On my eleventh fun monday i can write this post with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back

that's because Lisa's Chaos wants us to introduce our animals.
hahahhaha! this fun monday was made for me! here goes.


Meet Toby. the most beautiful, loyal, faithful dog there ever was. he was eight weeks old when i got him one January long ago. he adored me. i adored him.

he chased tennis balls with an energy and a diligence that i admired; you can learn a lot from that kind of single-mindedness.

he slept on my bed. he went in the car with me. we were inseparable.

he now lives in a small white box on the top shelf of the dog closet in the kitchen.

maybe "lives" is the wrong verb here.




this is boscoe. a loving dog. sweet and faithful. he's mostly border collie, but he's not intense; the Lab in him mellowed him right out.

on walks, he goes into his border collie crouch when he sees someone he wants to have pet him; you can't budge him. he insists on being loved, by strangers and friends and neighbors and family and us.

he is a dog who loves the world.

he and toby were best friends. they stayed close through toby's decline.

after toby died in 2001, the house got quiet. boscoe got quiet.

we needed someone to rile up the house. riley was just the dog for us.

he'd been rejected by his first owners, and he'd become skittish. we got him at four months. he was energetic, a chaser of squirrels but not of tennis balls, afraid of everything--small children bicycles vacuum cleaners noisy trucks rollerblades other dogs.

it took years to gentle him. boscoe played a key role in that; he loved riley from the start, and even when, as a puppy, riley barked at him and was afraid, boscoe just snuggled closer.

and now they are the best of friends.

riley won't go anywhere without boscoe, and when boscoe goes somewhere without him, riley is beside himself. boscoe is 12 1/2 now, and riley is 6.

happier and better-loved dogs you will not find.