The Reason I've Been Absent....

Meet Darby. Darby O'Gill or Darby Doolittle. It's a contentious name we've given to our maybe dog.

You guys, it's been a sheer emotional/rational roller coaster. We think he'll work, then I think I have allergies. Then I squint, blink... assess.... Am I neurotic? Have my eyes always been like this? And we're back in the game...

Then all the sudden I come to the realization that he's a tad on the sheddy side. I mean-- seriously-- he's no lab, no collie... he's 20 lbs. So he's double plus Poppy on the shedding scale. But that I means I have to vacuum maybe every other day if I want a nice spotless floor. Because we didn't think we'd have a dog like this when we decided to put in chocolate brown floors.

Then there's the diarrhea (I think from too many rawhide bones) and the gas... oh the gas. I didn't buy the best dogfood because he was a 'trial' dog- so Purina Beneful it was ($7.99 for the little bag.)Just checked the label, and the first ingredient is corn. Poor dog, no wonder... we're trying to get away from cows that eat corn or eggs from chickens that eat corn... so of course, we couldn't have our dog eating corn...

I'm so sick of everyday having some new feeling about the situation. Monday I was ready to pack him up and go back to regular life with a dog that's as self-sufficient as you could dream of....Poppy. Need to be at work for 9 hrs and then spend the night at the bars...? Meet Poppy, the wonder dog! I mean, how could we possibly expect Dog 2 to be hypoallergenic, small, cuddly, soft, agree with Poppy, and be athletic, but not overbearing, and have the bladder of steel. So we're going day by day. Right now, I like him. And I'm thinking of checking out a good HEPA-rated vacuum sweeper. Some people online swear by Dyson....