Our New Arrival!

The first blog of the new year feels tremendous! We can begin the debate on whether we say, "Two thousand and ten" or Twenty-ten". To make this a short debate as far as I'm concerned, let me ask you this question, " What did you say in the last century?'" Was it "One thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine?" NO! You treated it as if it was two numbers... Nineteen 99. So Why should this be so thought provoking? After nineteen comes what?...DUH....TWENTY! So this year is TWENTY- TEN. The next year will be TWENTY-ELEVEN...etc. If you must use the Two-thousand thing... say, "In the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Ten..." It does sound sophisticated and it does make you at least sound smarter.

I started off my new year with a drive to Fillmore, CA. There my daughter Debi and I took possession of another Doberman Pinscher for our family. The seven hour trip was not just she and I, though---we took along my grand-dog, four and half year old Akkadian. It was kind of like traveling with two close to 30 something. After all, Debi is 28 and Akkadian is almost 30 if we go by the premise that each dog year is 7 human years. The trip out there was uneventful, as Akkadian slept most of the way, or stared out the window. Debi and I listened to some audiobook about technological advances of the Twentieth Century.

Once we got to the hotel for the night, we spent a rather uneventful New Year's Day Evening ordering pizza from Pizza Hut and watch football on TV. When I went to bed at my usual 9:00pm (all right, I'm old) I was alone in my bed. After a 3AM Call of Nature, I found that I had a four-legged grand dog in bed with me. When I woke up three hours later, there was a cold nose nuzzling mine! It could have been worse; it could have been the other end.

We next took a two hour trip to Fillmore which, again, was uneventful. AK slept and Debi kept me awake by reading Trivial Pursuit questions to me while I drove the freeways and byways around LA. We arrive at Dobie Rescue and Little Paws on time.

I did not realize there was such a big deal about getting a dog from a rescue. But these people were serious about getting us the right dog so we would keep it and not return it. We first met an older dog named "Red". He was a little on the shy side. He had trouble even getting near us, let alone Akkadian. But he finally let me pet him after I removed his collar. Colleen, the girl that helped us, thought immediately about another dog they had gotten in about two days earlier, a dobie named "Carmello"

When she brought in Carmello, he and Akkadian immediately went throught the doggie dance. For some reason, if you did not know, dogs do not shake hands when they first meet. Other than the fact that they have no opposing thumb, shaking is not a sign of good manners in doggiedom. No, they sniff each other's butts! This helps them determine if the person they are meeting is female, male, or neutral. I guess if you can sniff someone's butt without getting snapped at or growled at, then they are ok....(Ok, guys, try that the next time you want to pick someone up at a bar!) The next thing they did was share some water, and then it was off to play.

And play they did! Carmello, an eight month old pup ran the old man Akkadian ragged. The youngster looked as though he was a deer as he bounded across the play area. Even though he was extremely malnourished, he had a great temperment and was full of happiness and love. He and Akkadian were friends, and I had a new Grand-dog! He did have to be put in his place by his older brother once, though.

On the way home, things went well for the most part. Akkadian got a little perturbed when Carmello tried to get to my sandwich... This, after all, the older one's territory. And when Debi was petting him and Carmello tried to get his in, AK let him know that this was his time, and Carmello should GET BACK!

On the trip we also changed Carmello's name. After all, he did not really know it anyway. Carmello made the transisition to Osiris. Some more grand and regal, like the dog he will grow up to be. Osirisi was the Egyptian god of the Underworld, and was held in high esteem by those who recognized him. This name went along with our First Dobie, AKKADIAN, an ancient Sumerian Warlord.

Today, I went over to see my two grand-dog sons, AK and SI. They met me at the door, shared my peanut butter pretzels, ate parts of my meatloaf and slept at my feet. We played in the yard until they could play no more.

What more could a guy ask for from life? A fantastic woman, two great kids, and two loving dogs. Life is good.

Doughnut