Finally my dawgs....

I have held off about my dogs. But I can no longer hold back.

My husband & I find the best part of our days is the time when we are in bed with our dogs reading before we fall asleep. "Seepy Nigh Nigh" is what we say. Sincerely all 3 of the dogs run to do this. One burrows under the sheets to snuggle. One cuddles in between Mike and I ever elongating himself to get as much real estate as possible. Those are my boys...Bo & Luke.

I did say 3 dogs. Yes. Then there is the third Duke Dawg in our household. Daisy. 3 year old Jack Russel terrier. All 12 pounds of her runs the household. Now I am aware that we are a fairly sedantary group and the JRT's are the most energetic dogs....this becomes painfully obvious as we Seepy Nigh Nigh. Daisy brings to the bed whatever toy she can find to pass the time. As we will NOT allow her to "inquire" towards the boys' pee pees, she brings her doughnut. I have grown tedious of repainting the hallway wall as the paint from the doughnut as I threw it. So at one point....I dropped the toy through the rungs of our wrought Iron bed. Daisy was aghast. Then she squat to look against the wall to see it. We watched as she observed the situation, evaluated where the toy could be, and then how to get it. First time was 20 minutes until she got off of the bed, crawled under the bed & retrieved the doughnut. Second time just a few minutes less. We were laughing....Bo licked himself, Luke avoided eye contact (he figures if he looks at us he has to move out of our way) and Daisy....was weighing and measuring the doughnut situation.

The other night, we dropped the doughnut....and Daisy took a setp back and sat. She looked to her left, cocked her head....looked to the right, cocked her head...sniffed both sides and they ran off to the left side of the bed. What she had discerned was that the toy had been dropped in the middle of the bed, YET fell on one side or the other. We laughed. Daisy retrieved the toy & dropped it for another attempt. We dropped it....she evaluated, & went to the right side of the bed. It scares me that my dog has the cognitive capacity to discern the "right" side of the bed to look for her toy. I worry that she will take this knowledge and flush the toilet when I am in the shower....I wouldn't put it past the little bitch.

Be great to you.
H

Squeeze me some more?

I can still picture the Harry Belafonte album cover WITH liner notes my dad had. I remember listening to it with him for years. He just was enraptured by the smooth voice and amazing rhythms. I am sure I was taken with it as well. As children are wont to do, when I started making my own way, I wanted to give my dad some prize with my hard earned (in this generation??) money. Harry Belafonte was in town with the Oregon Symphony. I was glad I asked before I bought them. I remember my dad pausing...."Thank you. But I want to remember him as he was years ago". Of course I criticized my dad in my head for missing out on life. For living his life in his green naugahide chair ignoring the great pleasures in life. I forgot that my dad was a professional singer & performer so I can see that he listened differently than most of us.

This anecdote came to my head this morning when Squeeze was featured on a special today. Not the Squeeze that I had enjoyed almost 20 years ago, but the Squeeze of today. A few years ago VH1 had a show where they stalked old band members to see if they could reunite them. Was terribly awkward to see the show where they ever so hopeful host followed DIfford & Tillbrook around to get them to reunite. They fervently declined. So I was elated at my luck to find this show with a reunited Squeeze. Until I saw them perform Tempted. Dude...I will write this where I cannot edit it...My Dad Was Right. I want to remember us dancing to the 30 something band with amazing energy enticing so much enthusiasm out of me that I was sore & hoarse for days.

I am not like the amazing Kym where her range of music tastes are so intriguing that we all are wow'd by her coolness. Nah...I have seen Journey 3 times, Def Leppard 4 times and Bruce Hornsby 11 times. I am pedantic with what I listen to. Needless to say, I love the 20 year old version of Pulling Mussels from a Shell. I love Journey with Steve Perry. I do dissent for a moment and say that I appreciate the latest genesis of Styx without the energy draning drama of Dennis DeYoung. I don't think that the Spinners or Frankie Vallee should be touring either. I am struggling with the Rolling Stones still touring close to 70.

In college I was introduced to The Who. Certainly their 3rd reunion tour has to be enough. I mean that lifestyle has to cut some of the verve out of the performance. Can Pete still windmill? I can almost guarantee Roger can't hit those high notes the same. A few years ago I saw Billy Joel (totally mainstream I know) but he was offering an opening to An Innocent Man. He introduced a young man. He explained "When you write a song at 30, it is totally different to sing it at 50!". I respected him for that. Plus it sounded more like I wanted to hear.

So, I am an old fart. At some point, I do not want to see the guys from Def Leppard on a stage at 60 doing "Poor Some Sugar on Me"...do you mean in an IV drip in the home? Yah...I really do want the Song to Remain the Same.