Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. It has been a weird week for sure. I had my car picked up from work to have the oil changed, and when I got it back it had a weird humming sound. It would come and go….sounded kind of like a belt coming loose. I figured I better take some time off and run over to the shop before it closed. I only have one car and itbeing a 2004…it needs all the TLC it can get. While driving over there, I discovered that by turning off the…

Hello and welcome back to the wonderful and rested world of the Dogpound. Here is hoping you had a nice long weekend, since it will be a while before we see another one. As for me…I am still writing these articles ahead of time, since I plan to take a few days off and do some traveling to go visit my oldest daughter. Most of my vacations of late have been long three-day weekends, where I take a Friday off to make it a four-day week. This time, I am flying on Thursday and returning the following Tuesday. I have…

Hello and welcome to the start of tax time at the Dogpound. Yes, I know it is still months away but I am an eager beaver when it comes to taxes. It is like a dagger hanging over my head held by a thin piece of thread. The best way to get rid of that image is to get my stuff organized ahead of time, and when that last financial form arrives in the mail, I am off to the post office to let my CPA handle all the forms and calculations. I could probably do it myself…maybe…but I decided…

Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. You would have thought that after the presidential election was over that things would settle down, and the start of a new year would allow us to catch our breath…but no….it does not appear like that is happening. Matter of fact it seems to be getting worse. Does beg the question, if the election went the other way would there be this much moaning and gnashing of teeth? Speaking of emotional pain, we have experienced some of that at work as well. We started the new year very relaxed,…

Hi and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. There is an old saying…that goes like this….”Everything changes but everything remains the same.” We are in a New Year but I still need to spend 30 minutes on the phone with my current television provider because they cannot leave my cable rates alone. Translation…they increased my rates….again…just like they have done for the past two years…every 6 months like clockwork. And likewise every, 6 months I challenge them. In this round….as usual…I ask them if there is anything they can do to keep me as a customer…or do…

Hello and welcome to the first edition for another new year from the Dogpound. As of this writing the ringing in of 2017 is still a week away but based on the crying and gnashing of teeth, you would have thought Armageddon had just been announced and we need to cancel the New Year. We have been through a lot worse things…so let’s all of us pull up our big girl and boy pants… generate positive vibes versus negative vibes…avoid all of the fake news [which there is a lot of] and strive to make the world a better place…

Hello and welcome to the “I can hardly wait for Christmas” Dogpound. Even though I am writing this article weeks in advance, I can feel the spirit of Christmas starting to worm its way through all the murky, snarly daily issues that tries to drain the positive energy out of each and every one of us. The closer it gets, the better I feel, and the better I feel, the more spring I have in my step. So much so, I have made more progress in my attempt to get all of my Christmas shopping done before Christmas Eve. Last…

Hello and welcome back to the festive world of the Dogpound. Christmas is rapidly approaching, and I can tell because my mailbox is overflowing with catalogs. Even with the all of the online purchases, companies are still eager to get your attention at home and at the store. So far that is not really working for me…I have only gotten two things done so far. One, I did get my Christmas cards out, including that cute picture of me all decked out in my Ohio State University clothes, coffee mug, and blanket in front of the fireplace. Of course, one…

Hello and welcome back to the wonderful holiday world of the Dogpound. I am sure Christmas will be a wonderful holiday but I already got my little taste of it on Thanksgiving Day. I wanted to get a photograph transferred to a poster board and my little cracker-box Wal-Mart does not have that capability. Backtracking a minute…I like to take pictures and I usually make some of the better ones into 8x 10’s to hang on the wall, but of late I have gotten into canvas posters. Something about the texture and the wrap-around picture that makes the pictures stand…