My First Visit to John and Lisa's New Home

John called the other day and wanted me to come up. I'm always up for a ride to the mountains so I got Susan to look in on Bogey for me. To my surprise when I came home, she had Bogey and Jonah over at her house getting along like two peas in a pod. I'm hoping that soon they can both stay over here so I can stay in one place. I felt for her. She was on call yesterday. She went in at 11 a.m. and a brain surgery and another emergency came in last night so she worked until 7 a.m. I couldn't reach her by phone so I went over at 5 a.m. to make sure Jonah was okay, put him out and fed him. I had gone over during the night to make sure he was okay with the thunder storms that were rolling through, and he was fine--sleeping like a baby. Bogey was fast asleep at my house--the big bangs don't bother him a bit.

John and Lisa's home is exactly an hour and 1 minute from mine, yet it is a world away in the foothills. I took pictures of every room in the house--just charming. I'll show only the outside, now. I called their last home "The Happy House" and I know this one is going to be just as happy.

We had hamburgers, hotdogs, and all the fixings and a surprise birthday cake! John's birthday and mine are close together. They think of everything. Kellie, their youngest daughter was there. She is the sweetest thing. I call her my animal girl because she's an animal lover like me. I think she opens the doors to let mosquitoes out because she wouldn't hurt another creature.

Bogey is lying next to me sound asleep. Jonah tired him out, I'm sure, but I'm so happy to see them getting along. I'll sign off with a few pictures I wanted to keep as a memory of driving up to the house for the first time.

The country road they live on

Beautiful views and lots of privacy. They said their neighbors are very nice.

They have already been enjoying their porch. This is one half. I could see myself enjoying it, as well. I always wanted a porch. If the bugs get back, they have a screened in porch. What a life!

I was thinking while at John and Lisa's house how I wish Rich was here to see it and to see how happy his kids and grandkids are. When I got home and unloaded my pictures I held my breath because either the camera or my computer has been acting flaky when downloading pictures, lately. To my surprise, this picture was in the middle of everything. It's a picture of Rich and me with the boys (many years ago). Susan wasn't among us yet. I'm putting it here just for my memory. It's not very clear, but I remember the day well. It was in my sister's and brother-in-law's first yard.