And then there were two...

Two months later found us at Vince and Sharon’s (brother/sister-in-law) for a Christmas breakfast. Not 30 minutes after we were there, his landlady-neighbor-friend, Lois, stopped in, to show Vince the cute puppies her daughters Chihuahua begat.

Everyone there cooed and awed at the tiny black and tan long-haired cute-sters that fit in the palm of a hand. Everyone there knows I love animals. Everyone there said, “Oh Don, you’ve got to let her have one. What’s one more dog?”

Don said, “If we do, YOU have to be the one to tell Louise.”

Jasper loved his new baby sister. We worried he was too big for her but it was apparent he understood the fragility of her size. He was so gentle and generous with her that she grew up believing she was the Alpha. She continues to believe that despite the evidence that Jasper is only letting her have her way within reason.

Archimedes? He calls that year “the year of the dogs”. He wasn’t happy about the two new intrusions in the beginning, but he’s come to tolerate them. In fact, while he could be free of them in the back of the house (a child gate in the threshold where hall meets living room allows his passage to and from dog land), most mornings I enter the living room at 5:00 a.m. (feeding time) to find Archimedes sprawled on the living room carpet not far from Jasper….up until three weeks ago anyway, but more on that later.