Bogey

Our faithful Cairn Terrier Bogey has a new home. We will be here in England for two more years, we think. Since daughter Brooke might move after college we did a home search for bogey. Our great friends Gene and Sara agreed to take Bogey until we return. We got all of his shots caught up, packed up all of his furniture and moved him to Mesa Arizona. He now is living the dream, on a golf course where he can get daily walks and bark at any golfers that get too close. He will miss his little companion Lola, who he's lived with for the last 2 years.

Thanksgiving in Arizona

There are two things we don't have in England. Family and Thanksgiving. Now that we are back in London we reflect on our US holiday. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here so we sure enjoyed an invite from Daughter in Law Sandra's family for a great feast. Since we don't have any family in England, we don't have anyone to argue with. We get along with everyone...funny how that works.

Dermatology

Here I am in Arizona with my second trip to the Dermatologist. I was checked over and had a few spots removed from my back. I asked the Doctor about a small mole on the top of my foot. He said that it was not a raised mole and that it looked Ok. Since a Doctor 5 years ago told me to keep an eye on that spot, I said to take it off. Well guess what, the lab came back as positive result. It was called a Dysplastic Nevus. Being a type of skin cancer it had to be removed again. Here the doc. gouges a deeper hole in my foot and closes it with 5 stitches. Of course I'm taking pictures because this might be the last time I see my right foot. If this doesn't get it they will no doubt have to take my foot off, and who knows what else. My advice to anyone is get your check-ups and if a Doctor tells you to keep an eye on a spot, take the dam thing off.

Denver Colorado

Yesterday I was in Denver on business where I flew in and out on the same day. I'm always impressed with this unique International Airport. Built in 1995 it is the largest airport in the country and 3rd largest in the world covering 53 square miles. Moving over 52 million passengers last year makes it the 5th busiest. The fabric roof covering over the main terminal looks a bit like a circus tent from the inside. I did have to take a shot of the snow covered mountains surrounding Denver on a gorgeous sunny day. This week in Arizona has not been much fun for me with appointments every day when I should be playing golf. Each year I schedule my annual physical checkups like we all should. It starts with the EKG and the Blood work, next the annual dermatology check, then the Dental check up, and of course my favorite appointment with Dr. Big finger checking the prostate and PSA. I'm feeling a little used.

Kiana

I'm back in sunny Arizona for 2 weeks and Julie will join me this weekend. I had a chance to babysit my Granddaughter for a night as Brent and Sandra needed a break. It was a good time for us to get reacquainted since I hadn't seen her for a year. She is a very smart little lady for 2 1/2 years old. She could only have gotten that from me. After raising two children who are now on their own, I finally figured out parenting. With Kiana, if I wanted her to do or not do something, all I had to do was offer her a treat. And of course as the kids get older the treats get more expensive. It's just that simple! I must have missed that paragraph in the parenting handbook 30 years ago. I wonder if that would work the same with a wife?

Czech Money

The currency here is the Czech Crown. There are 25 Crowns to one Euro so when we exchanged a few hundred Euros, we ended up with thousands. Of course we were feeling real smug until an 8 minute cab ride cost us 400 Crown. As always we were being carefull with our money but still spending one thousand every hour. So it seems like anywhere we go we still come home with nothing.

Food Vendors

In the Old Town Square the food vendors were everywhere. With the big cannibal pots cooking, chickens and hams on the spit, hot wine and cheese, everyone got full. We even got to watch these two knights in a sword fight but chose not to publish the picture of an arm being cut off. Do you believe it!

The Vitus Cathedral

This massive Cathedral is in the heart of the Prague Castle. The Gothic Roman Catholic Church was built in 1419 and was open to the public. We were allowed to take pictures which is unusual in a lot of these Historic buildings.

Old Town

Old Town Prague was where we spent Sunday and was busy with tourists. We went to the top of the famous old town City Hall where this picture was taken high in the old city center. This building also housed the Apostle Clock where every hour the small doors would open and the Apostle figures would pass by. All visitors had cameras out every hour to catch this.

The Prague Castle

Just a 10 minute walk from our Hotel we visited the Prague Castle. We joined thousands of tourists and watched the Changing of the Guards. This is quite sight similar to Buckingham Palace in London, and is all about tradition. Julie and I had a picture with this guard who never moved a bit. I'll tell you why...there was snow in the forecast and dam cold, I think he was froze to the ground. We had to keep going into the pubs just to survive the cold.

Television Tower

The Prague Television tower at 700 ft. is the tallest building in the country. We took advantage of this tourist stop and had a proper Czech dinner in the restaurant high on the tower.

Prague

Prague is the Capitol of the Czech Republic which lies in the center of Europe. It is a beautiful and Historic city of 1.3 million and hosts over 4 million International visitors annually. We came for a weekend visit with only a 2 hour flight out of London Heathrow. We stayed in the Hotel Savoy close to the city center, and had a great room and wonderful staff.