home at last

 What a great trip that was.  It was so nice to have such an extended stay with my dad and to see that his health is so good.  I was really surprised that he recovered so quickly from the new pacemaker surgery and is back to his old self again.  I loved hearing the stories again (and again, and again) and getting to spend time with my daughter and son was great too.  But, now it's time to get back to cleaning house and doing chores and getting ready to go back to work again.

 Oh, if only vacations could last a little longer!  I came home with a renewed interest in gardening and am hoping to get out there today and get started.  I woke up early this morning and started watering things.  I sure hope we get some of this rain the scientists promised us with the El Nino weather pattern this fall.  Everything in the Sacramento area is dead and dry, including my front lawn and it is a shock coming from the green Colorado area.

 My sister gave us a ride to the airport and on the way we discussed our growing children.  Her oldest had his first year of college this past year and her youngest is starting high school.  They don't stay babies very long.

 We had to go to the Salvation Army Thrift store yesterday to get a couple extra bags to take home all the treasures we found.  We went to the Goodwill Outlet in Englewood while my dad was in the hospital and I found lots of treasures.  I got 5 leather jackets and they sell things by the pound at the outlet.  In California, it's $1.69 a pound and in Colorado, it's $.99 a pound.  So, I got 22 pounds of clothes for $23 (tax).  You see the little white tag on my suitcase?  It's a little chihuahua and I'm making different dog tags out of the leather and denim and corduroy.  Yes, I can now make 1,000,000 dog tags.  I plan to donate them to the local dog rescue group and hope them make a million dollars off them.  At least it will keep me busy for the next 20 years or so.

The little guy slept about half the way home.  You know how you get when you have an empty seat next to you on the plane and you watch as people come down the isle.  You say a little prayer that they will walk past you?  Yeah, well, the praying worked because nobody sat next to us and I was able to move over.  He was able to lay down, but then chose to sit up and fold into a pretzel for about half the time.  I should have taken a picture of how he was sleeping.  I have no idea how this guy can sit up with his legs crossed up by his neck and his arms wrapped around them and then fall asleep.  He is very proud of this talent!  He is double joined and can wrap his leg around the back of his neck comfortably.  I'll get a picture of that and hope it doesn't gross you out :)

I came home to a very clean house, fresh flowers on the counter and some happy dogs.  I think I was missed!

First order of business today is to get some pool noodles so we can go swimming :)