It all began in April 1961. I was born the third child to my parents, Jim and Carole. The boys, Mike and Bob were 4 and 2 by the time I came along. My father was in the Air Force and stationed at Hamilton AFB in Novato, California. My sister Judy came along in October 1962. In 1965 we moved to the island of Taiwan, (that's another story all by it's self.) In 1968 we moved back to the states and again to California. This time my father was stationed at Norton AFB in San Bernardino. We moved to the small community of Calimesa, which is about 70-80 mile from the base. This area of the state was very familiar to my parents, this was where they grew up and went to High School. They were even married in the neighboring town of Yucaipa. Both had family very close by. We had a nice house at the end of the subdivision so we had lots of open space, places to ride our bikes and play, they was even a creek near by and my brothers would fish and catch frogs. This is also when my mother went back to school and became a Dental Hygienist. After graduating from school she went to work for a really nice Dentist. Dr. Greens office was in Yucaipa so it was a short drive for her. Dr. Green took care of all our teeth. This is also the time when the family became animal crazy. My mom bought our first miniature Dachshund, Heidi in 1969. We also got Charlie the Siamese cat. My mom would ride her bike around the block and Heidi would ride in the basket and Charlie would ride around her neck. Next came Bonny the rabbit. Now Bonny and Charlie became best friends and would lay on the floor and clean each others ears. What a site they were! Next came Fred. Fred was a beautiful long haired shepherd mix. We found Fred and another small dog at the bus stop one morning and my brothers said they looked like Fred and Barney. They were waiting again when we got off the bus. This went on for several days. One day Fred followed my brothers home. To our great surprise Mom said Fred was a "girl". Mom said maybe she is "Queen Fredariqua" and we would just call her Fred for short. Fred's owner came and took her away, it turns out she was pregnant. We were all heart broken when she left. A short time later she came back. She would go home every night and take care of her puppies and then come back to us. I don't remember all the details, but eventually she came home for good. She was so devoted to all of us. We belonged to Fred for almost 12 years.
