flew away. Then she tried to catch Pedro the new burro to lead him to his stall, and he tried to bite her. I locked Teddy and Toby in an outside kennel to remove them from further temptation, and they barked and yowled nonstop in protest. We finally got everyone fed and put up. Tonight things will go much more smoothly.
After that, we took all ten dogs on a 'pasture walk' down to the end of my sister's property. Teddy stayed with me but Toby joined the other 8 in running all over the place looking for skunks or anything else of interest. When we got to the pond, Kiki's puppy Harley was swimming. Toby paced back and forth in the shallow water for a while, then leaped into the deep and swam to the other side (this is the dog who will not walk through a puddle or go near sprinklers). This was followed by much rolling in the grass and looking quite pleased with himself. We had taken Maggie and Teddy to Petsmart for grooming and both still looked pretty good at the end of our walk. Last night we watched "Billy Elliot" which was good but the play in NYC was better.
My sister's Bell's Palsy got much worse on Saturday, and she was a mess. Her eye was really bothering her and her nose was running on the affected side. Today we picked up some eye patches for her to wear for a few days. We are going home to make peach jam and patch her up.
My nephew Will left last night to return to his internship at the Pentagon in DC. Wesley has been in and out on his motorcycle. My brother-in-law Carrel and the boys finished laying the hardwood floor in the dining room yesterday and we are almost ready to start painting that room. It is going to be beautiful when we get it all put together.
That's it for this morning....I miss everyone but am having a fabulous time being a Texan!

First 48

OMG! My sister developed Belll's Palsy yesterday morning in Ft. Stockton. And today it is much worse! We spent our first evening in Texas at Christus St. Joseph's Emergency Room. Bell's Palsy paralyzes one side of your face, a symptom also seen with stroke, so we went to the ER to rule out stroke. The doctor said that it is classic Bell's Palsy...it can gradually worsen over 48 hours

Go!

Our first day...after a last minute flurry of crises at the house, we drove away at 6:13 this morning. And arrived at Ft. Stockton, Texas at 8 PM (Texas time). All in all the dogs were good. Well, I should say, my dogs were good. Harley has developed a significant, and I'm afraid, quite severe neurosis related to my sister. He throws a real whammy of a fit if my sister is out of sight. And most of the time he must be touching her. I sense some enabling going on as she seems to be flattered by his (obsessive) attachment. Toby did not throw up, not once. They rode in their kennel in the back seat, and pretty much stayed in there even though the door was open. The most amazing thing we saw all day was this GIGANTIC stretch of dairy cows just west of El Paso, Texas. There was pen after pen after pen, for miles! and all filled with a large number of cows. So many cows! They must supply all of Texas with milk. My neice Sheri called and invited us down for a 4th of July party and her father-in-law's 85th birthday (she lives "down in the country" south of Houston. My sister seemed less than enthusiastic about going. I figured we could go at 4 and leave after some of the TX BBQ and related festivities, but not stay for the fireworks which start at 9. Who knows? I may be going by myself.

Get set

It's not going well. Teddy tries to attack dear sweet Harley, and when we step in, he attacks his brother instead. There have been some less violent interactions too, thank goodness. Harley has been to Jenny Craig, Costco, Lowe's and the bank. He is a huge hit everywhere we go, people actually lining up to pet him and talk to Kiki about him.

My sister and Harley

On your mark...

My sister's plane is late! And apparently Harley is not happy being stuffed into the crate that fit him months ago but is now too small. When she last called, Harley was crying and the plane hadn't taken off yet. Hmmm..it may be a long trip, especially for the passengers in and around Harley. Meanwhile, I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off; so much to do, so little time. Have to take Harley to Jenny Craig to meet Shawn, find all the camera, phone and computer cables, reformat my camera card, change the netflix address, email my new boss in Mesa, supervise placement of decorative tiles in the shower, watch for the Meals on Wheels lady to come next door, etc etc etc. I bought a Garmin in Oregon so that will add some entertainment to those long miles in West Texas; we can go 80 mph there! Legally! Woohoo! Love that TX Hiway Patrol!