Barley is 18

 Barley, and her sister Hops, came to live with me in 2008 in November.  They were about 10 weeks old and had been living in a horse barn, according to the Humane Society. Hops passed away during covid, after suffering a stroke. After Hops passed away, Barley seemed to thrive.   She gained weight every year after, until last year, when she turned 17.

Barley handled our move to Luck better than I anticipated, but her age is catching up with her. (I can relate.)  I took her to the Vet in August for a well cat check up.  The blood work showed that Barley, like most cats of her age,  has kidney disease.  She has lost 2 pounds in a year.  So,  I started working hard to get her to consume special K-D cat food, but she was only interested in the $$ food for a few meals. For another short time,  she would eat a few bites of canned chicken that I had on hand for soup making. Now,  we are back to dry kibble only, and she eats very little.  She is still drinking water quite often, and she pees a lot. So,  we know where we are headed but for now,  she is happy to sit in a ray of sun, sleep for hours on her basket and occasionally grace me with a little lap time. 

It is unkind that we outlive our pets. 

1 year of easy living

 It was just 1 year ago that I watched the movers pack up my belongings into a big truck & head to Luck.  It's hard to imagine that it's already been a year,  yet those days of packing evening seem like an eternity ago. 

I have no regrets, in fact, I feel so happy that this duplex became available when it did.  I do not miss the pressure of owning a home.  This place is perfect for me. 

The other day, I drove past my Rice Lake house to check out the fall leaves.  I happened to chat with my old neighbor and he told me that the new owners are good neighbors, seem to love the house and are expecting baby #2.  That made me happy too.

Luck has an abundance of big old maple trees.  This fall is turning out to be very colorful. This photo is taken looking North,  right out of our cul-de-sac. 

Life is good.

A fond farewell to friends

 This week has been a rough one.  I have received news of 3 friends who have passed.  I'm going to write a little about each.

First was Steve Saunders, who was a Coors friend and coworker.  I got to know Steve through my work on the Coors United Way Campaign.  We produced several events together.  To my delight, he was in a position to treat me to an abundance of opportunities as he was in Coors Sports Marketing.  I saw several Bronco games from the luxury sky box, I attended Rockies games in the box suites, I spent several days in the skybox seats at the International Gold Tournament at Castle Pines and there were others.  He really wanted to treat me to a trip to Talladega for the big NASCAR car race there right before I retired.  He could not believe it when I declined his very generous offer, but it really is not my thing.  At my retirement party from Coors, Steve gifted me an autographed jersey from the then Rockie's catcher, Yorvit Torrealba.  Steve was 2 years older than I am, lived his whole life in Golden, Colorado and was a father and grandfather.  I am glad to have known him.  I'll continue to cheer for the Broncos and Nuggets knowing the Steve would do the same.

Another Coors pal, Vickie Dawkins, also passed this week.  She was younger than I am, I think about 4 years.  Vickie was diagnosed with Lupus some 29 years ago and underwent countless treatments and years of pain.  Vickie was one of those people who lit up a room with her vivacious personality and very blonde hair.  I first became friends with Vickie's sister Rhonda when I started at Coors and soon after, Vickie got a job there too.  They were South Dakota girls with a love of animals and water skiing.  We had fun together and for a short time lived in the same apartment building in Arvada.  I remember meeting their parents, Joy and Obe who were a couple of gems.  While I never worked directly with Vickie, our paths crossed often around the brewery and we always asked about each other's kitties.  Her final message to her Coors friends included a photo of her riding her horse into the sunset, I nice way to remember my friend.

Just last night I learned of the passing of a Wisconsin photographer friend, Anna Martineau Merritt.  I first met Anna traveling the gravel roads of Crex Meadows State Wildlife Area with another photographer friend.  Anna was also in the Crex Meadows Photography Club when I participated.  She was living near Gordon in those days.  She was kind enough to do a photo shoot with Dad & Ev in her studio near Gordon.  It was a very fun day with her and she took some priceless photos of the folks.  She wouldn't take much money and gave me a CD with all the photos and let me do the editing.  She was so kind to Dad & Ev and I never forgot that.  Anna was now living further north and was very active in her native tribe.  Her posts on social medial included beautiful works of art that she crafted in accordance with her native heritage.  Her photographs were always worth admiring and she was generous to share often.  Her messages were always upbeat and ended with a positive statement, even her very last "Everyone be kind and smile because the world needs it!"  Truer words were probably never spoken.

Rest in peace my friends, I was lucky to have known you.

Behind the fence and behind the lens

 I've decided it is time to get back into my blog.  I've been living in Luck since October 2025 and sold my house in December 2025, so my 5 month sabbatical is over.

On 6/24/2026, I headed to the ballpark in Luck to watch middle schooler great nephew Jude play baseball.  He was the starting pitcher so it was a good night to have my camera along.  My camera has been on break too.  All of these photos are from behind the fence and straight out of the camera.

I wrote this note but then had a technical issue with uploading the photos.  I tried many times and was running into an error.  Finally, with the help of Google, I have switched to a different browser and it is working again.

So, I think I'll be posting here again from time to time.  I do like having this as an outlet for my random thoughts and also as a historical record.

So, if you are reading this, welcome back.

"He did really good for his team."

 I have learned something today from 12 year old that I think is worth remembering. 

 Over the past couple of days, I was following the State High School golf tournament and focusing a lot of my enthusiasm around a single player, who was there with his team. When it was all over, the player placed 8th out of about 48, & his team placed 5th out of eight. I was very happy for both but a comment by a 12 year old caused me to rethink. For many of us, golf is a solitary sport, but in high school, it's a team sport made up of individual scores.  I was aware of the team but focused on the boy.

The 12-year-old said, with regard to the player that I was enthusiastically supporting, said "He did really good for his team."

He was aware of the boy,  but focused on the team. 

This story isn't really about golf.

Is this the end?

 I have not firmly decided to discontinue blogging, but I am on a sabbatical for sure.  More to come.

Ending 2025

 Many years ago, my grandparent's sent a Christmas card to my parents that said, in my grandfather, Ansgar's, handwriting, "Thanks for the old year".  I always think of that on New Year's,  and try to thank those who made my year a good one.

It's hard for me to remember much about my year prior to August, when I decided to move, as then moving became the all-consuming topic of my life.  I had many people offer, and give, help during my move and for all of them, I am ever so grateful. Glenn and Kathy came and worked in the garage several times and took more than they probably should have, to help me eliminate "the stuff".  

My housekeeper/packing partner, Casey, took a central role in helping me make this move happen and along the way we became good friends. I can't imagine having done this without her help and I look forward to maintaining a friendship with her.

My friend Mary took box after box of my stuff and then sold it at the dog shop thrift store in Ashland that benefits the Humane Society. It was so helpful to know that my collection was going away for the good of the cats & dogs.

Many others were cheerleaders and although they weren't physically packing boxes, their encouragement was key to my ability to keep making progress. 

As I sit here today looking out on a brisk, sunny Wisconsin winter day, I have nothing but gratitude for my friends and family, whether they played a role in my move or not, I knew that I could rely on them for support if I needed it.

Thanks for the old year.  🎆