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Benny: A Very Good Boy

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Benny came to me on October 17, 2015, from Southeast Corgi Rescue (SECR), with an estimated age of 8-10 years. He passed on March 1, 2024.   Benny had been slowing down for a while – to be expected at 16-plus years old. Until mid-January, his appetite was strong; his mobility had declined some but remained sufficient. He slept a lot, ate well, and enjoyed his life. I bought a ranch-style house for us in 2022 when we moved from Atlanta to Athens. It was the perfect house for Benny. He thrived here, and it was easier for me too because he needed only occasional assistance getting around. My Atlanta condo was up a flight of stairs, and Benny could no longer handle those stairs. By the time I sold the condo, I was carrying him up and down several times a day. It was hard on both of us, so we were happy to be in a house that suited us better.   In early January this year, we made our last trip to Jekyll Island. I wondered if it would be his last, but hoped he had another one in him. By mid
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Honoring Jack

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Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge Photo by Jack D. Culpepper Jack D. Culpepper March 2, 1959 - April 21, 2018 Eulogy by J.D. Bricken Wildlife Refuge Manager Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge Jack the Forester Jack served as the forester for Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge and Pee Dee National WildlifeRefuge , and I had the opportunity to work with him for 11 years. Jack loved his job. Not only did he care about the forest as a whole, but he seemed to care about each tree. He oversaw the timber harvest of thousands of acres at the Sandhills refuge and hundreds of acres at the Pee Dee refuge. His strategy for thinning timber was always based on the overall health of the forest and improving the habitat for wildlife.  photo credit: unknown Jack the Forest Ecologist photo by Cliff Berger/USFWS When Jack first came to help at Pee Dee NWR, we were eager to harvest several tracts of timber. My
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Benny, The Rescue

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I first saw a picture of Benny–then called Mendell–on the Carolina Corgi Rescue FaceBook page on July 16, 2015. I felt an immediate connection with the sweet puppy staring back at me, but it was too soon. Melvin had just passed away on June 29 , and Mendell was clearly a senior dog with some health issues. So I looked away. I thought of him over the coming days, but each time I put him out of my mind. When the time is right, the right dog will come along, I told myself. I spent the rest of the summer missing Melvin and trying to enjoy my new freedom. Melvin had required extra attention the last year or so of his life, so why not take a break from the responsibility? It’s so much easier and less expensive to live life without a dog. No more vet bills. No more carrying Melvin up and down stairs that he could no longer navigate. No more planning my day and week around my geriatric dog. Yes, that made so much sense. But my heart ached. I missed Melvin. By mid-September I decided to
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Melvin Got His Wings

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June 29, 2015 I said goodbye to dear Melvin yesterday, on his 16th birthday. A noticeable decline began last week while we were in Atlanta and continued through the weekend. By Sunday night I knew it was likely time to let him go. Monday morning confirmed my fears. How perfect that perfect-Melvin should leave this world on the same day he entered it. We spent the day together. In the morning we sat on the porch of the cabin. He mostly slept while I looked through the hundreds of pictures I've taken of him through the years. In the afternoon we visited my mom, my sister, and all his dog friends. I adopted Melvin when he was a year old. Fifteen years he's been with me. He was with me when I turned 40, then 50. He was with me when I bought the land and the first time I camped on it. He was with me for every construction weekend while we built the cabin. He walked the path to Mama's house countless times. He was a great traveler and made the transition between country lif
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Happy New Year!

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I love this picture. I took it last February during a snow at the cabin. The picture captures only five, but there were dozens of cardinals outside my window, in the trees and on the ground—red jewels adorning the snow-covered woods. There’s no snow here now. Just soggy gray skies with the hope of clearing later today. I’ve been thinking about my hopes for the coming year. I won't bore you with the details of my 2015 goals. Suffice it to say that a renewed commitment to good health is at the top of my list, along with the continued pursuit of simplicity and avoidance of excessive consumerism, allowing time in my life for what matters most to me–family, friends, animals (especially dogs), and nature. Wishing you all a happy 2015—a year full of love, joy, peace and good health.
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Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas, family and friends. I love creating my Christmas card every year -- selecting a favorite photograph or two, creating the card, crafting the message, and addressing each one. Signed, sealed and stamped with love – it's a Christmas wish, from my heart to yours. Whether taped to the fridge or the mantel, or simply tossed in a pile on the desk, a card sent the old fashioned way is sweetest. But it ain't happening for me this year! Here's the card I created in early November, just before I grabbed the tail of a tornado.
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Just for the Fun of It

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I was feelin' crafty over the weekend and made this sweet little wreath from muscadine vines that grow wild on my property. I spray-painted it white and added a burlap ribbon. LOVE IT! My sister has a small interiors shop in a nearby antique store, and I decided to make a few wreaths for her shop. I had so much fun! Creating the wreaths inspired me to write for my blog again. It's been a long time since I wrote just for the fun of it. Oh, I've been writing – grant proposals, white papers, market analyses, and other serious stuff. I enjoy business and medical writing, which is mostly what I do these days. I like learning about a new subject and find it very satisfying when I deliver a manuscript that meets a client's needs. But I'm experiencing a bit of a lull right now; that's the nature of freelancing. Sometimes there is too much work; sometimes there isn't enough. Rarely is it just right. It seems that every time I have more than a day or two of unc
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