Regular readers of this Journal may know that I have very little drawing ability.

In fact, my drawings of people are much closer to raw stick figures than to anything resembling real people.

But, many years ago, I was completely humbled and in awe when one of my two goddaughters showed that she was well on her way to becoming a great artist — at the ripe old age of two years.

And by the time she was ten years old, she could [more...]

One night, a couple of months ago, I noticed that Petey, our cat, was crying in his litterbox.

So, the next morning, I took him to the vet, thinking that maybe he had a bladder infection.

The vet examined him and said that everything looked and felt normal, so it probably wasn’t an infection.

But I asked for him to [more...]

How much does it cost to go to the movies these days?

I’ve been told that, around here, it’s normally about $10 (USD) per ticket, but you have to pay about $8 more if you want to see a 3D movie.

That’s $18 per person. I just can’t imagine any movie that my wife and I would be willing to pay $36 to see.

In fact, the last time we went to a movie theater, it cost [more...]

I was still awake at the stroke of midnight, when my birthday started.

Laying in bed, I was cuddling Max in the crook of my left arm; with my right hand, I was petting Bud as he lay in his doggie bed, on the floor next to my side of the bed. Petey was laying on my wife’s hip as she slept.

We all slept-in late this morning.

Then, I fed all of the pets their breakfast, let the dogs [more...]

Most dogs immediately start running and jumping around, and turning in excited circles when you ask them if they want to go for a ride in the car.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I started a new tradition with Max. I work every Saturday morning, but nearly every Sunday morning, we take him for a ride in the car.

Sometimes we drive down the scenic coastal road for awhile. Other times, we take the bridge into the city and then turn around and head home. Still other times, we drive to our local [more...]

When I was a kid, that’s what all of my friends would ask after Christmas every year.

Then we’d all describe the coolest new toys we had received.

And ridicule the relatives who had cluelessly given us clothing or pajamas.

When I became an adult, important Christmas activities quickly evolved from “What’dya get?” to “What’dya give?”

That’s when I learned [more...]

Regular readers of this Journal know that I like photos and videos of cute pets.

And animals that can “talk” are always have a high “cuteness” factor.

We’ve probably all seen videos of birds, dogs, and even cats that can talk.

But have you ever seen a talking porcupine?

I have — and he sounds exactly like [more...]

Tonight, as I type this, it has been exactly five months since I rescued Bud.

He happily lived in our garage for more than two months, sleeping in a large greyhound-sized dog crate that we borrowed from our next-door neighbors — along with their window air-conditioner, which kept him comfortable during the hot, humid Sunshine State summer.

But, on this past Labor Day weekend, we gave the crate back. [more...]