I never had a dog in my family until I met Gretchen. She was seldom without one. When I met her she had Arthur. To be a member of the McClelland family made for a great life for a dog. Our puppies were spoiled and loved our home. Some of them were even good travelers. We had nine huggable, lovable dogs at last count.

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Tuesday, Aug. 30—A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the Sun City Ukulele session today. I had the golf cart packed with my uke and song book, started to leave the garage. I stopped at the door to pick up some trash which I would drop in the big garbage container out front. Stupidly, I left the cart in reverse, failed to put the brake on, and started walking the two little bit of trash to curbside. The cart got moving, quietly, picked up momentum on our slanted driveway—and crashed into me.

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We try to keep a clean house at this site, and that means dusting off the old files and displaying them prominently here. These few have been chosen for one reason or another and cleaned up for your viewing pleasure.

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Gretchen and I are healthy, all things considered. I await knee replacement but prefer to play with pain as long as I can. Gretchen, the smoker, walks the dog every monrning before work. In my eyes she still looks good.

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Kramer on vacation at Galliano Island in British Columbia. 2005.

The most recent canine in the household of Tom and Gretcen McClelland, Kramer, went through a few months of tough times before dying in November. He had a good life where he was spoiled rotten by his masters. He was well traveled and loved greatly. He was 19 actual years old…and those are human years.

At the end he was deaf, listless, and did his doodies wherever he was situated. He has gone to a better place.

He is survived by fellow mutt Elaine, a sister of sorts. Both dogs were named for characters in the Seinfeld TV series.

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Gretchen, was always the giver and seldom the taker. She had surprised her husband with birthday parties on five occasions. So it was Tom’s turn. Surprises are always much work just to keep it a secret and to get the crowd to attend without giving it away.

On Aug. 25, friends Allan and Marie Stone took the McClellands to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Roseville for a casual dinner. When Gretch got off the elevator at the second floor, she was greeted by 35

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Here are a few shot’s from our December vacation to Wickenburg, Arizona and a dude ranch which turned into a chilly vacation filled with food, golf and horseback riding.

We made the most of our trip to Arizona. Disappointing was the initial …

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We spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Dad and Gretchen’s place in Roseville, and I had much for which to be thankful. I was thankful that I got to play 9 holes of golf with the boys for about 3 hours even though Lisa threatens that next year she and the girls will

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Lisa’s dad, Les celebrated his 75th birthday surrounded by family and close friends in April. Les’ three daughters and their respective husbands threw the shin-dig for eternally–young patriarch of the family.

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