Taking the bad with the good...

The good - I have the best volunteer job in the world.  Yesterday I cuddled dogs as they came out from sedation.  The young dogs who arrive at Guide Dogs for the Blind go through a complete medical workup prior to their training.  For their hip and elbow x-rays they are sedated and I get to sit with them as they wake up.  These two cuties both wanted to be in my lap.  Vino is a Golden Retriever and Henry is a Lab/Golden Cross.  He is the first black cross I've seen.  His personality was all Golden Retriever even though he could have passed for a black lab. 

                                        

The bad - when I arrived home this letter was waiting for me, inviting me to be part of a select group testing hearing aids!  They were looking for people like me 'who may be experiencing some level of hearing loss'.  Yikes, I really am a senior citizen!

Where your treasure is....

A few words of advice from Christina......Keep your treasures close.

 Always within chewing distance.....

 You never know when the urge to chew might strike! Or which treasure might be the flavor or shape of the moment!

The best place to keep your very favorite treasure is in your mouth! There is nothing like a little peanut butter in your 'kong'.  It can keep you busy for hours but you should keep your second favorite close at hand just in case you need a change of chews!

Waldo??

Remember the "Where is Waldo?" books?  This is a "Where are George and Marilyn?" post?  We are somewhere on this page of photos from "Oregon Puppy Fun Days". This comes from the Guide Dogs News Magazine.  Can you find us?

If I had known they were taking our picture, I definitely would have sucked in more!!!!

Happy birthday!

Today is my mother's 93rd birthday.  I was going to say 'today would have been my mother's 93rd birthday' until I realized that it still IS her birthday.  She has just been celebrating it in Heaven these last few years!  In honor of her, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite photos of her from before I was even born!  This one must have been made before she and Daddy got married.

 I love this one.  She is ice skating on the fish hatchery ponds.  In all my years living in Lonoke, I never remember the fish hatchery ponds freezing hard enough for ice skating.  I love her stylish outfit and the expression on her face that showed how much fun she was having!

Daddy and Momma lived in Boston on Beacon Hill for a few years before I was born.  Again she looks so stylish.  I have a letter she wrote my Aunt Mary during this time.  She commented that all the 'yankees' wore clothes that 'we' would consider fall clothes all year round.  My mother always loved clothes and fashion.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of her and miss her!  I was blessed to have had her in my life for 56 years.

Marriage Advice

Last week our wonderful Sunday school teacher gave a lesson on making your marriage 'celestial'.  After going through some scriptures about marriage, he said that there was a lot of marriage wisdom and experience in the class.  Then he passed out notecards to all of us and asked each person to give their best marriage advice.  I thought the advice was so good, that I took all the notecards home and typed them into a list to give to the class.  And I think the list is so wise that I thought I'd keep sharing.....

If you aren't married then I think most of these words of wisdom apply to any relationship.  

Or course, husbands could do well to just follow the advice "Do what she says."  Think of all the problems that would solve!!!!  I'm kidding, well sort of kidding!!!

Wisdom from the Crowd

Lakeridge Gospel Doctrine Class September 1, 2013

How to make your Marriage Celestial:

·      Constant preoccupation with the happiness and welfare of your spouse

·      Complete honesty; 100% honest communication

·      No judgment

·      Communication with children

·      Trust, patience, compassion, selflessness, long suffering, respect, equality forgiveness,   repentance, honor, kindness

·      Be a better listener than a talker

·      It is easier to get used to someone than to change them

·      Pray together as a couple every night

·      Stay on the same side, even when disagreeing

·      Always use kind words; withhold criticism; only focus on positive attributes

·      Be nice at all costs, even if you are about to pass out from the pain

·      Parent together, don’t let your children ‘divide and conquer’

·      Have fun together, just the two of you without the kids; weekly dates, nurture closeness; flowers, cute notes and texts, hold hands

·      Humor goes a long way

·      Go to the temple together; make this a monthly date.

·      Be willing to do the ‘tough stuff’ while being completely honest

·      Don’t focus on criticizing and changing your spouse; focus on ‘being the right person’ for your spouse.

·      Forgive, again and again forever and ever!

·      Let insignificant things go.

·      Positive and uplifting comments to each other

·      Appreciate the small things

·      Pick your battles

·      Treat your spouse like a king or queen and then you will be treated as a king or queen

·      Seek first to understand and then be understood

·      Be open to your partner’s ideas

·      Don’t yell at your spouse unless there is a fire!

·      Say “you’re probably right’

·      Say, “I’m sorry” even when you don’t know why you are saying it.

·      Work at your marriage

·      Do what she says!

·      Don’t worry so much about your financial investments for retirement; instead invest in your spiritual 401 K – your spouse!

·      Love like Jesus taught.

·      Humility; remember the only person you can change is yourself.

·      Study the scriptures together daily and pray for each other and your family.

·      Remember ‘I am not as great as I think I am and my spouse is not as bad as I think’

·      Remember  YOU ARE NOT PERFECT!

·      Laugh more and worry less.

·      SMILE!!!!

·      Give each other their own space and time.

·      Bear your testimony to your spouse regularly.

·      Speak with respect and kindness always

·      See your spouse as an individual no matter joy, anger sorrow….

·      Follow the prophet

·      Pray to be worthy of the Holy Spirit every day

·      Be grateful

·      Give service to each other

Fun in the Sun

We had a couple of days of rain last week and I admit it made me a little depressed as I remembered that winter is coming and with it, gray skies and days of drizzle.  Yesterday though was one of those
absolutely perfect Portland days and we took full advantage as we went on another beautiful hike.

As he read about this hike, George was nervous anticipating these drop offs but there was a metal bar to hang onto if needed, the trail was quite wide and it wasn't slippery so he was just fine.

Oregon is seriously beautiful!  Garden of Eden kind of beautiful! Don't you agree?

Our destination today was the very picturesque "Punchbowl Falls"!

We continued past the falls to the "High Bridge" which George managed to cross.....quickly cross!

In his defense it was a long, long way down!

The mile past this bridge is known as "The Vertigo Mile" so George decided this was the perfect place to turn around. We had to get back anyway as we had tickets to a Portland Timbers game.  Very fun ending to a perfect day!  Timbers won 4 - 0. One of the most exciting parts of a win like that is that when they score 3 goals, Papa Murphy's gives ticket holders a coupon for a free tub of cookie dough!  Delicious!  Monday night we'll have pizza and cookie dough! We both love the dough so I haven't decided if I'll actually bake the cookies or not! Thanks Timbers!!!

Ramona Falls

Hiking in Oregon is just beautiful!  I am pretty sure that heaven will look like Oregon, minus the months of rain!

A short walk over a 'seasonal bridge' got us on the trail to Ramona Falls, said to be the most romantic waterfall in Oregon.

Mount Hood even peaked through the clouds a few times.

Ramona Falls was as beautiful as we had been told.  I'm not sure about the 'romantic part' as there were tons of people there.

 I love the way the water looked in these photos.

 I told George that I could sauté this mushroom for dinner but he wasn't convinced.

 The Sandy River was named the "Quicksand River' by Lewis and Clark because of all the sand but the name was shortened.  It is an interesting gray color.

I love living in Oregon!

Kayaking on the Willamette

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day; just perfect for trying out our new kayaking skills on the Willamette River.

The Oregon City bridge was built in 1922 and recently renovated.  Some motorcycle gangs require their new members to ride up and down the arch.  The concrete is about 4 feet wide and very steep.  Crazy! 

We paddled down to Willamette Falls, which has the 2nd largest average volume of water of any waterfall in the US.   That is hard to believe when you look at this photo!  Our guide said that it was almost the 'Willamette Cliffs' tour. There is not much water right now.  Still a fun day and so great to still be enjoying the sun!

#8 Armando

Armando is our 8th foster dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind and our second 'active guide'.  We had him for 11 weeks while the person he guides recuperated from surgery.  I will admit that it was not 'love at first sight' for me.  But after having him for about one day I realized what a gem of a dog he is!  Sweet tempered, never barks, loves everyone and every dog, and very obedient!  What more could you want? To keep him from being tempted to beg, we decided to put him in his crate when we ate dinner.  After about the 2nd day of doing this, I realized that every single time I sat down at my table at any time of the day, for any reason, Armando headed right into his crate and stayed there until we told him  that he could come out.  Also any time I said "Crate", he immediately ran in!  What a smart boy!

 To make him happy I combined two of his favorite things: his Kong and baby carrots!

 This combination kept him entertained for hours!

Ok, here is his one 'naughty habit'!  If I got on the couch to watch TV, he thought he should be there too.  Perfect place to catch a little nap!  I only let him do it a couple of times though . I didn't want Guide Dogs to fire me as a Foster Care provider.   Doesn't he look comfy?

 Last Tuesday I got the call to bring him back to the campus for two days of guide review and then he was going back to his real life as a working guide dog.  We will miss him but are happy that he is back to doing what he was born and trained to do.