Well, these are the things that I consider my "hobbies" these days. With 5 Chesapeakes, I am kept very busy providing love, attention and feeding to the crew, and then there is the training itself. I just love being involved with the dogs and the people I have met and whom have befriended me and mine are the absolute best in the world. My house is a work-in-progress ALL the time, and I love being in it. My Dad is my salvation and my sanity and I love him more than I could have ever imagined. My families (both my own and Tim's)are very important to me and provide me with a constant in my life, which I need badly right now. My friends--well, what can I say? They are always there, always willing to listen or lend a hand or an ear, always faithful. My computer is my vehicle away from my everyday life. I play games, read, stay in touch with faraway people and places, research, whatever I can do or feel the need to do. I still read when I can (Best books lately? "Find Me" by Rosie O'Donnell, "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommon, "The 36 Hour Day" by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins, and "We were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates. I am now in the middle of "Red Dragon". I also go to the movies a lt with friends, and the best ones I have seen lately are "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Red Dragon". Then there is the MUSIC--I ADORE Broadway and anything by the Dixie Chicks, the Judds, Mongomery Gentry and Billy Joel. We have season tickets to the Mechanic and the Lyric, and summer concert series tickets to Nissan Pavillion (Saw Montgomery Gentry, Alan Jackson, and Kenny Chesney this time around).

Wow! Five CBRs? (Chesapeake Bay Retrievers) Best dog I ever had. She came from champion stock in Trappe, MD and we bred her to another papered Chessie named Chocolate Chip. They produced 6 beautiful puppies way back around 1975 or so. Wonder if any of your dogs are offspring? Does Kevin Bacon's 6 degrees of separation include dogs?

I think it does--all Chessies are related back to the 2 Newfie pups that were on the ship from Newfoundland that sunk in the Chesapeake Bay in the 1800's (Canton and Sailor) and were then bred to the "Eastern Shore Duck Dogs" that were hybrids of whatever dogs had been bred to each other by the market gunners back then. We supposedly have Irish Water Spaniel, Labrador and Newfie in there, plus whatever else.

Do you still have the parents' names and I can research and see. I THINK there is a Chocolate Chip in one of my dogs' pedigrees. It would be fun to find out!!

Just got the word that my little female, Waterways Indian Made, is doing well at "boot camp" with my friend Tom in Philly. She is "cohabitating" with his pup, Bull, and is ruling the roost! Maddie is almost a year and a half old, and is being trained in hunting skills. I miss her so much---can't believe that with 5 of my own (three are away with friends for training)I still can miss each one!

My father is a wonder to me. My mother has been gone now for almost 6 years, and his sister just died yesterday. He is upset, but strong and always there for anyone who needs it. He was at the hospital yesterday to visit her when he was told that she had just died by the nurses in the SICU recovery room, and he was there with her husband immediately after and the entire time until their son and his famiy got there. Today, he is going to the funeral home with my uncle and cousin to make the arrangements for the cremation. He is worried about Uncle Cal more than himself. When my husband died, he was right here, and when I had my surgery, he was here to take care of me 24/7 until I got better (took 6 months!)My father is a wonderful man, and I hope that someday somebody will tell me that I am like him. It would be the best compliment that anyone could give me. He is patriotic, compassionate, caring, kind, hardworking and loving; he is one of the best people I have ever known.

Reading your post is like listening to my inner thoughts about MY dad. We are truly blessed! I often think that I have such trust in God the Father because I know I can trust my earthly father so much. I always think of my dad as a good samaritan. Just like your dad, people can always count on him for a kind word or deed, and then some! That describes him best! From him I have learned the benefits of being a true neighbor. Everyone is his neighbor. He receives so much when he gives. It is what he does best and it keeps him going! It is so nice to hear another grown woman appreciate her father. How great that our dads are friends. By the way...are you ready for this? I know you and you are JUST LIKE YOUR DAD.

Had to resurrect this post from months ago because I was thinking that visiting my Dad is sorta like a hobby for me.

Sounds weird but it's something I enjoy doing and definitely a way I spend some time.

I often wonder what I will do when he is gone. Sick thought, but definitely one that creeps up on me every now and then.

Anyone else consider visiting a hobby, or I a weirdo and in need of new hobbies?

[ September 06, 2003, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

Talk about something being near and dear to my heart. This post is. My Daddy has Lewy-Body Dementia which is akin to Alzheimers, but the life expectany is shorter, and people with LBD hallucinate. I go every night to the VA home and visit. I think I have mentioned him in a post earlier somewhere. Talk about being best friends, we are. We always were. He taught me self-respect, compassion for others, and the love of God and country. He taught me to have pride in myself, in my family and my job. But mostly he taught me how to forgive and that it is okay to say "I'm sorry." Not only to myself but to others. I visit every night and most nights, he knows it is me. He is a cut up with everyone at the home even though his mind is practically gone. His sense of humor is intact. Isn't that odd? I guess I am a chip off the old block. I have wondered what I will do when I can't go there and see him! I stay until they put him to put each night. I always get a hug, a kiss and he says "honey, I hope you know how much your Daddy loves you," before he closes his eyes. How can I replace that when he is gone? I can't. So see Dotsie, you aren't the only one. I have friends, tons of friends, but only one best friend. Daddy.

I just re-read this entire thing, and I am feeling really melancholy tonight. My father hasn;t been feeling very well lately and has been sort of hiding it from everyone. We went to my (Tim's) nephews' 50th birthday party today and he just wasn't himself. I am so scared--I just lost Tim and my mother within about a year and a halfs' timeframe a bit more than three years ago. Dad just isn't being himself. He said his doctor told him that he isn't feeling tip-top due to the meds that he is taking (a beta-blocker and Lipitor) to keep him from having a heart attack or a stroke, so he wants to stop taking them. He says if he can't live with the side-effects of the drugs, then he'd rather have the consequences when-ever they come and live the way he wants to until then. So, here I am to lay my worries at your doorsteps, ladies. I am NOT ready to lose my father....I can't bear the thought...

I was just reading through all the eyes and thinking probably the most important thing my Dad has taught me is to never give up. He has always kept going, even when he first got sick when I was growing up and had to change jobs and careers a few times to support his family. Despite all his setbacks he has never been bitter.

Now I find it hard to watch him struggle, his arthritis just seems to be getting worse and I think he is going to be in for a rough winter this year (sigh).

This is perhaps one of the harder things about growing up - watching your parents get older