Hello Wonderful World Of Online Friends!!!!!!

Randy, How romantic....I was wondering when you said, "The girl of my dreams" So wonderful to hear what an excellent trip you had, it was as if you were reliving that night, under the stars....truly lovely!!! Barb

Hello Randy,
I hear you and understand...I would personally miss your blogging about life in general etc etc. I enjoy reading and commenting on your blogs...since Spring 2007, as I recall!! I am consumed living my life right now, so I am rarely on line except for work or grad school.
Please don't just disappear like our retired judge...in Utah!!!
I feel like I have really gotten to know you and I enjoy hearing about your 4 kids lives as well...especially happy you and your son got a chance to spend time together earlier in the year. You my friend, make me think....laugh out loud....remind me of my days going to Ganesha High School in Pomona, living in my brother's fraternity house, as he was my legal guardian for a couple of years.
Do think about it....and it may make me commit to at least one blog every couple of weeks??!!
Enjoy your garden and all the wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables coming your way!! much love and laughter sent your way Randy, your mybloggers friend Barb

Oh Randy,
I have to admit I am so envious, I wish I could just GO to the "Reason Rally" with you!!!! My religion is "LOVE" and Parker is a baptized Episcopalian for the last 20 years. His father was an atheist and an engineer to boot!! So it is possible to accept one another at face value and one of my motto's has always been, "Whatever works best for YOU" I have literature on the coffee table titled "Freedom from Religion foundation" as well as one of his old bibles. Who knew I could ever find a life partner who is madly in love with me and my "Recovering Catholic" status!!! I told him a little bit about you and your beliefs and he is thrilled to know I have others who share my beliefs etc etc
We had a commitment ceremony as we both feel strongly that until EVERYONE can legally MARRY the person they are in love with....we can wait!!! I love to say it as much as possible that we don't mind "living in sin," it always gets a loud laugh, even from his Mother!! My point being NEVER SAY NEVER!!! Happy trails and a safe journey there and back!! Bring information to share with others, like your 12+ page piece that you sent to me back in 2007. Make new contacts for yourself. You may even find a special someone, you'll know!!! Above all else have a hell of a Happy Healthy Birth-day, wow 69 so young!!!
For my 50th in April we are throwing a Fiesta even with a pinata with adult content!! A bucket of Margarita's ought to get the party started!! Plus I finally decided that I am ready to commit to 4 more semesters to finish my MSW Graduate degree with a 4.0 GPA I might add!! So it will be better than celebrating my 40th four years straight!! Just cut loose and have a WONDERFUL FUN FILLED TRIP!!!! always your faithful mybloggers friend Barb

The pie sounds like it could be a wonderful granola concoction!!!??? Just saying............I have to confess this was my second SB game in my entire life!!!! Parker played in Jr and HS school, so to say he is a passionate foot ball fan is putting it very mildly!!! He makes the calls before the Umps get a chance!!! The funny part is that we even go to the local HS games, as for the last 11+ years Paradise HS has been the top dog in our rural part of northern Ca. We were at one of his friends house and he broke out "dancing" when Madonna was on.....that was the highlight of my afternoon/evening!!! Keep an open mind/heart/soul when you do go out with another woman!! People 2 years ago would never believe me and Parker could live together this long, but he is an incredible man. My top five critical categories to get involved with anyone are as follows: 1)Mutual Respect 2)Mutual Honesty 3)Mutual Love 4)Great Sense of Humor and 5)Eccentric to a degree....then the other things just all fall into place...He is the first man that I actually had true intimacy with, without sexual intercourse!!!! Who knew what I was missing all those years!!!?? He made me "Go Steady" because of my nightmare history and being brought up in the system as a ward of the court, really had skewed my ability to stay in a healthy, safe relationship!!! It was worth the 48 years of waiting for him, he says the same about me, MOST DAYS!!!! As always my mybloggers friend.....sending you much love and laughter your way, Barb

Dear Mr. Smith!!!
We vent, complain, share love, joy and laughter among many other things and feelings here at MyBloggers.com!!! No need to feel like you ever have to stop complaining or venting your thoughts and day to day ups and downs!!! Some of us are grateful as we have that at home with someone, or we pick up the phone and VENT, #####, COMPLAIN!!!!
You have worked hard and earned everything you have in your life....but as you know it is not "things" in our lives that make us happy and healthy, it is the joy, love, laughter with our loved ones/complete strangers!!! Your going to be 94 someday....if you keep up what you have been doing. Being so independent from the world food supply is HUGE!!!! I still depend on the Farmers Market and the Co-op for our food and I am looking forward to the day when we are 100% relocated to the Parker Ranch in northern Santa Barbara County!!! Parker and his brother are putting in a citrus orchard as it is prime growing area for citrus, and off to the Farmer's market one day we shall be selling, not just buying!!! I never learned to can and I am slowly learning how EASY it is to have your own food year round!!! Living off the grid at the 40 acre ranch is both of our dreams, no mortgage, total solar, compost-able toilets etc etc. Sorry I rambled but hey you know me, I tend to do that!! I'll post an update soon so my mybloggers friends can be in the know!! take care friend of mine....

BIZARRE middle of post.....I found an old friend from Ganesha HS and that is is info??? I thought the black hole of the INTERNET was weird....how that got to your mybloggers post boggles my mind!!
www.avvo.com/attorneys/93101-ca-tomas-castelo-290589.html

Randy- Got my MO-JO working!! That's what is playing right now....I know all too well about the first darn Arthur, I'll be 50 in April!!! Generations of my family on both sides have suffered terribly with that darn Arthur!! Mine is mostly my left shoulder to elbow region, due to my bad bicycle fall in August. I have done PT daily, almost anyhow, but am anxious to start a therapy called "ART" so I hopefully will not have to have surgery, as I am pretty anti-surgery unless it is absolutely needed!!

We dropped like 40 degrees and are finally going to get some RAIN, which is much needed!! I never want to live through another summer of 2008, when pretty much all of California from coast to coast was literally on FIRE!!
www.avvo.com/attorneys/93101-ca-tomas-castelo-290589.html
I say whatever about your Dad at his age, I know you care and that is why your concern for him is sincere!!!! I definitely understand where you are coming from!! I work with folks in their 80's and 90's and they are very aware of their ADL's especially if going out of the house for anything. I still have PJ day every once in awhile, when I work from home and have the luxury of not driving that day!!!!! Parker on the other hand, gets fully dressed before he even comes out of his bedroom in the morning.

Growing up if we weren't dressed we had to wear our bathrobes to
breakfast, I guess having 5 females and only 2 males, maybe was the reasoning around that. Modesty, privacy....changes as we get older...

Fresh ginger, fresh cinnamon and fresh turmeric are almost daily in my diet due to the anti-inflammatory benefits!! Also, a shot of BRAGG'S Apple cider vinegar!! Stay well my quirky and lovable online friend!!!! My Mom died when I was 22, my Dad died when I was 40, I still miss both of them terribly... and laughs Barb

WOWZERS Randy!!!! [THUMBUP I always get energized, well most days when I read all about your day to day and what you accomplish in 24 hours!!! I love {hitting with my kitchen hammer} my walnuts, almonds, pecans into submission!!! Making a huge pot of 10 bean soup and veggies of course!! I also created a new recipe in a deep dish quiche pan for my lovely Parker!!!! He will EAT anything I cook or throw together!! He goes for a week or so then eats a little meat. I cook for my neighbors when I get home from a So. Calif. trip and we enjoy the bounty of barter and trading with our awesome neighbors!! I will miss that part.... when we are actually living at the Ranch, 40 acres in Northern Santa Barbara County full-time within the next couple of years!!!!! Anyhow, I have wood to stack in my garage before it starts to finally RAIN!!! Laugh as much as you can Randy!! I love how you MUTE your TV!! Some folks just can't imagine living for the past 10+ years with NO TV!!!! I keep so busy between work, life and grad school!!! Keep up your daily routines it is VITAL to our health and longevity as you well know, Doctor Smith!!!

HO HO HO dear Randy Smith!!!! I second everything you typed!!! Parker and I and my 24 yo daughter Ayla have put close to 1000 miles on our So. Calif. trip making the family rounds!!! It was her first time time at his 40 acre ranch in northern Santa Barbara County!!! It was exactly what the Dr. ordered!!! It has been non-stop laughs...good wine... delicious food...more laughs...some healing tears....more surprise visit's!!!! We are so happy that we are together that no matter what it has been "PERFECT" for everyone, straight from Parker himself!! Translation= Meaning good wine has a tendency to bring out the truth and nothing but the truth!!! May 2012 bring you and yours a happy, healthy year full of lots of love and laughs!!! On the road again..... love and laughs to you my friend, Barb

Randy,
Your luck is in need of some rebuilding?? Too close for me, as I had a similar tree limb, HUGE, fall 2 inches from Ayla's bedroom when she still lived at home. It is a 100+ yo oak tree and provides so much shade I have yet to use my AC in the house all summer. So the the tree wins, same thing it was HOLLOW, but woke about 7 of us up in the neighborhood!!

Now my good luck story....last Saturday after having a wonderful time camping in Downeyville, 5,000+ elevation we headed off on our bicycles for a lovely ride in the mountains. I still do not really know what happened but I fell to the left of the white line instead of to the right of it, and as Parker watched in shear horror a truck nearly ran me over!!!!!

I broke my fall with my left shoulder, thankfully nothing broken, but I am pretty beat up and have many months of healing and PT ahead of me. I'M ALIVE!!!!! The traumatic experience really made both of us reevaluate our lives together!! He'll be 47 in Nov. I'll be 50 in April. So relocating to the beautiful 40 acre ranch is going to be happening much sooner than we planned.

I have been pistol whipped and had loaded guns pointed at me in my past life....yet I never felt this close to death!!! It happened in a blink of an eye!! The only thing I remember feeling was intense pain and smelling the hot hwy. pavement that I hit, plus exhaust and the noise of the truck...then it was like I was a "Jill in the box" and popped back up at the last possible second!! Parker was also traumatized watching in slow motion as he jumped off his bike, remember he is 6'6" tall!!

It just wasn't my time to die last Saturday...so try to smile and laugh as much as you can DAILY Randy, that is why I wrote all of this to you, we never know when we are going to check out!! I plan on living another 50 years....I am so happy to know the tree Lost and you Won with your life!!
much love and laughter sent your way Mr. Smith!!!!

(((((((((((((((((((Dottie)))))))))))))))))))))

(((((((((((((((((Randy))))))))))))))))))

(((((((((((((((((Randy)))))))))))))))))))

I haven't owned a TV for close to ten years now, and rarely read the newspaper, I listen to Democracy Now 5x a week and the local news on the radio. Some days, I just turn it off....

Being a Social Worker, I see, feel, hear way too much of the realities of our lives in 2011....Parker gets going pretty easily about the injustices in the world just like I can...but I choose to act locally and in my state of California. My power is in what I spend MY money on. We have to laugh daily, I mean belly laughs or we will all fill bathtubs full of tears and anger that can literally skew us and kill us!!!

Dig in your garden, go for a run, eat some fresh fruit and veggies....all the kindness we possibly can show to OTHERS on a daily basis is vital in our world!!! My long time motto has been, do all the good you can, as often as you can and do random acts of kindness for complete strangers.

The power of a smile is life changing for some folks....I go out of my way to help others, it's just my nature...and it is easy and usually FREE!!! I know how sick and twisted humans can be, but I know I make a difference every day!!! Keep your chin up and shake the blues away...kinda like when we were little and we had to shake our wiggles out!!! Sending you and all of our mybloggers land friends lots of love and laughter!!! Barb

Enjoy them as much as you can!! Tons of outside time from sun up to sun down!!! Water color painting, coloring or drawing is always a fun activity I do with kids that I work with, they are naturally so creative. Try to say "NO" as little as possible and just have fun exploring!!! After all, they would not be here if it weren't for YOU back in the day of child rearing and childbearing with your ex!!!!! PS, she is called your "lady/woman friend" I called Parker my Man friend when we were going "steady" for the first 6 months!!! He insisted "going" steady, as he couldn't believe I had never experienced that as a young girl/woman!! He is so modest, polite, and a true romantic that can love me like no other man/woman has ever been able to in all of my 49 years!!!!!!!! I have a hiking, biking, walking, and everything else we do and plan to do as partners for life!!! much love and laughter sent your way Randy!!! Barb

much love and laughter sent your way Randy!!!!! Barb