Lizard Chapter 4: WONDERING WHERE HE WENT

Days passed -- maybe even years. Every once in awhile I'd think of him.  Even though we didn't really play together when he visited, I liked him a lot. I wondered where he went when he wasn't around.

I felt like I knew him from somewhere, some time a long long time ago. I know it sounds strange but he felt like my father, my brother, my son, my friend, he felt like everything all wrapped up into one. 

I think Kate liked him a lot too, even though we really never talked about him.  

Lizard Chapter 3: HE COMES BACK A THIRD TIME

He was Over Her Head

The next time we saw Lizard he showed up on the front porch of our house and he just sat there a little higher than Kate's head.  We came up the steps one day and there he was.  He just sat and looked at us and we stood and looked at him.  "Nice to see you again." said Kate.  He just blinked.  He was trying to tell me something, I wasn't sure what.  It was something important.  

Lizard

He stayed there for a few days.  He stayed there until the day we took Grady to the vet and came back to the house without her.  I don't remember seeing him when we came home, but maybe he was there. Kate and I were pretty upset about what had happened and maybe we just walked by him and never saw him.  

Godspeed Grady

Lizard Chapter 2: HE COMES BACK A SECOND TIME

Every once in awhile I would think I saw Lizard over at our house around the corner from Joanne's, but then sometimes I would think maybe it wasn't him.  Lots of lizards look the same.  There was one that kind of looked like him and he would come hang out and we would play a little bit.  I think he was a different lizard though because Mr. Lizard was more serious than that.  I don't think Mr. Lizard was the kind of lizard that wanted to play and be chased and jump around like most lizards do.

My Friend Mr. Lizard Chapter 1: WHEN WE MET

I remember the first time I saw him.  He was hanging out at our friend Joanne's house right before her husband went to the hospital.  Everything was so serious and somber and yet Mr. Lizard was the biggest coolest-looking lizard I ever saw.  Usually I liked to chase lizards but this one... this one commanded respect.  This one seemed, somehow, to be my friend.  He was different from the others but I wasn't sure why.  He used to hang out under the light on the wall outside Joanne's front door.  

One day we learned that Joanne's husband died at the hospital.  We brought some dinner over for her.  We said "Hello" to Mr. Lizard when we arrived.  We said "See you tomorrow, Mr. Lizard," when we left.  When Tomorrow came Mr. Lizard was gone.  It was strange.  He had been there for many days and then we didn't see him for the longest time.  

You Can't Change Your Destiny

Welcome to Tarot.com
Scorpio Horoscope for Today

Tuesday.
Circumstances appear to be pushing you into a corner today, but the lightning bolt of awareness strikes just when you start to feel hopeless. Your new perspective changes the rules of the game. You're not restrained by old patterns any longer if you can see yourself in a different light. Ironically, the external situation may stay the same for a while, but at least you are now free to explore alternative options before deciding what to do next.

Memories of California -It Wasn't All Bad

I'm looking back on our California experience. We have recovered, are moving forward again, and realize what a necessary part it was of our life.

Typical Ranch View

Ranch Bedroom

Ranch yard

View from my ranch bedroom

What an amazing journey. It was a beautiful place.

Sycamore Canyon Rd -- I traveled this road every day to get to the highway to get to work

Ranch Resident

The Ranch where I lived

Entrance to Ranch

My favorite part of the Ranch driveway

Jack and I on a hike

Hiking high above Walnut Creek

40 Days and Nights in The Bay Area

OK -- We tried! We changed our life for a job in Walnut Creek California. We packed our car drove the 13 hours on Halloween Day which was also my birthday. She started work on November 2. Six weeks later we have packed our bags and returned to Sedona. The job wasn't bad -- but working hard 50+ hours per week and not clearing $900/week didn't cut it. The taxes in California are killers! 9%+ on just about everything.

The room we rented was on a 22 acre horse ranch which was spectacular -- but on the second week our room was ransacked by our four-legged roommate. We started looking for another place to live. Meanwhile in the six weeks we were there she suffered a terrible head cold, tonsillitis, 1/2 dozen migraine headaches, daily intestinal distress -- and that was just the beginning. We even did a home visit to a client in Oakland and our car was vandalized while we were in the lady's house. That was about the last straw.

By the time we got home to Sedona, she had lost nine pounds and I had lost 11! It was an example of living in a place that didn't support us. We were running into the wind, swimming upstream in everything we did. Nothing was easy. The mountain ranges were gorgeous and the weather was beautiful, but life in California can be tough. Eight lane highways, overpassing eight lane highways and a rush hour that lasted most of the day and through the weekend too. The company she worked for was excellent, however there were many disappointments.  She was told some things up front that did not come to be true. So it was not just one thing that pushed us out of California, but the overall life situation.

Her landscape photos are posted on Facebook. I mostly wanted to post the photos of the place we were living. She "feng shui-ed" it and that was the best part of our stay : )

Scroll down further to see photos of me and our ransacked room!

Our Bedroom - BEFORE

Our Bedroom - AFTER

"Design on a Dime"
(COST: Futon/Craigslist $200 Lamp/Shade/GoodWill $3.99 Bedside Tables/GoodWill $8.98 Velvet Drapes/Marshalls $12.00 Sheers/Hospice Thrift Shop $6.00 Leaf Canvas/GoodWill $3.99)

Livingroom - BEFORE

Livingroom - AFTER

Cost $0

BEFORE

(that was me and him "before" our episode)

AFTER

(Cost $0)


Diningroom - BEFORE

Diningroom - AFTER

(Cost: $9 for silk ficus tree at GoodWill)

DEFINITE FENG SHUI DON'TS:

Really BAD Feng Shui --Here's our First Impression of a Most Non-Nourishing Kitchen

It is not just bad Feng Shui -- it is toxic! It was a toxic environment in most ways.

Our roommate was adorable, delightful, bright and witty.

And she lived in a cluttered mess!

We didn't feng shui her private space. We didn't go in there. We left 'well enough" alone.

How did she sleep in this BED this way? But she did somehow!

CANINE RELATIONSHIP BUILDING:

Getting to know you....

She was never sure if we were playing or fighting. It was a fine line as he and I were learning to live together. He wanted to dominate and you can't blame him. He lived there before I moved in. I never wanted to make a problem and I tried to stay sweet and friendly. I couldn't help it, though, when we played I would always "win,  pinning him to the floor on his back beneath my smiling playful face.

It just made him mad over time, I guess.

But one day both Kate and the lady went to work and us two dogs were left alone together. 

When she arrived home later that night, this is what she found:

A RANSACKED ROOM!

The bed had been made and the room was spotless when she left that morning. And this is silly, but she actually made the bed before she took this picture (second nature!)
"Somebody" had drawn back all the sheets down to the mattress and had eaten cardboard in our bed! Little grey pieces of cardboard -- I still don't know what that was.

"I didn't do it!"Our stuff was strewn all through the house -- this was the livingroom. 

Can you believe he ate the HANGER! And our flashlight too!

I still have the big scab to prove it. We knew we had to leave and while we earnestly sought a new place to live in California, it was not long before we knew we had to leave this place altogether.

"What on Earth are we doing here?"

This is how I ask permission to come up on the bed with you. Now I ask

"Can we just go HOME? Please?"

"Oh God help me."