feeling lazy...

I've had a book review to write for the past few days, but I just don't feel like it.

I got a wonderful pile of goodies at the library today, but I'm too lazy to take a picture to post.

Jean tagged me with a meme, but I'm seriously lacking the motivation it would take to do that right now.

So, I'll just post a picture of my two favorite furry boys...'cause they're just so dang cute.



*****

Almost 2 days down, 12 days to go.

tis the season...

...for torturing one's animal friends by taking silly pictures of them.



(I'm hoping he won't hold a grudge for too long. After all, like I told him, that wasn't nearly as bad as the hot dog costume the kids wanted me to buy him at Halloween.)

...for Secret Santa fun.



(It seems my Secret Santa has chosen to remain anonymous, so I hope he/she reads this. My Secret Santa sent an adorable little snowman card with an assortment of mini pieces of scrapbook paper and some stickers. I had to make sure to snap a quick photo before the boys got home, as I strongly suspect my little Collage Master Max will soon claim these for his own. But that's okay, because I know he'll make me a wonderful masterpiece! :) Thank you very much, Secret Santa--whoever you are!)

...for incredibly thoughtful gifts from incredibly thoughtful friends!



(Yep, just look what the postman brought me today! Nymeth sent me The Best of John Bellairs, and she knew I would just love it! I've been wanting to read The House With a Clock in Its Walls ever since I first read her awesome review. In fact, I inter-library loaned it, but while Annie read it, I didn't have a chance to before I had to return it. Oh, I'm so excited to dive right in! But I think we're going to make this a family read. :) Even though Annie's read the first one, she hasn't read the next two...so I think this is going to be a treat for all five of us! Thank you, thank you, thank you Nymeth! I absolute adore it!)

...for baking cookies. And baking cookies. And baking cookies.



(I totally stole this cute idea from my sweet friend Dawn. This is cookie type #5 for the season. Just a few more kinds to go, then we'll be set for neighborhood deliveries.)

...for getting really, really, really far behind on blog reading. I've made myself stay off the computer for the past few days, just trying to get things done around here. Still not ready for Christmas, and now I'm missing out on how everyone else is doing. :(
I hope to just blow everything else off one of these evenings soon, and just catch up with everyone. Hope when I do, I find you're all having a truly fabulous holiday season!

in our neck of the woods...

Last week was a busy one. Busy in different ways than normal busy. Which means that I'm behind in all the normal things. But such is life, right?

*Mom and Dad came up to visit! We had an early birthday celebration for Gray, complete with cake and ice cream. Gray got Papa to watch his new favorite movie, Last Days on Earth, with him. Papa and the kids "dunked cookies"...gingersnaps and milk is a tradition with them (and they even let Grammy and I have a couple gingersnaps this time). Max read to Grammy. Papa and Gray played a lot of chess. Annie and Papa played a game, too, and we're still teasing Annie about how she let Papa take her queen with a pawn. Mom and I gabbed and gabbed and gabbed. Annie performed a mini concert for Grammy. Max and Papa were involved in an awful lot of rough-and-tumble tickling battles. Annie and I took them to lunch before they left the next day. Yep, we all had a great time.




*It was another fantastic week in college football! I'm trying not to "count my chickens" but Penn State is looking so good! And while I hold no illusions for the Dolphins making the play-offs or anything, a win over the Bills sure felt good!

*Baker had a great birthday...silly dog just loves it when we sing "Happy Birthday" to him, joins right in howling. And even more, he LOVES opening presents!


*Annie and I got her blog set up for What's in a Name 2. She picked out all new categories this time around. Hope you'll join us!

And I guess that about covers the highlights of life in our little abode during the past week. This coming week will be another hectic one...first celebrating the 8th birthday of one incredible, compassionate, creative, sensitive, emotional, handsome, intelligent young fellow, and then all the hoopla of Halloween.

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

while away...

*I'm going crazy here. I have a story I want to share sooooo badly. It's the story of how the ever-so-incredibly-generous Jean spent an entire day doing something very special for Annie. Want a teaser? Neil Gaiman is involved. But it's really Jean's story to tell, and I hope she'll post about it soon!


*Miss Annie is now carrying around a few thousand dollars of gear in her mouth. She said something like, "There's nothing like announcing to the world what a nerd I am...glasses and braces." Of course, I happen to think she looks adorable. And as her mom, I'm sure I'd find her adorable if she sprouted horns and a giant wart on her nose, too. After just a couple of days, they're finally starting to hurt a little less, but she's having a tough time getting adjusted to them playing her flute.






*Baker and Lucky have become fast friends. Well, maybe friends is a slight overstatement, but they certainly have no problems with one another. Aren't they precious?!!

*Annie's new vocabulary game is starting up, if anyone wants to join in. (Prize is a $15.00 Amazon gift certificate.)

*I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I'd hoped during my hiatus. But I probably did get as much done as I'd reasonably expected, so it's not all bad news. (Both in terms of our switching rooms around and in terms of school prep.) I have to say that I found the "blog break" a mixed bag. I've learned that blogging is both stress-inducing and stress-relieving. I think the stress-inducing part comes simply with letting it take over so much of my time. So I'm trying to come up with some strategies to help accentuate the "stress-relieving" and squash the "stress-inducing". For one thing, I'm thinking about trying some sort of schedule again to help keep myself organized. I tried, and failed, to do this before...but I'm hoping with some concerted effort on my part, that it might really help. (Unless I end up tweaking things, Mondays shall be set aside for my useless babblings about family and life in general.) I may just have to admit that I need to pare down my reader, too, as sad as that idea makes me.

Hmmm...now I'm off to see how unmanageable that darn reader has become...

a dose of useless rambling

How can it be that you work 18 hours a day and just get further and further behind?!! I'm sure you've all experienced that phenomenon at times, huh? We arrived home from our little trip Sunday evening, and I'm still nowhere near being caught up on my blog reading. I always feel bad when I get behind, like I'm ignoring friends when that really isn't the case.

I've been spending hours upon hours upon hours on school planning and prep. I tell you, it's hard to believe how much I have to relearn before I can even begin putting it all together. I don't really mean to complain though...it's actually pretty fun. I just wish it didn't take soooooo much time.

Our trip was supposed to be a three-parter...first to visit Rich's family, then to Gettysburg, and then to my family reunion. Unfortunately, we ended up having to skip Gettysburg because Rich's mom needed us there. Not that we minded spending the extra time with his mom, but we were extremely upset about "the reason" behind it. I really don't want to go airing family laundry, but let's just say we've got one of those "you can't pick your relatives" situations. (It's not Rich's mom I'm talking about though.) Anyway, we then headed straight from there to my aunt and uncle's house for our annual family reunion, which was fun and relaxing. And then spent most of the day Sunday driving home. So a fairly short, and frankly, fairly stressful, trip. The kids managed to have a blast the whole time though, so that made it worthwhile! Hopefully we'll be able to fit in a few fun weekend trips this summer since we're not really taking a big vacation. For one thing, we're hoping to get in a weekend trip to Gettysburg since we had to scrap it this time around.

The pool is always a highlight for the kids at Grandmother's house:





The kids also love playing with their cousins! And most of us got to enjoy the fireworks show...Rich had to take poor Gray back to Grandmother's house because of the noise. (We should have seen that one coming with his sensory issues.) And we all had fun catching fireflies and eating hot dogs and apple pie. The kids drank too much pop, something we rarely let them have at home. So despite the stress, there was a lot of fun going on, too.

A pile of cousins in a hammock:



Oh, and poor Baker somehow managed to fall in Grandmother's fish pond! He couldn't get himself out and had to be rescued!



In other news, we no longer have a "kinder shark" in the family. Max finally lost his first tooth! The tooth fairy came and collected that shark tooth last night and left Max $5.00. (The tooth fairy is always very generous for the first tooth.) Max was very excited to add it to his Nintendo DS fund...he's been saving for one ever since Gray got one for Christmas, and I must say, I've been very impressed with how well he's doing. Anyway, I hope once some of those other teeth fall out, those permanent ones will move into place on their own. Wishful thinking, perhaps.



Well, I suppose I've babbled on more than long enough here, and I've certainly managed to waste enough time. So I'll let you all off the hook now and head back to the Civil War.

he's just so stinkin' cute

just another dose of useless rambling

*I finished up Grimms' Fairy Tales today. This little Puffins Classics edition only contained 55 tales...which leaves me very excited knowing how many more there are to read. Going to have to buy The Complete Grimms' Fairy Tales very soon. Before I ramble on to other subjects, I just wanted to mention that I think this may be the funniest start to a tale I've yet read:

Once upon a time a mouse, a bird, and a sausage took it into their heads to keep house together...

Okay, maybe it's just my mood, but I can't read that without giggling.

*I'm tired of the spring weather roller-coaster. We're currently in a dip, with a high of 48 degrees for today. And rain. Quite dreary.

*I finished up The Translator last night, but I am really struggling at writing a review. Hopefully by tomorrow.


*Our dryer died today. So now I have clothes hanging all over the house drying. Not terribly attractive, let me tell you.

*Baker is driving us a bit crazy. Last Friday, he found a rabbit's nest in the yard. He killed one of the babies before I realized. But from the kitchen window, I saw him carrying something in his mouth. I went and yelled out the door for him to "leave it" and he immediately dropped it. Turned out to be an adorable itty bitty bunny, about the size of a mouse. I got him into a box with some grass,



and then Annie and I searched and searched and searched the yard for the nest but couldn't find it. Didn't seem like it would be that hard as our yard isn't very big. Finally Rich came home and found it fairly quickly. So we put the baby back in the nest, and it appears the mama has been back and taking care of it. But until baby is grown enough to be leaving the nest and whatnot, we've had to take to chaining Baker up in the backyard when he wants out instead of letting him run free. (The yard is fenced.)

another week of good stuff

Lying in bed Friday night, I decided that I was taking the week off from blogging. This is winter break here in our little neck of the woods, and it exquisitely wonderful that Rich's college always has winter break matching up with the local school districts. Equally as wonderful is the fact that my birthday always falls during winter break, and it has become somewhat of a tradition for my parents to watch the monkeys for a few days during the week as part of my birthday present. Anyway, I have these somewhat ridiculous ideas about all I can get accomplished during this week (finish up at least 3 books, make at least 10 scrapbook layouts, finish up a lot of lesson plans, etc.)...but figure that I've got a much better shot at reaching these goals if I just make myself stay off the computer. Doesn't look like I'm doing so well, huh? It's not quite as bad as it seems though...it's just that I remembered that I'd already had this draft started for this week's good stuff, so I decided that I ought to just go ahead and post it.

*the return of Jericho (yes, I am slightly obsessed)

*Gray's beautiful Valentine art (though my photographic skills don't do it justice)



*conversation hearts (yes, I know I've said that before, but I just love those little nuggets of flavored sugar)

*and while I'm on the subject of Valentines, there's Dawn's post on love that I thought was quite beautiful (unfortunately I couldn't post to the exact post, but it's entitled "the greatest contradiction" if you decide to pop on over to read it)

*and while I'm on the subject of posts by fellow bloggers, there's this one by Jean about working the polls on election day

*fairy tales

*Uno winning the Westminster Dog Show...go beagles!

*and while I'm on the subject of beagles, there's this photo of my favorite one along with my favorite guy



*the start of winter break

Can't wait to catch up with everyone next Sunday!

for the love of a dog

This was supposed to be an easy, relaxing day. I finally felt like I was in good shape for Christmas. Annie and I just had a few quick things to do for school, then I needed to make a cake to take with us this weekend, pack for the weekend, deliver plates of cookies to the neighbors, and make up the futon. The rest of the day was to be free to work on school plans for next month, and yes, to relax and do some reading just for fun. Ahhh, how I was looking forward to it.

Enter one pouty-faced dog. He's been down in the dumps for the past couple of days because he destroyed his bed. And let me tell you, he LOVED his bed. It wasn't just any old dog bed. No, it was a Flyers bean bag chair. He appropriated it from Gray, who would happily give that dog of his anything, up to and including a kidney I'm sure.

Now Baker didn't mean to destroy his bed. He just gets himself a bit wound up from time to time. Usually with the help of one human or another. And when he gets fired up, he feels the need to throw his bed. Yes, it's really quite the sight...one squat, corpulent beagle grabbing a bean bag chair more than twice his size and throwing it into the air. But I'm afraid his last go-round with the bed ended in disaster...a large jagged tear issuing forth little white beads throughout the room.

And ever since, Baker has simply been beside himself with grief. He wandered from room to room to room, just testing out spot after spot after spot. Nowhere suited him. What can I say...the dog is obviously spoiled.

So, what does this total pushover here do? Decided to make him a new bed. Why I felt the need to spend my day this way is beyond me. See, Baker, though technically Gray's dog, has made it abundantly clear that he is really Rich's dog. His world revolves around Rich. The rest of us matter to him not one iota. Oh, he likes us well enough, I suppose. Or maybe he just puts up with us because he doesn't know how to get rid of us. Then again, he might just keep me around, as he seems to think of me as his own personal servant...I feed him, give him his medicine, let him out in the middle of the night, etc.

Anyway, back to the bed. This is what I started with this morning:



I've been saving everyone's worn-out and outgrown fleece clothing for the past several years. I told myself that someday I was going to make us a nice cozy quilt using the fabric from them.

By lunchtime I had this:



And finally, by 7:30 this evening, I had one very happy dog testing out his new bed:

a four-legged celebration

Happy Birthday Baker! Yep, Bacon turns 5 today! (O.K., to be perfectly honest, that may not be entirely true...I suspect the shelter took a little creative license on this point. But we're sticking with this date, since we have no more accurate info.)

And as Gray's birthday is tomorrow, most of the hoopla this weekend will be directed at him. But we do have a couple little things planned that should make Bacon a happy dog...for one thing, he'll get a real present! Whenever anyone else is opening presents, he goes absolutely crazy, wanting a present of his own. We always have to get a piece of wrapping paper and wrap one of his toys in it for him to open. And then he's a very happy pup again. You'd think he was a 2-year-old kid, huh?

We're also going to let him off the "diet hook" this evening. Yep, an actual can of dog food lovingly shaped into the form of a dog bone. (Hopefully I will survive this gaggingly disgusting task.)

Anyway, we are all very thankful that this lovable little rascal made his way to our family! And I hope we get to celebrate many, many more birthdays with our beautiful beagle boy.

under the weather

Max is staying home from school today. Let me tell you, he's really broken up about it...ha! Nothing major, just a slight fever and a really ugly cough.

Baker is the one who had me worried though. He had another seizure last night. He was right on the floor beside the bed...if he'd have been out in the living room, I might not even have heard him. It breaks my heart and scares the crap out of me while he's in the midst of one. I stayed up with him for about half an hour afterwards...he was fine and eventually got to sleep.

Whenever Baker has one of his seizures, which luckily is not that often, it always brings back worries about Gray. I guess that's only natural. Especially as he eases closer and closer towards puberty (though that's still a few years away). Back when Gray was being weaned off his medication, his neurologist told us that that's the time when his seizures are most likely to come back. And there's only a 1 in 3 chance that that will even happen, so the odds are with him. And yet still we worry...guess it comes with the old parental territory, huh?

a little of this, a little of that

*Wow. I can't believe how many people's kids have needed braces! Almost sounds like the norm. I don't remember many people wearing braces when I was a kid. Not that it was uncommon, but I don't think there was more than a handful of kids in my class that wore them. Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly. I didn't have them, though I certainly could have benefited. My teeth aren't overly crooked or anything, but I do have a nice big gap between my front teeth. Anyway, I'm just curious...

Did you wear braces as a kid? Are they more common today, or is that just my imagination?

*We've altered our plans for the weekend a bit. Instead of hitting both Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga, we've decided to just focus on Saratoga. For one thing, we didn't realize it would be so expensive to go to Fort Ticonderoga. And for another, if we get home before 1:00pm on Sunday, we won't have to pay an extra $30 to the kennel. And it looks like there's plenty to do at Saratoga alone...along with the visitors center and the battlefield tour, it looks like they've got at least one nice hiking trail (we can't ever seem to pass up a hiking trail). So I think that's going to give a full day of fun right there.

*Baker went to the vet yesterday. He needed to have another blood test to see how his thyroid meds are doing. The good news...he'd lost 2.2 pounds in the last 3 weeks. Of course, we're a little worried about how he's losing the weight...after about a week on the meds, he went on a hunger strike. He used to act like he was starving to death all the time, and now you have to cajole him to eat just a few bites. But it is good that he's losing weight...and the meds seem to have done wonders for his energy level, too. He's like a puppy again! He chases the kids around the back yard, and he doesn't sleep for 20 hours a day anymore.



*I'm beginning to wonder if the potty issues will ever end with the Maxidoodle. Don't get me wrong...I'm still incredibly grateful that he started using the potty at all. And apart from occasionally peeing his pants at preschool, because he's nervous about using the potty there, he's doing very well with that end of things. The "other" issue however, is a whole 'nother story! He's had problems with constipation since he was 6 weeks old. Of course, they always say breast-fed babies don't have such problems. WRONG. Anyway, he's been on medication for years. Thought things were finally straightening themselves out, until the whole "using the potty" thing came up. We expected problems. We dealt with problems. We thought all problems had been resolved. But all of a sudden, after doing fine for a month or so, the problems are back. Several "accidents" a day caused by trying to hold it instead of just going to the bathroom. He knows that we're getting a bit frustrated with this behavior, and with the constant cleaning out of poopy underwear. So, last evening, being the big can-do kind of boy that he is, he tried to deal with the mess himself. When we discovered him in the bathroom, he was clad only in a t-shirt, had poop smeared across the counter, and was standing there holding his dripping wet Lightning McQueen underwear over the toilet. Bless his sweet little heart, he had tried clean up his own mess and wash out his underwear in the toilet. Of course, the resulting mess to both the bathroom (which I had cleaned a mere 3 hours earlier) and to himself was a hundred times worse than if he had just called for help to start with. But I tried to look at the bright side...he was trying to be a helpful big boy.

Well, now that I've left everyone with those unsavory images, I suppose I should be off. Need to pack for our little jaunt, and Annie and I are running behind on our schooling for the week as it is. Hope everyone has a truly wonderful weekend!

is it that bad?!!

While driving home from preschool today, we passed a dead skunk. Max exclaimed, "I smell Baker!"

Baker is apparently overdue for a bath.

more odds 'n ends

*Had a great day yesterday! Mom and Dad came up for the day...we don't see them nearly enough! We had a combined celebration for Annie and Mom's birthdays. (Which, of course, included more cake that I didn't need to be eating.) Mostly we just hung out. Grammy and Papa spoiled the munchkins. (Of course, that goes without saying!) Papa and the boys spent a lot of time playing, which allowed Mom and I to sit and chat. As part of the The 30 Day Organizational Challenge, I have started going through and weeding out my craft patterns/books. So Mom went through the ones I'd weeded and took what she wanted. And during her spring cleaning, she decided to get rid of a bunch of books that she'd already read. She brought the box up for me. I'd already read about half of them, but still ended up with all of these...



Now, of course, I need more books like another hole in the head. But I believe it's physically impossible to say "no" to good books...especially free ones!

*Okay, Carrie...here's my desk...



Carrie tagged me. She had to take a photo of her desk and post it. She's got a beautiful roll-top desk. Rich and I have long wanted a desk like hers! Anyway, she tagged me to post a photo of my desk. However, a couple days ago I didn't have a desk. Well not here anyway. The last time we were down visiting Mom and Dad, we found this piano-top desk at an antique store and fell in love. We bought it, but couldn't bring it home then. So yesterday, Mom and Dad brought it up with them. I told Carrie I would pile some crap on it, so it would look more like it will inevitably look in the near future. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it! I have to enjoy it in its pristine beauty for a while first! O.K.--I now tag Stacy and Gail. Let's see which is the neater sister...heehee. I'm actually betting they both have very neat, organized desks.

*We took Mom and Dad out to dinner for Mom's birthday. And while we were out, Mom and I hit Joanns. I wanted to get some fabric to make some little valances for the windows in my craft room. I sort of had a picture in my mind of what kind of fabric I wanted...bright, happy, probably with flowers. And I found the perfect one! But they didn't have enough. So I ended up settling for something else...



I still really like it, but it's not what I was hoping for. I cannot wait to get my room painted and get the curtains up (that is, once I make them).

*Our suspicions were correct...Baker does have thyroid disease. Which as the vet said, is actually good news. It's easy to treat, and not too terribly expensive. He just has to take 2 pills a day, and have is blood checked occasionally. The vet said his lethargy should disappear, as well as all those extra pounds he's gained. Rich and I are so angry at his previous owners. We're convinced they knew about this and simply didn't tell the animal shelter. Maybe for fear no one would adopt him. But we would definitely have adopted him anyway...it was love at first sight! And had we known, it would have saved Baker these past five months of not feeling good. The poor guy put on 15+ pounds in the past 5 months...and that's a lot for a little guy like him! Anyway, we're just so happy that we found out what the problem is and that it's so easily treated.



Well, the to-do list is 10-miles long for the day, so I suppose it's time to sign off.

munch, munch, munch

Yes, that sound you hear is me eating my words! I promised Baker I would set the record straight. Our paunchy little pooch passed his doggie training final. He even has the certificate to prove it. (Frankly, I think the teacher, who also happens to be our next door neighbor, just loves him and fudged his scores a bit...but don't tell Baker I said that, o.k.?)

Another update--there still have been no actual broken bones since the discovery of swing jumping. But there is a bruise about as big around as a saucer on Gray's leg. And Max is sporting a nice fat split lip. Miss Annie is still unscathed...because she's too scared to jump from more than about a foot off the ground (and believe me, this is just as well!).




And, totally unrelated to anything, we made a successful haul from the thrift store today...5 shirts and a book for Annie, 4 shirts and a light sweatshirt and a book and a pair of boots (to grow into) for Gray, 3 shirts for Max, a book and a pair of shoes for Rich, and a pair of shorts and a shirt and a pair of shoes for me...all for 38 dollars!

dog tired

they're dropping like flies

Okay, that's a totally silly title for this post. But we have had a bit of drama (or maybe melodrama would better describe it) around here.

First of all, McB (a.k.a. Baker) had another seizure. I think I jinxed the poor pooch by talking about it yesterday. So now he's had 2 in a little less than 24 hours. Hopefully that was a pure fluke, and he'll go back to the every other month rotation.

And then this morning after dropping Max off at preschool, in an act of utter clumsiness, Annie fell while climbing into the van . (In her defense, she really had no shot at gracefulness with Rich and I as parents.) Poor kiddo split her lip open. Blood was just dripping. By the time we arrived home, her lip resembled the loser in a heavyweight title match. An ice pack has helped the swelling a bit, but it was pretty evident that I needed to call and cancel her flute lesson for this afternoon. She also banged up her ankle a bit. Poor girl!

odds -n-ends

Just some unconnected ramblings...



*Poor Baker had another seizure yesterday. That's his second (that we know of) since he came to live with us late last October. The vet said that as long as they don't become frequent, there's really nothing to do about it. No reason to worry, but still, it's very sad to watch!

*For the longest time, we thought winter was never going to arrive this year. But of course, it did...and now we're nearly caught up with "the norm" for this time of year. The 6 inches we got last evening has us up to nearly 100 for the winter now. And it's snowing as I type.

*There have been way too many "Wow...these kids are growing up too fast" moments lately! The latest...we had to buy Annie some training bras! She's just not a little girl anymore. Pout.

*I never did talk about our success antiquing last week. We actually didn't buy toooooo much for ourselves, but we did get a few Christmas presents. Always a good thing. Especially happy about a find we made for Rich's mom...just know she's going to love it! Rich did buy a few biology books for himself (he loves old biology books...well, and new biology books, too!). The only thing I bought myself was a little yellow bowl. Don't know why, but I just fell in love with it. Didn't have a clue as to what I was going to do with it...but I ended up with the perfect spot for it. It now holds cotton balls in our bathroom.



And I guess that's enough of my useless ramblings for now...

taking Thursday's Challenge

Thursday Challenge is a place for photographic fun and learning. A theme is announced on this site each week. You may either take a new photograph related in some way to the theme or select one that you have taken previously.

"CUTE" (Baby Animals, Babies, Children, Clothing, Beautiful, Charming, Dainty, Delightful, Pretty,...)



Well, of course, to this biased mommy, the boy and the dog are both as cute as can be. But what I find especially "cute" is the relationship of a boy and his dog. Nothing quite like it.

just wondering...

The whole family loves our precious pooch. Technically, Baker is "Gray's dog". But just ask anyone, it is certainly I who adores our canine baby the most.

However, Baker is a daddy's boy. No question about it. If Rich is home, the rest of us seem to not even exist in Baker's world. He seems to merely tolerate the fact that he must share Rich with the rest of us. Sure, we can pet him. We can play with him. We can certainly give him a milk bone. But he always keeps Rich in sight. He follows his daddy from room to room.

Now I can accept his fierce canine loyalty to his "master". For whatever reason, he chose Rich.

But what I want to know is why is it me he wakes up at 3:00am when he needs to go out!