Not much happening here today. Andy’s watching birds out the back window. Dougy’s trying to make me feel guilty by posting himself at my feet, dog-style: “Amuse me, human! Just a little!”

If I see this, I know Andy’s being a good boy…if you discount his secret plan to eat some birds!

It’s close to afternoon feeding time, and that should get the boys excited. I think it’s trout-salmon mix wet food today. It won’t be long before they are smacking their lips and licking their whiskers to make themselves presentable and clean for the evening.

Tomorrow, I’m driving a veteran down to an eye appointment in Scottsbluff. This is my seventh time since I started. I’ve driven people to Hot Springs, South Dakota; Ft. Collins, Colorado; Oshkosh, Nebraska; and four trips to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

It’s something I like to do, it takes little time or effort, it gets me out of town for a few hours (alternative: hibernating in front of computer!), and, most of all, it helps people without a ride of their own to get somewhere they need to be to join family or see a doctor.

When I came down with Wegener’s granulomatosis, it was family, church, and work friends who ferried me to or back from places as far away as Denver, Colorado, about four hours away from where I live.

Hot Springs South Dakota is in the Black Hills, and is a lovely place to take someone! There’s a VA hospital and clinic there.

This kindness touched my heart and gave me an appreciation of how difficult it is to survive on the Northern Plains without a car or truck.

It pleases me to help others this way, and I encourage those who want to pay me for gas, whatever, to just pay it forward. There is no end to the ways one can help others if one just responds to what others most need!