Farewell, Bogie

BOGIE [Chu Hill's Bogart Hisata Inu]

August 4, 1994--May 23, 2009

Of the several dogs whose companionship we have enjoyed, Bogie was the happiest, the most loving, and the most devoted. One could not ask for a finer friend than Bogie.

Bogie would 'guard' the door to the kitchen in the evening when I washed the dishes. If Bonnie and I were at opposite ends of the house, Bogie would lie in the hallway half-way between us. When we got into bed to watch television, He used to jump up on the bed and lie as close as he could to one of us. As arthritis set in, he had to forego that pleasure, but he would lie in his own bed at the foot of ours.

He overcame more than his fair share of problems. Once he was bitten by a neighbor's dog. He swallowed some prescription pills for high blood pressure. He came down with a case of 'bloat.' He got a fragment of a rawhide chew stuck in his throat. Each time, he recovered quickly and continued his loving companionship for Bonnie and me.

Bogie enjoyed his daily walks to the fullest. As he grew old, the walks had to be shorter and much slower. But no day was complete for him without one. It seemed like the high spot of his day was when Dad put on his walking hat and got the leash out.

Recently, Bogie became almost completed deaf. But his heart and mind were still strong. The constant pain and stiffness from severe arthritis, combined with what appeared to be a severely abscessed tooth, however, made us decide to release him from his earthly burdens.

Bogie will be sorely missed...

Quinton Update

Our grandson, Quinton is almost 6 months old, so this update is probably overdue. He seems to be getting along fine under Heather's constant care. He is still a little small for his age, so Heather has started to supplement his diet of mama's milk with some rice cereal and vegetables. Like most folks his age, he has some difficulty getting it into his mouth.We sure are glad we decided not move to Washington state. In Yorba Linda we can see Quinton on a regular basis.

Earthquake Again!

This time it was a cluster of 7 small quakes that occurred Thursday and Friday the 23rd and 24th of April.

They ranged in magnitude from 4.0 down to 1.8. They were centered in the Chino Hills about 2 miles north and east of Yorba Linda, roughly 5 miles from the Williamsons' house. They were all very short in duration, and caused little damage. Some of the pictures hanging on our walls were tilted a little.

The quake we had last year was also centered in the Chino Hills, but a local seismologist believes this group appear to have originated from a different location. An article in the Los Angeles times stated that the number of quakes in our area that are magnitude 3 and above has increased in the last year, but they are not sure what it means.

I think it means there are a lot of geologic faults in the area--that's about all.

Welcome, Quinton!

Bonnie and I are grandparents! Quinton Thomas Dale was born on December 2nd to our daughter, Heather, and her husband, Josh.

Quinton weighed in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. He and his mom are doing fine. Bonnie and I were fortunate to visit Quinton just a few hours after he was born. We took our video camera to capture the happy occasion. These pictures are frames from the videos.

Naturally, Bonnie and I are anxious to help Heather as much as we can. She is very busy these days.

Quinton has his own web site: http://www.quintondale.com/

Farewell, Lucy Dear

Lucy

(Sept. 19, 2003 - Dec. 12, 2008)

Bonnie and I said goodbye to Lucy for the last time today.

For about a month now, Lucy was battling cancerous mast cell tumors on her liver and spleen. Steroids mitigated the symptoms some, but chemotherapy apparently had little effect on the tumors. It got to the point where the discomfort was making life miserable for her, so we put her to sleep today.

Bogie, now 14 years old, is still with us and faring well considering all he has been through and his progressive arthritis. And, of course, we have little Jazz, our bouncy red puppy, too.

But we are sad to see Lucy pass at the relatively young age of 5 years. She was lively and lovely. We will miss her very much.

Sunsets

Few sights are as familiar, and at the same time as emotional, as an evening sunset. The anxieties of the nastiest days can be calmed and forgotten during a few minutes of relaxed contemplation as you watch the sun slide below the horizon.

My nephew, Greg, sent me a lovely picture of a recent sunset in Key Largo, Florida.

I immediately remembered a very different sunset that I photographed from my patio in 2006, and sent it to him. If you look closely, you can see the evening star, Venus, near the center about 1/4 of the way down from the top.

Each of these vastly different settings brings a wonderful feeling of peace and tranquility.

Fire!

We have one!

Yorba Linda made the national news Saturday, when a fire came blowing in from Corona. The media eventually named it the Freeway Complex Fire. It has burned 23,722 acres of land and destroyed or damaged 211 homes.

The burn area came within about 5 or 6 miles of the Poochie Williamson residence. That's just a little too close for comfort. We were not asked to evacuate our home, but on Saturday, it looked like we might have to go. The place looked like a scene from operation Desert Storm. We could see flames to the east, and a red halo of flames to the north. The smoke was so thick it nearly blotted out the afternoon sun. What little light we had was an eerie brownish yellow color.

We packed up 3 car loads of paintings, prints, collectables, photographs, prescriptions and vitamins, dog food, leashes, clothing, etc. Sometimes there were hard choices between 'take it' and 'leave it.' Heather & Josh took one car load for us, Amber and Ron took a second, and I put the rest of the stuff in our Maxima. I saw several other families in the neighborhood packing too, but many did not bother to. We knew, though, that if things got bad we could be on the road in a few minutes and many of the most treasured and irreplaceable of our possessions would be safe in nearby Fullerton.

Bonnie and I alternated shifts during the night watching the TV coverage for word of any change.

But we did not have to evacuate. The wind shifted Sunday morning, and the fire headed way north and west of us. Our skies were sunny and clear nearly all day. I unloaded the Maxima Sunday afternoon. The evacuation orders for Yorba Linda were lifted Sunday evening. Heather and Amber brought our stuff back today, and Bonnie and I have nearly everything put back in place.

The fire is about 30% "contained," but is still burning. I expect it will take the firefighters a week or more to extinguish it.

Packing and unpacking the valuables was an ordeal, but when we hear how much was lost by those who had to leave in a hurry we are glad we did it.