back row:
Thom Appleby (20), Christopher Appleby (23), Paul Appleby (55).
front row:
Lynda Canning (48), Chris Dabis (61), Emily Appleby (86)
NOTE: Thom and Christopher are the sons of Lynda and Paul.

Summer of 2005 when Danny phoned to let me know that he would be in Sacramento. We drove there to meet him and some of his classmates. I love him more than I love breathing! My grandson, Daniel Jacob Milligan!

Paul Appleby & Chris Dabis
Summer of 2006 on our lower deck.

Cynthia, my daughter, granddaughter RiLeigh, my mother Bertie, me, grandson Danny, and granddaughter Aaliyah (ah-LEE-ah), on our upper deck - Summer night of 2005.

My first Schwinn bicycle.  Eventually the training wheels were removed and a basket was added.  I rode many miles going to the neighborhood grocery store to get 25¢ loaves of bread and hamburger from the butcher at 4 pounds for $1.00.
San Leandro, CA., 1952 or 1953.

My first motorcycle. I toured the Southwest USA on this 1985 Honda Magna in 1991.  This bike is water cooled, shaft driven, V-45, with a 700 cc engine.  Six gears forward, no reverse!  It weighs about 500 pounds and when I dropped it on my left foot I rode again the day after the cast was removed.

I play my paternal grandfather's fiddle which is slightly over 100 years old now.  It is a hand-carved German instrument with a robust bass range, and a bright and crisp upper range.
Lady Fiddler - Spring 2006 with the Fruit Jar Pickers band.

Original layout with Budweiser's logo replicated in glass.  This was a custom creation for Budweiser's distribution facility in Northern California.  Drilling the hole for the eagle's eye was a challenge and I had to do it twice before meeting with success.

Foxy - Maine Coon Mix.
Foxy, and his littermate brother, arrived on our front porch in a cardboard box as abandoned kittens in 2002.  Foxy is the sole survivor but we enjoyed the two of them for three years.

Every night Foxy jumps onto my desk, *flops* down, rolls onto his back, tips his head sideways (sometimes upside-down) and demands me to brush his tummy! "Mom,... *M-O-M* ... brush me!!!"

Mrs. Admiral Horacio Nelson. A very powerful name for such a small cat. It took two staff members with leather gloves to get her out of the holding-cage at the animal pound. She's a fighter for sure. Admiral Nelson, you might recall, lost an eye and an arm during his battles. Mrs. Nelson has one eye, and she reveals it reluctantly from a summer day's nap. It takes three people to hold her for a brushing. She prefers to be 'left alone' and on very rare occasions she demands 'lap-space'.

Jasper is about 3 years old and he was a stray cat from last winter. He was scared and forced to fight off predatory animals during the freezing snow falls. I continued to leave food for him, and eventually he trusted me. It took about a month for him to be relaxed. He tested positive for FIV (feline immune virus) which means we have keep him healthy at all times. Any illness will impact him harder than other cats because his immune system has been compromised. He's SO sweet! He sleeps on our bed at night. Funny; I've always wanted a Siamese cat but never could afford one. Then... this little fellow needed a home. My heart had been ready for him for a lifetime!

Primer: Named after the often popular car color, primer gray. He's a big boy and was identified at the animal shelter as "Dangerous" with a warning that he did NOT get along with other cats. He had been residing at the shelter for three months. They sure are good with animals and though he was there for an extended amount of time, they took great care of him. Thom and Paul investigated a bit further and questioned the "Dangerous" designation. Turns out that after Primer came to the shelter they had him neutered. Did that change is attitude? Who knows, but he is NO danger. He is just the opposite: He brought calmness to our den of cats. All four act as if they were litter-mates, well......... exclude Mrs. Nelson from that group.

Our home office occupies an area downstairs which would probably be used as a second living room for a normal family. It measures 28' x 18' and our two 'corner' desks are placed side by side to form a "W" pattern down the middle of the room. We had a completely dedicated electrical panel installed and outlets placed into the floor for the computer equipment. My desk is to the right. Paul has 'command central' with two complete computer systems. I made the 'skirt' so that the rats nest of wires were not visible. To the right of my desk is another 10' of the room which is the 'wet bar' area. We have a mini kitchen in that area where we make tea, coffee, refrigerate things, and nuke our meals.

This Bob Crabb cartoon was the inspiration for our "lunar maximus" Full Moon Party. Participants are diverse with professional backgrounds in law, public finance, psychiatry, geriatrics, political humor, and an English cynic. Missing from this mixture is our media member: She moved away from us two years ago and cannot be replaced.

Imagine a dinner gathering and a local event being discussed by this group! That is what we do. We select local events and each person gives comment and input from their perspective. It is usually quite an eye-opener and "I didn't know that!" is heard quite often. Laughter is our background music. Visit Bob's website by clicking here!

This is a 42 year old Christmas Cactus. It is about 3 feet wide and was re-potted 3 years ago into a larger container. There are blooms facing this side and buds on the remaining sides. It is placed on a lazy-susan and rotated a little each week. It has east (left) and south (right) filtered sunlight.

The late Billie Gilkey gave me (Chris) a slip from her plant in 1966. From that little three jointed slip came this lovely plant. The blooms this year (Jan 2008) are simply amazing! It spent the summer on the lower deck, then was placed in this location behind the sofa in the upstairs living room. It seems to like this location and that's good because I cannot physically move it again!