On the Road Again! Me and Kola Hello and happy end of October! Here in the Pacific Northwest (US), we have had a glorious display of fall colors amidst a lot of rain. Everywhere we look, bright yellows, oranges and reds mix with the evergreens and it's truly remarkable. With the winds and rain, I suspect we hit the color peak this past week and soon we'll be looking at bare trees and evergreens. The highlight of my recent life is that last week we went on our first real trip in our new RV. It...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Hello! Me and Kola So, I am testing out the name "Happy Tails and Inspiring Trails" for this newsletter. What do you think? I've been on a roll with writing this week. So far, I've managed one essay per day. I hope to get two more done, but here's a mini-confession. I won't publish these last two until next week while I am on vacation. My wife and I are going to take our new RV out for five nights as a fall getaway to celebrate our 8-year Wedding Anniversary. It's kind of late in the season,...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Happy Friday! Me and Kola I hope it's been a wonderful week for you. For me, it's been one of what felt like non-stop appointments. I had to get a Covid test for a medical test I needed to have done, then the test (all good!), two car appointments, three if you count taking my teenage daughter to get new tires following an upsetting flat, and a quick vet tech visit for Kola. Oh - and I also had to run to UPS to pick up a package that they said could not be delivered because we were not home -...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Hello, Happy October 1st. It is a beautiful fall day here with our house half enshrouded in fog and half bathed in sunbeams bouncing through the trees. I hope this message finds you happy and healthy. The fall makes me want to start baking and nesting, sort of preparing for winter. Oh, who am I kidding? I don't think I've stopped baking since Covid began! There's nothing quite as comforting as freshly baked chocolate chip cookies still warm from the oven. I am thinking of baking something I...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Greetings! I hope you have had a wonderful week, or if that is too much pressure, a decent week. The above picture is of me and my niece during a wine tour this summer. The lessons learned will be shared in a story being published next week. It's been another hectic week but was highlighted with excellent news. Our cat Jasper has had a heart murmur for the past few years. About two years ago we took him to a cardiac specialist where they did an ultrasound and found no sign of heart problems....
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Hello! I hope this finds you happy and healthy. It's been a bit of a tough week for me, so this letter is a tad light today. Last week, my wife had a three-day killer headache. We thought it was stress, but as we started adding up symptoms, realized it could be a breakthrough case of Covid. (We've been fully vaccinated since April 22.) It was gone by Friday and we were greatly relieved. I had a slight sore throat Thursday night, but it was gone the next morning, as well. I chalked my sore...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Hello from Kola and Me! This Week How to Tell If Your Cat is "Normal" A Completely Unscientific but Useful Set of Questions to Consider In this not-to-be-taken-too-seriously essay, I pose some questions and answers to help you determine if your cat is on the outside of normal. 11 Ways to Make Better Cats Cat Cats Be Improved Upon?Inspired by an auto-generated title, I tackle the challenge to come up with 11 ways to improve upon the basic cat model. See if you agree with my thoughts, and...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Hello! Do you remember a time before pets? My wife and I were together for about three years before deciding to add pets to the mix. We'd both had them before, but were between furry companions when we met. As you can imagine, two kittens and one puppy upended our lifestyle in ways we should have foreseen, but didn't. Sure pets are inconvenient sometimes, but well worth it, right? Right? Right? What's your experience been? Dakota and Kola This Week From Feelgood Freedom to a House Full of...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read
Greetings! You know those weeks that streak by in a blur leaving you uncertain where the time went and questioning why your "to-do" list only got longer? I'm happy to say my week was only a bit like that. I was so on-track Monday and Tuesday and then somehow mixed up Wednesday and Thursday never sure which it was, leaving me only Friday to try to recover the week before going into the weekend. So far, this Friday is working out well and I anticipate a good day. Hopefully by end of it I will...
over 3 years ago • 3 min read