R.I.P. Uncle Bruce

My Uncle Bruce passed away last week. He was the last of my uncles. My mom and I were by his side and held his hand when his heart stopped.

My mother, his caregiver and I have felt a great feeling of loss. He had such a strong will and such a strong presence that it's like the world is a little dimmer with his passing.

This Saturday, I will be reading a elegy that I wrote for my uncle at a small gathering in his home. It's for the neighbors and friends he had in Modesto. The last place he made his home.

R.I.P. Uncle Bruce

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad. He would have been nine-two this year.

And to all the other dad's out there, Happy Father's Day!

June Bug Attack

Took our Pomeranian out and then checked on my plants. Somethings been eating them and I've been checking nearly every evening to see if I can spot the culprit. 

I did seem to waken something that rose in my flashlight beam and came right at me. It hit my throat several times until I knocked it away. 

It didn't sting me at least, but it gave me a bit of a scare. 

My hubby thinks it was a June bug. 

Hours later I can still feel the hits on my throat.

Life in the Country

Oh, the excitement of living out in the country.

I let the dogs outside and saw a snake. I put the dogs back inside and picked up my camera. I told daughter and her boyfriend there was a snake outside.

I thought keep the dogs inside would be a given.

Apparently not.

The dogs bolted outside as soon as the door were open, and here I am knelt down taking photos in a dress no less. The dogs got between me and the snake.

I grabbed one dog which yelped and backed up, toward the by now alarmed snake, and yelled at my daughter to grab the other dog.

Dinky our Pomeranian, must have thought it was a game, because she bounced around like a wind-up toy and avoided being picked up. She eventually stepped on the snake.

The snake, upset by the dogs and the yelling, bit her.

Don't worry, it was a gopher snake and nonvenomous. I checked the end of the snake's tale for a rattle, before I went to get my camera.

I grabbed Dinky and gave her to my daughter. We got the dogs back inside.

I picked up a garden tool and scooped the snake up and toss it out into the field. No harm came to the snake. I was gentle.

Dinky's bite was treated, she's okay.

Just another day in the county.