Stupid dogs! ;-)

Ok, enough doom and gloom.

I love dogs. I can't imagine life without a dog. I went years without one, but after I got Sam (my Toy Fox Terrier), from that point forward I've had one.

I had Sam 17 years; he was a great dog and a good companion.

After Sam, I thought I'd try it without a dog for a while, but then my cousin Cathy spammed everybody.

Cathy spent her life in New York, then Georgetown (the one in DC, not the one in Austin). Bobby convinced her to move to his hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was reluctant until she saw what their Georgetown townhouse money would buy in Fayetteville (now she's got her whole family moved to Arkansas...).

She was learning to ride the 4-wheeler and saw what looked like a sea serpent coming at her across the grass. It turned up to be a bunch of puppies, with their mama in tow. Cathy wanted to keep them all, but there were 8 of them and she already had 2 dogs; Bobby just said "no".

So she spammed all of us, everybody in her address book. She said, "you guys are going to have to come get these dogs." So, that's how I got Lucy.

I was corresponding online on the HawgsIllustrated message board, when a guy who rarely posted popped in and asked if we knew anybody who wanted a female border collie puppy. So that's how I got Ethel.

Nathan looked online on Petfinder and came up with Maggie the Golden Retriever. (Maggie went from "Maggie Pooch" to "Snaggie Snootch" to "The Snootch").

We rescued Coco (Cohiba, which became "CoCo", which became "Coco Puff" which became "The Puff" which became "The Poof" which became "Le Pouf") the black lab 12 hours before he was to be euthanized. He's a very sweet dog, very intelligent, very loving. We're fostering him till we can find him a "forever home."

So if anybody needs a sweet, smart, beautiful black lab, about a year old, let me know. 4 dogs are a bit much.

>>o<<

The stupid dogs have a lot of fun. They have yappy friends behind us with whom they love to run up and down the fence and bark. They have friends next door. They get to go on walks. Everybody in this neighborhood is in violation of the deed restrictions, which say no more than 2 animals. Everybody here has at least 2, several have many more. City of Houston says you can have 5.

Everybody in the neighborhood walks their dogs. I do, too. There is much sniffing and running around, but it's good exercise.

Maggie the Snootch has determined that the (old, sick) elm tree in the back yard needs to be excavated. She apparently is digging to China. I'll get out there at some point and take pictures. I don't really care; there's no grass because there's too much shade. The elm has to go, it's old and sick and is too close to the house anyway. I can take it down and maybe grow some grass. So dig on, Snootch.

It is fun to watch them sort out the pecking order. CoCo is at the top of the heap, but he can get in trouble with the Queen Bee, Her Most Imperial Majesty Lucy. She was the head knocker until CoCo said, "Hey, I'm bigger than you!"

In any event, here is the herd. Anybody want a black lab?