These photos are during the time after my surgery, when my weight was decreasing.

The first photo is of Charlie and Melisa on Skyline Drive, Canon City, Colorado in January of 2004. This was almost a year post surgery and close to the 140 pounds that Melisa had lost by her one year anniversary.

The second photo is of Melisa on Skyline Drive on her own. You will notice her splayed hands as she is trying to look calm and cool. This is extremely high with an amazing view that drops away literally.

The third photograph is a shot of Melisa on her mountain in January 2004. This was a little less than one year following surgery and close to but not quite 140 pounds thinner.

The fourth photograph is Melisa all glammed up. This is April 2004, a little over one year and 140 pounds gone. Charlie seems to like these types of photos. hmmmm…..

In May 2004, Charlie and I went down to England, to Leeds. This trip was to meet a plastic surgeon for a consultation on reconstructive surgery.
We had walked all over Leeds for over 5 hours and were in a hot house botanical gardens when I had about enough of the heat. Tropical World in Leeds, UK was very hot and humid but it did have some interesting residents.


Here are a few shots with Melisa as some of the new pups were leaving to go off to their new homes. This first one is Alfie, playing at a Bat Doooog!!!. This is July 2004.

And the next photograph is of Nell before she left for her new home down in England where she would be loved and adored by a 13 year old girl. This was also July 2004.
Charlie and Melisa decided to go “cross country” to the west side of Scotland and visit Loch Ness. We did look for Nessie while we were there but no monsters were to be seen except for those darn little

midgies!!! We took all the dogs with us and found a dog friendly Swiss style chalet in the mountains near Loch Ness and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We even had our own small stone circle behind the chalet that we played Frisbee in with the dogs.
On the way back to our side of Scotland, we stopped at mum and da’s for a quick how de do. There Mam took a photo of us outside our Landrover with our box up top that held all the stuff as the rover was full of dogs.

We tried for a group shot here in January 2005, but the dogs were not cooperating very well that night.

March 2005 was my two year anniversary of post op from my weight loss surgery. Here is a shot of me at that time.

In May 2005, one morning we just woke up and decided to set the tent up in the kitchen. I am not sure why we did that other than to see how the dogs would react and if camping in a tent with them was possible.

My Chloe and I were together in the tent in the second one. She was the one that I thought really might dislike the tent. This was a little over 2 years post operative from my surgery.

In October 2005, I graduated with an HNC (Higher National Certificate) from Fraserburgh College in Scotland. My HNC was in Complementary Therapies.

November 2005, Charlie took this photograph of me and for the life of me I can’t remember why he took it.