rose

We are slowly adjusting our habits to only two dogs. I promoted Buzz to eat in the Top Dog spot. He's been yelled at a lot over the last three weeks or so to *leave* any food in that spot (as Sophie was less and less able to eat, and more and more likely to walk away from food in her dish -- something she NEVER, EVER did when healthy). So it's a change for him, being allowed to eat food placed there. His dish has been in the corner where the stove abuts the counter with the sink in it, hence my eagerness to not have a dish just there, to trip over or stub my toe on while cooking.

It takes a while to get used to breaking the last piece of toast crust into two bits to share, rather than three..... I am still looking for Sophie to follow the boys to the door when we come home, and am still thinking I need to whisk her outside every few hours, and am still looking for her on the floor in the hallway when I get up at night (she was pretty much wood-floor color -- easy to run into in the dark, unless you were really careful).

She was an indefatigable retriever. It's nice to imagine she has found someone with a tireless arm to throw a tennis ball for her, forever. Good girl, Soph.


The Toledo Zoo has wonderful plantings as well as good habitat for its critters. The sun was bright when we were there -- hard to take un-washed-out pics. I stood so my shadow was over this rose.