Leader of the Pack

Scrappy's back. I'm not sure for how long, but several days at least. He seems happy to be back. At least he licked my face enthusiastically when I picked him up and seemed to quickly re-orient himself to the house. (I had to remember to remove all the stuff on the table between the two recliners, since I'd forgotten that he uses that as his path from one chair to the other!)

Gizmo, however, wasn't too happy to have a new dog on the scene.

When Gizmo arrived here, she was a quiet little thing and I thought how nice it was. But Lizzie taught her how to bark.

and bark

and bark

and bark.

She has a high pitched bark that cuts right through you and when Scrappy arrived last night she used it a lot. For about three hours.

The two puppies finally reached some sort of impasse and both fell asleep in my lap. I started thinking about how things were going to go overnight. I finally decided to take all dogs upstairs and sleep with them in the guest room. I decided, when I got up at 5:30, that if I weren't so fat, I'd feel like scratching behind my ear with my foot--I don't feel human any more. When you sleep in a heap with four dogs piled around you, you wake up feeling like just one of the pack.

I got out of bed and headed downstairs with four bodies swarming at my feet. It was Gizmo's first experience with stairs and though she had made it upstairs without a problem, downstairs was another situation entirely. I finally had to carry her downstairs because she would bark and bark and bark, and then Scrappy would run upstairs to encourage her, and back downstairs again, Gizmo barking "I can't! I can't! I can't!" over and over again.

I am the undisputed leader of the pack, however, because I'm the one with opposable thumbs who is able to open a can of dog food and open the container that holds the kibble.

So I got a phone call from Peggy last night.

You remember Peggy. The lady with the camera? The one who took >6,000 photos in Africa that I have yet to see (and which she has now misplaced...ahem...).

Anyway, she was calling to tell me that she had been to a phography exhibit recently. She had entered several photos in competition -- several that she had taken in Africa -- and several of them were selected to enter the competition and one actually won third place.

I am just so proud of her!

A couple she took in Africa that didn't win were gorgeous (they look much better in full size, of course)

Anyway, I'm so proud of her. She's always been a good photographer, but her study and experience really shows. She's become a Good Photographer now!

Congratulations, Peggy!

The prize-winning photo