THIS WEEK IN DOGTOWN

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

This week in Dogtown, the weather has taken a left turn toward Pleasantville. We are shocked and awed at being able to tell you that our highs during the day hover around 80 with low humidity. The windows are open; the back door is open. The dogs can come and go as they please. We are pleased in spite of mentalpause.

The nice weather has us reminiscing about Thoreau, the Treeing Walker Coonhound.

Reau suffered mightily as a youngun and then middle-aged dog, but he spent his final years as one of the Z Boys. He learned that sitting on the couch to have his tummy rubbed was a good thing. Reau had many aches and pains from his earlier miseries, so he loved to lie on the family room floor in his very own sunbeam when we lived in Illinois. When the weather was pleasant, he would go outside to sleep under his napping tree -- the spot where he was buried when the time came.

When he left us, I sobbed inconsolably and Faulkner fell into a deep depression. He slept on the couch by himself and wanted to be left alone. It took a long time to draw him out of the doldrums that accompany loss.

Then, in 2010, Faulkner went to Heaven. Thank God I gave him the last bite of my watermelon that day. Faulkner loved watermelon. Recently I told a friend that I don't think I'll ever get over losing Faulkner. He said, No. I don't think you will. You always talk about him as if he just died a month or two ago.

Faulkner was, is, and always will be The Dog of My Life.

But let's reminisce about Reau a little more. He was a massive, solid dog with huge paws. When he stepped on one's foot, it stayed stepped on. When he tired of sleeping in the back yard, he would chew through a board in the fence, force his way out, and go for a swim in a neighbor's farm pond. He would return wet, smelly, and smiling, and Dr. X would replace the missing board. Eventually, the fence had a row of new boards, allowing us to count the number of times Thoreau had gone for a swim.

He died suddenly one night. Faulkner found him and barked his emergency bark. It was horrible. We miss you, Reaudy.

We suffered a small disappointment this week because Elvis Aaron Schwarz came down with a cold and couldn't visit us.

Hi! Remember me?
I'm Elvis Aaron Schwarz.
I look blurry because I have a rotten cold.
I can't visit my baby doll.
I'm too sick.

We are sad when EAS is sick and blurry. 

Some better news: I was finally able to get ads on my blog again. Google made me get a new PIN from them. I entered it in my AdSense account, so the ads are back. Please feel free to click on them. I have a crazy dream that one day I will earn money from them.

The mentalpause continues with a hot flash at this very minute. 

I'm afraid I must take you to task for not voting for this little girl every damn day as I requested you do. Click here to vote.

At of five minutes ago, she had only 56 votes in the photo contest. That's not enough to win. You people simply have to get with the program. According to my calculations, she should have 3, 256 votes by now. I could figure out that number because I am the mom of a mathematician.

Vote, dammit, vote, I say! Vote each and every day because I have mentalpause and I said vote.

You might charge me for being grouchy, but I promise I will charge you for NOT VOTING!

Speaking of voting, I have not yet watched this week's "debate" between Mitt Romney and President Obama. The debate awaits us on our close personal friend, DVR. Whatever happened in the debate doesn't seem to matter, however, because The Hurricane has decreed that President Obama will be re-elected. She sent me an email stating that she doesn't watch anything or listen to what anyone says because she has been confident from the start and remains confident that the president will remain Our President. And that's that.

Favorite Young Man very kindly stopped by to mow the lawn. We appreciated it. We gave him cookies.

We're going to leave you with two videos, both recommended by our old friend, The Silver Fox.

Videos will follow my leavetaking.

And that's the news from Dogtown, where all the dogs are good looking, all the dogs are smart, and all the dogs are adored.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug and The Z Boys