La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, Calfornia. April 8, 2010.

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I’ve been in LA exactly one month today, and I’m leaving. Yep, that’s right. Packing it up, loading the dogs back into the car, and watching the Santa Monica pier fade from view in my rear view mirror. I’m going up to Ojai. If someone had told me a couple of months ago that I’d [...]

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I walked out my front door at least 20 times today and went absolutely nowhere. Daisy’s separation anxiety has basically trapped me at home while I figure out which method and combination of training works best for her. It isn’t just about correcting the problem that she barks like a broken record when I leave [...]

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I heard the song Fireflies yesterday while driving up the PCH. My friend Scott back in Virginia sent me the YouTube video several months ago, but this was the first time I’d heard it played on the radio. It’s just one of the darned cutest songs to come along, and there’s nothing like good music [...]

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MarkCarlos is my latest thrift store find. At $50, he was such a bargain that I couldn’t pass him up. Short on space in a studio apartment, but with plenty of overhead real estate, I knew MarkCarlos would fit well in a 13 x 13 living area. The shelves and drawers ~ and even a [...]

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Daisy is a barker. Fine in our old neighborhood, not so cool in the close quarters of this Los Angeles sprawl. Now that I’ve moved into a building with 19 other apartments on two floors, it’s become the problem of the day. Talk about shaking up that status quo. We’ve lived here for almost a [...]

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The dogs and I arrived in LA in one piece (or three separate but intact pieces) on the evening of January 5th. After 10 days on the road and more potty stops than I can count ~ not all of them for the dogs ~ our entrance into the city could have easily come straight [...]

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Day 4. December 29 Colby, Kansas “The Oasis on the Plain” according to the sign at the visitor’s center. . . . where I’m stealing internet service. I’ve gone through Virginia and Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Days two and three were spent overnight in Maumelle, Arkansas and Salina, Kansas. The weather forcast for Texas and [...]

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Day 1. December 26 Knoxville, Tennessee The Motel 6. Almost 600 miles in and the dogs and I have had dinner and are sitting on the bed watching tv, but only after a quick thumping of the mattress and a rumpling of the pillows failed to reveal any creatures other than the three that have [...]

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For my Mama and Hosa. Merry Christmas 2009. Last night my family sat down to watch The Homecoming. Everyone was in town for Christmas Dinner a night early, and it was kind of cool to be watching the original Walton’s movie with my sisters and mom, since we actually lived right there in Walton Country [...]

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Living Out Loud. ( v11). Tis the gift to be simple. The 2009 Christmas season has been an unusual one. Instead of the traditional parties, getting together with friends, and full-on house decorating, most of my time has been spent going through everything I own and weeding it down to the 4 or 5 plastic [...]

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Moving day is less than two weeks away and just about everything is going smoothly. I’ve rented a cargo van to cart some furniture to my sister’s for safe keeping tomorrow after work, arranged to have new tires put on my truck and scheduled Samaritan House to come get whatever is left in the house [...]

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Several month back I found my dear friend Susan on Facebook. We went to elementary school and junior high together but hadn’t seen each other since 1978, when I moved back to my hometown from the mountains. Over the course of the summer and fall we’ve managed to get together quite a bit and share [...]

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The packing has begun in earnest. I’ve been at it for about 20 minutes and I’m already overwhelmed. I have this idea that all I want to take with me to LA is me, my dogs, my clothes and of course, the cameras and computer. But when I start going through the boxes that sat [...]

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I came home from work this evening to see a “for rent” sign posted in my yard. It was a surreal feeling, and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. It’s easy to dream,  and make big plans, and get hyped and giddy fantasizing about the future. Yet,  it was a little bit odd [...]

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