The dad is my servant, I shall not want I maketh him to lie down without covers, I hoggeth the bed with the others.  He restoreth my roll: he taketh me on the motorcycle when he would ride solo.  Yea, though I wreak havoc when others would slumber, I will fear no evil: for I am the Charlie; dad's  bark and his bite, they amuseth me.  He preparest a table before me in the presence…

...so I can come back inside and yark it upon the living room floor, as I'm sick to my stomach; just spent the last hour working on a post, only to have it inexplicably vanish, and it was a good one. Mom and dad are tearing up the carpet in the bedroom, the stains and dirt underneath similar to the rings on trees in that they represent the passage of time; the proof of fifteen…

YAAAAAY!!! Dad's back! Kat says I just mope around the house while he's gone; while I neither confirm nor deny, I will admit it's not the same when he's gone, as I have no one to do my bidding. The first priority is to fulfill my nightly face licking obligations, and since he was gone last night, duty decrees that I do double duty tonight. He thinks that it's just a sign of affection, but…

Of all the hardships a person has to face, none is more punishing than the simple act of waiting. Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns  What is more torturous, waiting in anticipation or in apprehension? When I was in the crate, every minute stretched into an eternity only to be interrupted by the sound of an approaching vehicle, the hope of rescue marred by the fear of the unknown; after a while,  the only conscious…

0415 at the Casa; as usual, Charlie has right hip duty, wedged up tight on top of the covers, while Max has taken his usual position on the left between mom and I. All this vitality crammed into 18.75" of the bed while mom rests unmolested on the remaining acreage is a bit off putting, especially when a Charlie starts another trip into dreamland.  Both dogs have their DDU's  (dad detection units, in this case…

When your task exceeds you ability, you experience anxiety... when your ability exceeds your task, you experience boredom: but when your ability exactly equals your task, you can achieve a state of "flow", a Zen - like condition where time seems to stand still and previously impossible tasks are somehow possible. Dad recently had a moment like this flying down the Potash Rd in Moab where everything "clicked"; the conditions exactly met his skill level…