A Picture is Worth a Thousand Memories

So if a picture is worth a thousand words memories,

 what does this picture say to you?

If I tell you this is my mom, would that make a difference?

If I tell you that the lady to left is my other mother, 

does that make a difference?

You may be wondering where this was taken?

Why did I take this picture? 

And,

What are they looking at? 

Well, to answer that question -

you will have to look at the next picture.

I am not sure why my mom is wearing that shirt 

with the scary smiley face but it really

 didn't reflect her mood that day. 

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and 

the one thing she really loves is to listen to live music.

I remember every time a music event went on downtown, 

we were there.

We never spend lots of money paying for concerts. 

Maybe when Riverfest started 

in downtown Little Rock, 

we would pay the small fee but not no more. 

I believe Music should be Free.

On the left, is my husbands legs.

The local Fire Chief is on the drums.

My brother is sitting in a chair 

hiding behind the big speaker.

My brothers elementary school friend 

is standing up playing the guitar, and

our oldest biggest sister, 

that's not related to us, 

is singing backup.

My brother has been singing for years now. 

I always knew he could sing. 

I remember that growing up, when you wanted to hear music, you got out those big 33 1/3 records to play on the turn table. 

The best thing about those turn tables is that if you wanted to replay a song or skip a song

 - it was as simple as lifting the arm that had a needle. 

And I also had to clean the needle with my fingers 

because it picked up dust from the room 

which made the song sound funny.

 I don't know if there was a proper way 

to clean those pesky needles 

but I knew if blowing on it did not work then 

using my fingers to clean it always worked. 

I believe the song was a song by Neil Sedaka

Love Will Keep Us Together

I would replay this song over and over and we sang and sang.

 I do believe we wore the record out. 

At least that is what I think since I can't find it.

One of the places we used to live was in 

a little chocolate house that sat right 

where this Donut Shop now sits. 

It is also my understanding that this 

Donut shop is now moving to downtown Sheridan 

where the Road Runner used to be

and before that - It was the Posey Motel, 

so it will be abandoned. 

I wonder if it will be for sale?

So now on to a much happier subject. 

We recently went to Home Depot and 

as I was looking at the plants. I found this. 

I'm not a mona but I am a lisa - 

so therefore I love it.

This is a beautiful flower but I still love Marigold's.

The Old Mill in North Little Rock Arkansas

So today, it started out as a productive day.
I got up and dress.
Brandon got up and dress.
We took Lulu to what I thought was the right Vet Clinic,
but it wasn't. It was the only one I knew about
in the Levy area in North Little Rock.
Came to find out, that I was at the wrong place.
Levy Pet Clinic is on 47th street,
not under the Interstate by the railroad.
I could have sworn that that was Levy Pet Clinic
because we took Red there some time ago
but it wasn't and the lady who did dog grooming
came out to greet us and asked what we needed.
After she gave me confusing directions to a clinic
somewhere on the other side of the interstate,
I asked her if this was Levy Pet Clinic and she said no and told me where to find it.
So after successfully dropping off Lulu and finding out what was wrong
A SLIPPED DISC on her lower spine
We had to leave her so he could take some x-rays to make sure.
He gave her a steroid shot and gave me some pills to give her.
After leaving, and showing Brandon the little house we lived in when he was in diapers
I showed him how to get to the Old Mill
so I could waste some time and take these beautiful pictures with my cell phone.

Brandon Looking out at water from the foot bridge.

The Old Mill id on the right with the water wheel and a path leading down to the water.

The foot bridge looking back towards the road.

Looking down at the water wheel from the Old Mill Building.

Looking out the window from the second story of the Old Mill Building.

The dirty brown water where the pond starts. I guess it is because it is still winter.

A sideways looking view from the window over the water wheel.

Inside the Old Mill Building looking up to the second level.

Looking out the window from the old mill.

Another view looking out the window.

I think this is the best picture I captured looking back towards the foot bridge.

Brandon looking out the door way of the Old Mill Building.

Some peoples boat docks on the Old Mill Pond.

A View from the foot bridge.

A view from the top of the foot bridge.

The Old Mill Pond on a Saturday Morning

And by the way, Lulu will be just fine.

Timeline of How we got our Doggies

      As you may know if you have been reading my previous post, this blog has turned into more of a blog about my doggies instead of my life. It seems my life is not and cannot be as interesting as the life of my doggies. It all started about ten years ago when I placed an ad in the newspaper wanting a house trained dog for my mom. The ad went something like this:

          Grandmother wanting a small house dog for companionship.

          Must be good with children and potty trained. 

          Call 501-XXX-XXXX.

      It was amazing how many phone calls we received from people who wanted to give their dog a good home. The first call we got was from a woman in North Little Rock who basically lied. When we went to go see the dog, I felt bad if I had not taken it. It was actually a medium size brown mutt that was not potty trained and shed like a rabbit. After about a week, I loaded him back up into the van and took him back to the people, telling them that my mom could not take care of him, he was just to big.

He looked something like this one.

      After that happened, we got a few more calls. A lady wanted to get rid of her 15 year old rat terrier that was blind and need lots of medical attention. I told her that I would have to talk to my mom to see if that is what she wanted - I didn't call her back. 

The terriers probably looked like this one.

      I had gotten another call from a couple who was moving into an apartment and couldn't take their little doggie with them. They wanted to bring it by to see how it took to us before leaving it. The couple brought a Llapsa-Apso, pure white and her name was Rosie. I knew very little about those kinds of dogs except that their hair is very very hard to take care of. The couple took her back but brought her back a couple of days later with her doggie bed and some toys. Mom tried to get close to her but never could. The couple failed to tell us about her abusive puppy years. Rosie didn't like children and refused to be brushed or bathed.

Rosie looked just like this.

      Before the couple brought Rosie back, I had gotten a call about a brown dachshund that was about 6 months old. The lady said she paid $250.00 but couldn't take care of him any longer because she suffered from a stroke. I met the lady's grandson at a grocery store parking lot in Mayflower. Brandon was with me and held him on the way home. I named him Red.

      It was about a week later that we received another phone call from a lady who had some Chihuahua's. She had a female and needed to get rid of her. I called my mother-in-law and she said she would take the chihuahua. I forget what she called her but we named her Missy.

Missy looked something like this.

      So we had Rosy, Red and Missy. Rosy was about a year and half old, Missy was about 2 years old and Red was 6 months old. 
To make a long story short. We gave Missy to my mother-in-law. We had to get rid of Rosy. Lucy took her place. My sister wound up taking Lucy and we got Sassy from a Facebook friend. 

      We eventually got rid of all of Sassy's first litter and now we have a new litter. We may decide to keep one of the males to take Red's place but I'm not sure yet. If they are Red's pups, then definitely but otherwise, probably not.

      But before we got Sassy, we got Lulu from a lady from Eugene's work. Lulu is fixed so she can't have any puppies but after watching her around Sassy's puppies, I think she would have been a wonderful mommy dog. But Lulu is my Princess and she watches her girlish figure.
      So now, we have Lulu and Sassy with her five pups. A couple of days after getting Lulu she wasn't named Lulu and she ran off. She went out into the woods and wouldn't come back. It took more than a week before Eugene caught her and we got her back. It took quite a long time before she got used to us and stayed home all day.
     Sassy didn't run away after we got her but when she came into heat she was gone a lot. So when she came up missing when she was about ready to drop the puppies, we waited and finally she returned very very hungry.
     I want to thank all those people on Facebook who actually took the time to read my post and comment about her missing. As it turned up, she went under the house and hid them really well. We have them all safe and sound in our room now but it was pretty worrisome not knowing where she was and if the pups were okay. All five are alive and healthy. Three males and two females. 
     I think that anything happening in my life is stale compared to the life of a dog. If you're a dog lover like me, then please comment below.

Pregnant Sassy

My little Sassy got herself pregnant again sometime 

before Christmas about the time our little Red Red

 got hit by a car. She has been getting bigger and bigger. 

Her belly is now dragging the ground. 

I had her lay down next to me a little bit in the bed 

so I could get an idea of how big the puppies are 

and how many there might be. She has to have at least 

five and they should be about the size of my hand. I felt the 

little things kicking. It's no wonder she is so restless 

and talks all the time. 

I know she isn't really talking 

but she does act like she understands me. I think dogs are just reacting to the sound of my voice 

and my body language

 than actually knowing what I am saying. 

Sassy loves her comfy pillow

Sassy Frassy, as I sometimes call her.

Sassy above and her humble abode below.

I was really hoping she would have had her puppies on Valentine's Day but it didn't happen. I had even gave her a stern talking to but still no luck. I think she knew I would be taking a vacation this week so she decided to wait on me so I would be home.

For Valentine's Day my sweet husband got me a balloon and a basket of goodies.

I wound up taking half of the box home and giving the heart box of Chocolates to Eugene.

The More Things Change

The more things change the more

they stay the same.

How much more can this be true 

than it is for me today. 

Change is such a normal part of my life 

that it changes everything. 

We had to come to a decision today

that we have previously made before 

except it was for something very different. 

We had to come to the decision to 

retire "Old Blue" until we can fix her up. 

Her engine is barely running off of six cylinders.

Like 2 months ago when we had 

to put Red down. We decided to park the old pick-up. 

Now some of you out there might think that we should have put the pick-up to rest a long time ago but I am here to tell you that I have been driving it 

to and from work for quite some time

and even though it has 

no radio,

no air conditioner,

barely any dash-lights to see 

how fast you are driving at night,

needs a new bench seat

has a drivers side window that requires you to use a screw driver to hold it up,

is rusted (inside & out)

has a tailgate that won't come down,

uses oil like crazy

needs a back bumper, and 

is prone to getting flat tires - 

I loved driving it.

     She is easy to fix. 

The fuel pump is not in the engine. 

You can tell when the oil is low because 

you could hear it in the sound of the engine. 

And it was Red's favorite way to get around. 

     Now Red is gone and Old Blue is down

for the count. I think the best thing I loved 

about it was and is the fact that it doesn't 

have that pesky "Check Engine" Light. 

Unlike the Grand-Am, it doesn't have 

the glowing red light reminding you 

that something is wrong with the engine. 

In fact, I would rather drive Old Blue 

and I trusted it to get me around 

more than I could ever trust Pontiac.

     Call me crazy but 

I'll take a worn out 

old pick-up over 

a new car any day.

Boring Friday Night

Over half the first month of the year is gone already. Things have changed quite a bit lately. My son,Brandon had to have surgery for a hernia. I am just glad I have insurance on him so he could have it done. We aren't much closer into moving yet but hopefully it will happen soon. I have a second job now. I got to bring in extra money because times are hard when we don't get raises.

You know the economy is hard when finding a part time job takes several months. I know quite a few 20 year old's who can't find work due to the economy too. Otherwise, things are okay around here. My little Lulu has filled in Red's spot. It's hard to lose a little doggie that had been part of the family for so long. My Sassy is pregnant again so maybe we will keep one her new puppies but I'm not sure at this point.

I need to take pictures more often to post on here like I used to but most of the time Life gets in the Way.

Happy New Year 2012

It's a New Year full of new things and every year I hope this one will be better than the last. 


I think this one will be.