What is a "dog person?"

Well, I'm one.

I adore my dog in all his barky, playful fabulousness.

I know and respect, however, that there are many among us who disdain the doggy world and justifiably avoid it. These non-dog people (NDP) are the ones who stand stiffly while pooch enthusiastically sniffs their NDP privates, who smile even stiffer when pooch goes to lick their hands, and who sigh gratefully when pooch moves on to smell someone else's crotch. My own father, although fond of my dog, is one of those people; he often dramatically sighs and laments, "Pooch, what do you want from me, Pooch?” when my lovely doggie comes near him. Even if Pooch does nothing more than sit at his feet or rest his head of my father's lap. I try to be courteous to NDPs when they visit; I will put him in a stay until Pooch calms down or I will crate him when his canine exuberance is more than they can bear. But I am unashamedly a DP.

I came from a decidedly non-DP family, and since I had a terrifying experience of having a small dog jump through a WINDOW to get at my 8 year-old self, I never thought I would ever love dogs. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, my love and I brought home Boomer, an American Eskimo dog who had been abandoned and then, neglected. She gave me my first dog-owning experience and since she knew the ropes, she broke me into walking and feeding and grooming rituals gently. I got over my fear. She was in the room when daughter number one was born; she was family. When she left us (completely deaf and almost blind) 3 Octobers ago, we were bereft and, after searching for weeks, sadly gave up. After a few months, we noticed a distinctly dog-shaped hole in our home and soon after, got Pooch. My parents and in-laws have grown to care for Pooch and, even if he hasn’t precisely help them transcend NPD land, they enjoy him.

I digress. May I present a photo of Sephira, our puppy-to-be, who will arrive from Israel sometime before the end of November to join our family. We are all stupid excited. She is to be the mate of Pooch and we are seriously thinking about thinking about breeding them. For now, she is going to be a playmate of Pooch and he will help her meld into the family by reinforcing our rules while we train her. It's going to be mayhem, but it's also going to marvelous. We have 6 acres for them to romp on and many local DPs around to help socialize her. I can’t wait.

I know there is a LOT I don’t know – what having two dogs will be like, never mind a breeding pair! I any of you have advice, I would gladly hear it. I am counting down the days...

ODE to a Dishwasher that PERFORMS

Seem mundane?

Isn't.

I have a new dishwasher and it works!!

Properly.

It seemed no matter how much we rinsed off the dishes in our old machine, cups and plates would come out festooned with bits of grit sandblasted on by the drying cycle. It was a familiar scene: I'd stand there swearing as I cleaned out the machine; none of the glasses or mugs would be free of bits of whatever had been on the plates. I would have to re-wash nearly everything. Grumpily. When she visited from Canada, my mother would often take all my glasses out of my cabinets and wash them for me. I had almost stopped noticing how nasty they were. Seriously yucksome.

WTF??

Most lower-end dishwashers, explained the nice man at Best Buy, use the same water to do both the initial and final rinse, thereby spewing bits all over the contents of the dishwasher. Most machines, he went on, have filters that are either automatically emptied, or that need some human intervention. Our old one had neither.

After plenty o' research and with a firm resolve, my darling husband and I purchased an LG (Life's Good) wonder contraption that does what the bloody things are supposed to!! This lovely device has a whizbang food grinder, and an automatic filter that removes the dinner detritus off of my plates FOR me. All I have to do is push one of the cycle buttons and off it goes.

Makes me grin like an idiot. And swear a LOT less.

Just thought I would share.

GLORIOUS

Today is a glorious reminder of how beautiful life is, how precious and how tenuous. The here and now of autumnal magic is what we must cherish, not take for granted, and photograph NOW dammit, before it’s gone. My daughters are young, in stages of youth that dh and I find entrancing, captivating and monumentally entertaining. However, we know it won't last - they will leave, well, eventually. Therefore, I feel the need to comment on how this season is a great reminder to look up and see the beauty around us. Our world has far too much ugly in it - the news reports a constant and steady supply - but there is such solace in the splendor that surrounds us. Take a breather, look at the leaves and maybe, just maybe, come away with an easier spirit.