A farewell to charms: The pissquiggler's exodus

You can tell it's warm in our office, for the dogs are stretched out unbecomingly in their crate. When it's cool, they morph into furry doggie-balls, snuggled closely. They share one big crate, our three, and love it. Whether in the crate or on the furniture, they tend to sleep in great piles of legs and paws. It always makes us smile.

There's good news to report, dog-wise. Angie's brotherDennis is going to give Buddy a home! Yep, da brudder's family has a female beagle, anyway, and wanted to get a companion for her. She's an outside dog...And he's buiding a kennel for them! It is a very specific answer to prayer, let me tell ya.

Ironically, Buddy's new home will be a couple of states away, in Illinois. Buddy will be quite the seasoned traveler by the time he gets there, bless his heart. Fortunately, our vet's prescribed tranquilizers for him since he gets nervous and carsick riding in vehicles. He'll pretty much zonk out and wake up in a new home. I hope he does really, really well there - he's such a sweet little guy, just stubbornly refuses to be housebroken.

It's a weird feeling, planning to find a dog a new home. But, just when we again felt ambivalent about it, Buddy graced us with another piece of abstract pissquiggle art all over the office floor. Howie's no longer waffling on the issue, and neither am I. Emma's sure going to miss him, though, and that makes us sad. They're such good friends, those two. I hope and pray Buddy gets along with his new little girlie beagle. Good thing Emma has Sarah (and us) to snuggle up to in Buddy's absence!