Our Version of Normal

Otto is over 13 and has been a frisbee dog since he was 6 months old.  He is a pro.  We always used to say he should perform at a half time show during some sporting event.  He was that good.  In the last year or so, we've noticed it gets harder for him to catch the frisbee midair and land well.  His eyesight is poor and his hearing is gone.  He even had a malignant tumor removed in March from his left leg, but when it comes to his favorite activity he still thinks he's 5 and will leap into the air to grab the frisbee no matter how much we try to throw it softer, lower and closer.  Today, we took the camera out because I wanted to test some issues I'd been having with it and we happened to find his frisbee on the dog house roof (go figure). Otto most days now plays with his big blue squeaky (used to squeak at least) ball.  Of course, the minute he saw his frisbee, he dropped his blue ball and danced and pranced in excited anticipation. ...

I have a thing for ginger (a.k.a. orange or red) cats.  I had a kitty named Lionel when I was in college who was my all time favorite cat.  He was a big boy topping the scales at 25 lbs. in his prime.  He wasn't so much fat as he was tall.  When he died quite suddenly, I dealt with my grief by driving to my family's business which is a nursery (trees not babies) and brought home Mojo (above). His mom was a stray (one of many at the nursery), who'd delivered her litter in the bagged fertilizer building 6 weeks prior.  Mojo was born right in the middle of some pretty strong chemicals and so we've always said he's a bit on the nutty side from the exposure, but he is quite the lovebug and loves to snuggle every chance he gets. He especially adores visitors with an open lap to leap onto and will quickly curl up for a snooze. Four months later, Mojo's mother gave birth to another litter.  This time they finally caught her and contained her in a back ...

picture credit Last night, I went to the Mexican Restaurant where Matt (my hubby for anyone new here) performs every Friday.  I often take Riley and Reagan there to see Matt play live and to eat their addictive (calorie laden) food. Kaelan prefers to stay home and fills in as babysitter.  Well last night, I took Reagan and Leo because Leo had such a long late nap and wasn't ready to go to bed yet. It was nicely crowded and Matt even had the bar crowd dancing and doing an impromptu conga line.  :) On the way home, we were listening to Sirius-XM.  Reagan and I were battling it out as to which station we were going to listen to (he prefers rap or first wave 80's) and we landed on the 70's channel.  A Frankie Valli song ended and Tony Orlando's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" came on the radio. Reagan quickly tried to change the channel, but I stopped him.  I told him how my dad and mom (Grumpa and Moogie to my kids) used to sing that...