Official Ram Trucks Super Bowl Commercial "Farmer"

George Carlin_Modern Man_MARK TWAIN PRIZE | Modern Man | PBS

Beauty from the struggle

Fine wine and butterflies are such an inspiration and encouragement for me. Beautiful creations many times comes through the struggle of getting through various stages in life, such as the caterpillar and the butterfly. I learned that fine wine comes from the struggle of the grapes during their growth and survival of the environment around them. The more they struggle the better the wine. I am struggling with the "joy" part of my life. I pray to Jehovah to give me joy through his holy spirit. The kind of joy that doesn't require putting on "the mask" and just doing what is expected. The struggle I'm going through will make me a better person in the long run. I hope that I will be able to share my experience with others and help them find the beauty in their life in spite of the struggle.

When I saw this comic in Drabble, it reminded me so much of Rascal. Lots of puppy doxie energy!

Isn't this the best? I love Drabble Comics!

Is it spring yet? Snow in Arizona

Here it is one day before spring officially begins and we are having high levels of snow in Arizona. Flagstaff is reporting up to 30" in two days! We had reports of 9.5" yesterday and today in West Sedona but it is wet and melts underneath as it is still accumulating. I have snow drifts in my yard. Rascal is going outside to potty but he is almost covered with snow as he get's down in the yard. He has a little trail down the ramp with snow up to his belly and then he found a way to tiptoe along the edge of the porch where it is dry and does his business. Then he tiptoes back up the ramp and RUNS inside! I caught the cutest picture of him as I was outside assessing the situation. He is peeking over the gate with those sad curious eyes and appears to be asking me, "why can't we go for a walk?" At least that's my perception. Another funny Rascal story....I have been taking him out to stay in Clarkdale with a dear friend who also teaches dog obedience classes. He stayed out there recently overnight one week and then another week recently. She has a big back yard, fenced, with lots of space over an acre. She has left the landscape as natural as possible so there are low desert bushes in the yard and oak shrubbery. This is a good place for Rascal to run and play while he searches for birds to chase as they fly away from him. He can spend hours out there and gets a good workout. Well, he STILL does not come when I call him and even Joanna tried to teach him while I was gone. He could care less about food, treats, cold, wind, and rain when he is out chasing those birds until he just gets flat tired. Both Joanna and I have now experienced him zipping around the yard while we say "come" to deaf ears up to 45 min. to an hour. We both have learned not to let him out in the yard without his leash if we want to go somewhere and just letting him out to do his business before we go. All you can see is this little brown streak flashing by. If I try to walk or chase after him, he just goes faster. I saw this cartoon on comic.com Doxies really do know how to entertain themselves and others.

Here's some snow pics I took today.

On a smoky Sunday morning... Jan. 15, 2012

I had a terrible flashback the smoky Sunday morning of Jan. 15th. I woke up that morning to firetruck sirens and smoke. The mobile home 2 doors down (#36 and #37- I'm #38)was on fire. When I looked out my window I saw that #37's roof was on fire, so I got dressed, grabbed Rascal and my purse and drove my car to the dirt parking area to watch the fire and stay safe. At that point all I could think of was my house was in danger and I  needed to get out of there. As I watched the mobiles burning, I started crying thinking of that awful night so many years ago when my inlaw's mobile burned on an early morning in Las Vegas where we lived. Paul, Bill's brother - my brother-in-law was severely burnt saving his family. Lives can change in an instant...barely a blink of the eye. My home is fine. The firefighters came by off and on all night to make sure no embers relit. #36 is totally destroyed. The man who lived there...another Bill (we had 3 living in a row while my Bill was here) had probably left a candle burning before he went to sleep and got out alive with just his feet being badly burned due to the rubber soles of his slippers melting to his feet. The neighbors in the nice doublewide next door..another Bill and his wife Laverne...get up around 3am everyday and she looks out the window around 7:30am every morning. She calls herself the "nosey neighbor." She saw #36 on fire and called 911 or he may not have made it. Then she realized her living room was on fire and her and her husband escaped. The firefighters saved their home but the front room and roof is pretty damaged. Later I heard the windows blew out and the frames melted. All in all it will turn out ok as they both had insurance but lives were changed. When I told Paul about it and my emotions, he reminded me that he almost lost his eyesight too. I had not remembered that. He had been afraid he would never be able to see again or play guitar since his hands were so burnt. He said Alberta brought an elder from the Mormon church and they prayed over him and here he is today...good eyes and still playing guitar and keyboard. He was blessed. I think how hard that must have been for him, Alberta, and the four kids. And how grateful that we are all ok since back then and here today on our little street in Sunset Village.