two of us

When I'm home in Minnesota (I am right now!) my favorite thing to do is walk my dog. I walk him at least five times a day. For the first leg of the trip he secures our surroundings, smelling every square inch of the park and the neighbors' yards, on both sides of the street.

But on the way home, after every blade of grass has been under his scrutiny and he's sure I'm safe from roadside garbage and sewer grates, he likes to walk right, right, right next to me. So close that his fur brushes up against my leg. And when he does he looks up at me like "Oh excuse me Beautiful - do you come here often?"

Then he runs over and pees on a turtle carcass.

sixteen pounds of poodle

It's not quite enough to clear a four-foot snowbank, and a little bit too much to carry half a mile home because he's shivering and wet.



But it's just right.