Christmas 2009

Presents under the tree.

Everyone enjoyed Christmas dinner.

Isiah really enjoyed his trucks and cars.

My Triffle was pretty good too!

Pete's turkey was the best ever.

Joseph plays Maddy's Christmas banjo!

Roxie had Christmas bows in her hair!

Maddy had ACL knee surgey!

Santa Jackson knew if you were naughty or nice!

Santa brought Beth an I-Phone. Now she's really, really cool!

Santa and his older brother!

I had lunch with my brother yesterday and I was suprised to learn how many friends were on his naughty list, lol!

Introducing Marco Fidel Taco Jose Cuervo Sarc!!!

We are pleased to introduce the newest rescued member of the Sarc family, Marco Fidel Taco Jose Cuervo Sarc!!! I'll let you guess what bred he his, lol!
Marco is a Chihauhua Fox Terrier mix, 1 year old, 7 pounds. He was rescued from a kill shelter by Mostly Mutts here in Atlanta and placed in a foster home. He has good house manners, loves toys and can fetch a ball faster than a bullet, lol! It was love at first sight. He gets along very well with Jackson and McCloud and Beth loves him :-)!

While we are still saddened and broken hearted by Janie's passing Beth and I are committed to the rescue of sheltered dogs.

Visit Mostly Mutts at http://www.mostlymutts.org

Janie Sarc 1995 to December 5 2009

When tomorrow starts without me and I'm not there to see the sun will rise and find your eyes all filled with tears for me.I wish so much you wouldn't cry the way you did today remembering how I'd lay my head in your lap that special way. I know how much you love me as much as I love you and each time that you think of me I know you'll miss me too.
But when tomorrow starts without me please try to understand that an angel came and called my name and petted me with her hand. She said my place was ready in Heaven far above and that I'd have to leave behind all those I dearly love.
But as I turned to heel away a tear fell from my eye for all my life I never thought that I would have to die. I had so much to live for so many sits and downs to do it seemed almost impossible that I was leaving you.
I thought about our lives together I know you must be sad I thought of all the love we shared and all the fun we had.
Remember how I'd nudge your hand and poke you with my nose? The frisbee I would gladly chase and the bad guy I'd "bark and hold".
If I could relive yesterday just even for awhile I'd wag my tail and kiss you just so I could see you smile.
But, then I fully realized, that this could never be; for emptiness and memories will take the place of me. And when I thought of treats and toys I might miss come tomorrow I thought of you and when I did, my dog-heart filled with sorrow.
But then I walked through Heaven's gate and felt so much at home; as God looked down and smiled at me from His beautiful golden throne. He said, "This is eternity and now we welcome you, today your life on earth is past but here it starts anew.
I promise no tomorrow but today will always last for you see each days's the same day there's no longing for the past. Now you have been so faithful, s o trusting, loyal and true;though there were times you did things you knew you shouldn't do.
But good dogs are forgiven and now at last you're free; so won't you sit here by my side and Louise and wait right here with me? "So when tomorrow starts without me don't think we're far apart.For every time you think of me,I'm right there, in your heart.

We love you.

Doggy Pals!

Pals for life, lol!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 was celebrated at Beth's parents' home here in Atlanta. We supplied our famous "Better than Sex" trifle and a pecan pie as dessert while Beth's sister Stacey cooked a really good bird!

Look at Me!

As we don't know McCloud's history we were surprised with his ability to sit up. He does it unsolicited and for minute at a time. One thing is for sure he loves his new family and shows great glee when given a chew flip!

New Toy!

A new toy found it's way home during the flooring project and "no" I didn't just do the floors to buy a Porter Cable Air Gun Combo Kit!

Oh did I say it's great for keeping the car tires at perfect pressure too, lol!

The 15 Year Dump!

Along with the flooring project we also ordered a 20 yard dumpster and spent a Saturday morning cleaning the basement of 15 years of "I might need it some day" junk!

Atlanta Furniture Recovery was kind enough to except our donation of 3 mattress sets and other furniture for the less fortunate plus we took several car loads of clothing to the Goodwill and several boxes of donated books to our local library.

New Wooden Flooring

Finally after 15 years of planning we leap into our first really large home improvement project and installed solid red oak flooring in the hallway and stairwell.

The project went smoothly until we realized that we could not use the flooring for the tread part of the stairs! We were forced to buy $300.00 of solid unfinished red oak stair treads and finish them ourselves! We managed to match the stain to the flooring and after about a week of staining and urethaning we had 12 beautiful stair treads.

We love the results.

Home Office

It is so nice to be working out of my home office again and as you can see the office staff is thrilled that I'm back, lol!

Goodbye California!

Wednesday's return trip home marked the close of the 541 store CVS/Longs projects and my endless travel back and forth to California since May!

Sunday with the dogs!

Last Sunday was spent napping. As you can see McCloud and Jackson had no problem with that, lol!

Ikea Date

Finally home from California for good last week Beth and I spent the day shopping at Ikea and had a date dinner at Figo's in Buckhead!

For more visit: http://www.figopasta.com/aboutfigopage.html

Lake Mead

We also flew over Las Vegas and Lake Mead.

Lake Mead carries the name of former U.S. Commissioner of Reclamation Elwood C. Mead and has a capacity of 28.6 million acre feet of water. An acre foot is equivalent to one acre of land covered by one foot of water, or the amount of water used by a family of four in a year.

Grand Canyon

My flight home to Atlanta last week afforded me a spectacular view of the Grand Canyon.

No one knows for sure how the canyon was formed but there are some pretty good guesses. The chances are that a number of processes combined to create the views that you see in todays Grand Canyon. The most powerful force to have an impact on the Grand Canyon is erosion, primarily by water (and ice) and second by wind. Other forces that contributed to the Canyon's formation are the course of the Colorado River itself, vulcanism, continental drift and slight variations in the earths orbit which in turn causes variations in seasons and climate.

For more visit: http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/geology/canform.htm

Sleeping Vendeens!

Evidently there is a favorite sleeping position shared among Petit Basset Griffon Vendeens as both Jackson and McCloud both sleep on their backs, lol!

Wild Turkeys

If you click to enlarge you'll see the wild turkeys I saw on my way home from Lakeport today!

Where the Buffalo Roam!

There was no doubt that I was either five miles before or after the Bison/Buffalo ranch located on Hwy 29 between Ukiah and Lakeport CA. I can’t imagine neighbors in the area are thrilled to live down wind on a hot day.
Bison meat may be good for you but Bison gas is definitely hazardous to your health, lol!

Lake Port, Ca.

This week saw me visiting Lakeport, Ca. which is located on the western shores of Clear Lake.

Lakeport is the oldest community (incorporated in 1888) in Lake County and is also the county seat. The population of the area is about 35,000 with just over 5000 living within the limits of the city itself.

For more visit: http://www.cityoflakeport.com

I'm a New Dog!!!

Well after a complete check-up, a bunch of test, a round of antibiotics for a stress related runny nose, a bath, my nails trimmed and a comb out I'm a new happy dog with a wonderful family to call my own forever!

Even Jackson is really cool!

I love my new home and my new people. I'm soooo glad they found me.

I even have a chip and tag with my name and phone number on it so I'll never get lost again.

McCloud.

2009 Flood

Thought you'd find this interesting! This picture was taken by a friend of the Town Lake and 575 exit that Beth and I use daily!!! The 15 feet of water that covered the corner caused it to be closed for 5 days! The VP and Gov visited our area last Wednesday and declared our county a disaster area!

They are calling this the "100 year flood" now! We're glad we live on a hill, lol!

New Member to the Sarc Family!

Thought I’d show off the newest member to our family! McCloud is a 3 year old PBGV who was a stray that was picked up by Animal Control were he waited for a whole week for his owner to find him, but sadly no one came! Animal control transferred him to the Etowah Valley Humane Society the day before he would have been put to sleep. McCloud weighs 30-35 lbs and is very friendly, loving and really seems to like Jackson, lol!

Jackson and McCloud are both PBGV mixed.

We’re thrilled that we could offer him a forever home!

What I Really Do At Work!

For years my staff and CVS management have enjoyed teasing me because I’ve been known during store visits to sweep the floors! For some reason they all enjoy a good laugh at my sweeping behavior but if you understand or know my family gen pool my phobia is clear, lol!

California Rain!

Well the hot topic of conversation in the Sacramento, Ca area was defiantly the rainy weather early yesterday! I’ve been traveling to California since early June and have never seen the slightest hint of rain. I must say it was a nice change to the perfect sunny days I have been experiencing, lol!

Carmichael Chrome Horse

Artist Sean Guerrero's latest piece of art portrays Ben Ali the 1886 Kentucky Derby winner that lived most of his life at a 44,000-acre horse ranch north of the American River that stretched from what is now Northgate Boulevard on the west to Manzanita Avenue on the east in Carmichael, Ca.

Sean Guerrero grew up in Colorado, in the Denver area. Early on he realized that he had the ability to create sculptures from recycled materials such as wood, steel and plastic. Once Sean discovered the unique opportunities of working with chrome plated steel, taken from old automobile bumpers, it became his preferred medium. His work varies in theme from science fiction, fantasy, nature, to functional.

Pretty cool!

San Francisco Bay Area

European discovery and exploration of the San Francisco Bay Area and its islands began in 1542 and culminated with the mapping of the bay in 1775. Early visitors to the Bay Area were preceded 10,000 to 20,000 years earlier, however, by the native people indigenous to the area. Prior to the coming of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers, over 10,000 indigenous people, later to be called the Oholone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "western people"), lived in the coastal area between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay.

For a complete time line visit: http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/sfh2.html

Thunder Storms!

My return flight to Atlanta 08/18/2009 was surrounded by thunder storms the entire trip causing us to vector around some very large thunder heads as you can see in this picture!

Sunset

Sunset on my return flight to Atlanta 09/02/2009

Moraga Flowers

The CVS in Moraga Ca did a brisk business in flower sales.

They would have gotten my business if I lived locally!

Timber!!!

I also had two sick trees cut down before the start of our fall/winter storm season.