I hope the pictures I posted are following this comentary. Below are Brian and Ashlee, Tabitha, Jon and Gramma.

Well it looks like August is shot. The monsoons came and went and they missed us in Estrella again. Even the cactii is looking skeletal..what can I say. They put up a new "artistic "entry to our community theses past few months. It looks like a rusted 3 layer cake with a point on top and a water fall coming out the bottom ( no I don't have a photo ) I didn't know it lit up until I came home from work the other night and it scared me to death. I thought a UFO had landed and I was about to have an encounter of the 3'd kind. Apparantly they had punched holes all over the sides and put lights inside it so at night I guess it was supposed to look like twinkling stars( Estrella/Stars get it?) . You could have fooled me. It looked like it was either landing or taking off. I am now wondering how much we paid for it. All I know is someone got cheated.

Mom is moving. Not out of her building but to a different appartment in the same building. They upped everyones rent at least 4-500 dollars a month. Mom no longer has Ken's SS or pension and as soon as Ken died Terry immmediately stopped his help ( after mom had waited on and nursed his dad for all those years ) Oh well that's gratitude for you. She still has a one bedroom but no fountain to look at and no front porch. That saved us about 400 $ and gave us a little more room for her furniture with those frech doors gone. The appartment has included utilities now so that should help too. A lot of people had to leave but so far we are squeeking by. Mom is going to have to draw on her last annuity to do it but she is so happy where she is . She has a lot of girlfriends and will be right close to her best friend, gertrude.

In case you didn't notice I threw in a couple of pictures I painted( and a photo of Tabitha) . I have 2 paintings in a gallery now. Hope they sell. Well that's the news from here.

Sorry still no photos. I scan them, save them, and then can't find them. It( my HP) just wants to make me cry. I'm being abused by my printer!! There must be some tax supported, nonprofit, organization out there where people abused by their printers can go for help?....I'm ready!!!

Jon and I were lying in bed the other morning ( now don't get excited..... at our age , believe me ,
lying in bed means just that ...lying in bed), ahem...any way Jon said how would you like to.................retire in October? My heart almost stopped. I grabbed the q-tips , reamed out my ears and said ,"would you repeat that please? He did ..and an overwhelming sence of joy overcame me. After 40 years , I could finally hang up my stethascope and join the ranks of other baby boomers tapped into the coffers of social security in a mass attempt to suck it dry.( I wanna do my part). Anyway It was music to my newly cleaned out ears. Scary too...now what do I do? Hu-u-u-m-m-m...no mon no fun. My job supports all my bad habits. The joy began to ooze out as I realized that all the wild abandon and adrenalin rush that occurs when I careen through malls ,thrift shops , and craft stores might come to a screeching halt. Suddenly retirement didn't look quite so good. But then I thought..no more alarm clock at 4:30 am, I could spend the money I won't be spending on" travel to work gas", no more Altzheimer pts beating up on me.....I thought..... mabey this could work out after all. We will see. I also got the bright idea of being a volunteer for a while on the unit that I worked . I could still see my old friends, refuse to do anything that might be discusting with patients, take breaks whenever I want, don't answer the phone if I don't feel like it, play games and watch movies with the patients and generally let everyone know how great it is not to have to work anymore. ( sweet revenge for all those bad assignments that got dumped on me) Goodness...Is that me talking? (hee,hee)

Gotta go..Jon just walked in the door an yelled, "whats for dinner?" and all I've got is computer paper and left over gravy...yumm. You think he might withdraw that retirement offer?