Hi, Bob!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  Now I have a question for you.  Has your outlook on life
AH>  changed as a result of this experience??  I'll show you
AH>  mine if you show me yours... [grin].

BA>  I hadn't really thought about it.  I suppose that other
BA>  than the recognition up-close-and-personal that life is
BA>  finite I'd say no.  I guess most people assume it'll go
BA>  on forever or don't think about it at all.  So my
BA>  awareness of an ending is probably higher than most folks'.


          Mine too.  And for that reason I resolved (among other things) to
take time to smell the flowers, to get the most out of living in the
present....  :-)



BA>  My dad, a heavy smoker (and drinker in his last years)
BA>  died at 81 in 2002, all of his brothers (none of whom
BA>  smoked) died at about the same age so I guess that's
BA>  about when my time will come absent some other intervention.


          Both my parents outlived their siblings by at least twenty-five
years, so I really haven't a clue how long I'll last.  IMHO there's more to
it than not doing xxx or yyy... but I'm still trying to figure out what
they did right.  :-)



BA>  BTW, dad lived in (or rather, in a development just
BA>  outside of) Sequim, WA. Just a hop, skip and jump
BA>  from you (compared to the wilds of the southwest
BA>  corner of Iowa, where I am now).


          Yes, we visited the area on a camping trip years ago.  The place
names both fascinated & delighted me... e.g. Sequim, Snohomish,
Snoqualmie, Twisp.  As a Canadian, though, I found it hard to get my mind
around the way you guys spell "Okanagan".  I think I understand
better now that fewer Canadians are making any distinction between words
such as "caught" and "cot"....  ;-)



BA>  About the only thing I wish I'd done differently is
BA>  finding a sweet young thing to share things with 40
BA>  years ago.


          "To live with me in a cottage somewhere in the state of Iowa
...?"  I remember the song from MUSIC MAN.  Maybe you just haven't
found the right person yet.  Dallas & I know several people who married
late in life or didn't marry at all.  I would probably have been one of the
latter, if I hadn't met him....  :-)



BA>  The dogs (there are 8, I go through a 40 pound sack of
BA>  dog food in about 3 days; 7 are 1.5 year old litter-mates
BA>  and the 8th is their father, all are lab mixes) are nice
BA>  to have around (except for the one that INSISTS that the
BA>  bed is hers )


          I can relate.  We had a bulldog who was convinced she was a lap
dog... and one night when there was a loud thunderclap overhead we suddenly
found her & a Great Pyrenees in bed with us, alongside the two cats! 
Before Dallas & I were married I also housesat for his parents &
looked after their lab.  Nobody warned me the dog was used to sleeping on
Dallas's bed and would expect me to allow the same privilege.  But by then
she was too old to manage it without help....  :-))



BA>  but they can't talk and mostly just want to be petted


          Uh-huh.  One of our correspondents here used to gush about how
his dog gave him unconditional love... and on one level I understand what
he meant.  But on another level, I need fellow human beings who understand
my concerns....  ;-)



BA>  - and they can't take care of themselves when I'm not
BA>  around, which is a problem out here in the boonies
BA>  where my nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away.


          Yes... although our neighbours aren't that far away, we find
ourselves in a similar situation now.  Years ago we often exchanged such
duties with folks who lived nearby.  But one moved to Victoria & the
others moved further out into the suburbs, so the logistics are more
complicated than they used to be....  :-/




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+