It's a big effort to change locations. "What's wrong with where you are?" is a question you might hear. Most people like to hold still, liking the solidity of a known home, neighborhood, the people around you, your favorite grocery store. It feels safe.

I'm one of those people who loves where I'm at, for a while, and then it's time to move on. My brother, on the other hand, has lived in the same house, in the same small town, for almost 40 years. Did we really come from the same parents?

When I was younger, I moved a LOT. In the first 15 years I lived in Colorado, I moved 17 times. Gypsy feet. Looking back, pretty excessive, but it was fun while I did it.

Where we live now. If you do anything with horses, this is the place for you.

We've been in the house we're in now for going on 10 years. That is the longest I've lived anywhere, if you don't count the first 14 years of my life, when we lived in the same house on the same street with my cousins right next door. The furniture go...

That's Furs as in animal friends, not coats or shawls. 

Glenn and I are traveling. The horses are covered always, since we have a barn manager and haven't actually had to go out ourselves and slog feed or manure for some months. But the dogs! The cats!

A good friend is coming to stay with them. She's an animal lover par excellence. 

The cats will be very unhappy, because when we're gone they're not allowed out the front door. Doesn't mean they won't try, though, and we'll have to make sure we emphasize how slippery and speedy Jackson can be. He's got that beaming-himself-out-the-door routine down. They can still go out onto the back deck - but it's not the same. No trees. No bushes to hide under. No mom or dad hovering near the door trying to coax them back in.

Jackson the potted cat.

The dogs probably won't be thrilled, either. Since Glenn has retired, the dogs have gotten used to daily trips in the truck. Doesn't matter where it goes, so long as it goes. They usually get to go...

Ghosts. Spirits. Who is going "I don't believe in those" or "LaLaLaLaLaLa, scares me, don't want to know!"

The spirits around us generally leave us be. They have better things to do than rattle chains, tip over chairs, and make spooky noises that have the hair on the back of our necks standing up straight.

However....sometimes they have been part of a family for a long time, and want to let their loved ones know they're okay.

A friend of mine, Leslie, and her husband lost one of their dogs not too long ago. Zena had been with them for years. She was Scott's dog, mostly.

She got sick, very sick. Their other dog, Maisie, considerably younger, took to creeping around the house. She didn't want to disturb her ill and aged sister too much.

Maisie (grey) taking care of sister Zena

As Zena's time to pass came closer, the family drew in. They loved Zena, told her what a good dog she was, how important she was to the family. It wasn't anything she hadn't heard before, but it was especia...

What do you call your dogs? Do they have pet names? What is is about us humans, that we have to have special names for those we love? (Glenn calls me Babe - which has nothing to do with the pig - I think.)

We call Amy and Bernadette  "The Puppies" - they just turned 9, for crying out loud. But that's how we call them - "Puppies! Puppies!" The fact that when we do that they come running might have something to do with why we keep calling them Puppies.

8 weeks old. Bernadette on the left, Amy with the white spot on her forehead.

We got Amy and Bernadette from a friend who always liked to give her girl dogs one litter of puppies before being spayed. Momma was a Labradoodle. Poppa was an Australian Shepherd (as opposed to a Rolling Stone). The Puppies look like Poppa except more slender than your typical Aussie, and they're more mid-sized, about 35 lbs each.

When we first saw them we were deep into whatever season of Big Bang Theory (BBT) was on the air. We asked the puppies what the...