This is what I looked like in 1973, give or take a year. To my left is my old friend Dave Cheney. At our feet, my beloved dog Fricka, who was said to be "almost human." Everyone was thin in those days. The light-toned structure above us is (I think) the one-room cabin in which I lived at about that time. Dave lived in a truck (!) parked just off the right edge of the picture (though, again, I'm not entirely sure of the location).

Dave died suddenly an completely unexpectedly of a heart attack in the summer of 2005. He had just retired from working for El Dorado County and was happily making plans for his leisure years with his wife Linda and son Noah. It was a shocking loss, from which many of us are still reeling. I notice that he revised his web site just days before he died, obviously not suspecting a thing. Carpe diem, my friends, carpe diem!

Our buddy Treebeard lived in the tack room of the horse stables nearby. Location: the Santa Inez Mountains, CA. Photo by Linda Cheney. Treebeard doesn't seem to be updating his wonderful "Stumpers" page any more, but he does add to his Fotolog frequently. Lately, it seems he's been expressing himself very visually.