A wise man once told me that we humans as a species are hard-wired to only accept as much bad news as we can personally affect, and anything more tends to cause us to "shut down". Imagine our most remote ancestors; they only had to process as much information as affected their immediate family, or maybe their tribe, problems that they could address. The issues were still real and possibly insurmountable, but they at least…

Pawlms 23 KJV 1 The dogs are my masters; they shall not want. 2 They maketh me to lie down on the covers, they covereth my face with their slobbers. 3 They restoreth my roll: they stampede for the car when I would ride solo. 4 Yea, though I sojourn to the fridge in midst of the night, I will fear no evil: for they art with me; their bark and their bite they accompanieth…

I have never had any letters of any type behind my name; no BA, no Ph D, no BMF or any other combination thereof. Instead of applying myself towards these all-important groups of letters, I seem to have spent much of my life working towards my Masters Degree in Daydreaming. And I did use to daydream A LOT, resulting in many demerits received during my school years and many more missed opportunities since I've supposedly…

It's the most wonderful time of the year... Yeah, right. It's actually a time of the year where we are biologically hardwired to slow down and relax, and to conserve our physical and spiritual resources. If not a season of emotional hibernation with it's short days and long nights, at least a time of reflection on the real reason for the season. But instead of a natural time of reduced activity, it has instead became…

Twas the night before Christmas and I was already in bed With Charlie's black butt against the side of my head Marco curled tween my legs where he is known to head to Making three roasting chestnuts where there should have been two MacDuff and Big Titus making the rest of the crew The inmates of the Casa seemed to be much less few. With Mom in her jammies and I in my drawers It…

Stop the doomscrolling Dad here; a major thunderstorm is currently pummeling the Casa with a metric ton of rain, thunder, and high winds. A loud crash just came from the back porch, where one of the metal panels was ripped free and tossed onto the roof for me to deal with in the morning, but do you think for a minute that the dogs are worried? Not on your life; the only thing that concerns…

Happy Charlie Bravo Day! I have been asked how finding Charlie has changed my life, and it's caused me to think long and hard on how to describe the impact. Apart from the obvious, adopting not just a dog but a force of nature that is as focused and intense as anything I've ever seen, she gave me a voice. Some would say just the opposite, the I gave her a voice, but they would…