Antonette Benham:  

What a year so far for 2017. It has been a year of fifties... My son came to visit us while we were camping. He brought with him our anniversary present...a new puppy. A brown beautiful Dachshund. Bill and I celebrated our 50th Anniversary on June 23. My daughter Loria Hall and son Joe Benham threw us an anniversary party. Lots of people and lots of great food. On June 28th we left for our first trip ever to Hawaii... We are going back. We seen a lot and have a lot more to see. Bill's mom was raised in the Eva Beach area on a plantation and even though we learned a lot, we have a lot more to learn. After we came back from Hawaii I had two weeks to finalize everything I needed for our 50th class reunion. Done and what a wonderful weekend that was. From Friday late morning to Sunday afternoon... I slept for two days. It really was a great weekend. By Friday that week after the reunion, we didn't know if our puppy would live. She got bit 7 times from a brown recluse spider and almost lost her twice. One big surgery left a scar down her body with a hole in the ear an she lost the last 1/2 inch of her tail. DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU WE DON'T HAVE THEM HERE. We do. Breeding season is August through October. Females hide and the males are very mean and aggressive. I retired from Department of Transportation on September 30, 2011 with 20 + years at the State of Washington. After too many surgeries for shoulders, neck, back, and carpal tunnel on both wrists...my body said I am done. BUT...who said life slowed down after retirement? It doesn't. I have been so busy I don't know how I worked at all. I have done a lot of traveling with my mom and hubby. Places I have been are: Norway, Budapest to Amsterdam, Eire Canel (Massachusetts to New York) through the Great Lakes and 1000 Islands, Montreal and th...Expand for more