Cousin Lexus

It's a rainy day, and how can one possibly write inspiring and encouraging posts on a gloomy day! (My sympathies are extended once again to good friends in Oregon and the U.K. How do you do it! How do you live there??)

So to brighten your world, I thought I'd share a photo and introduce you to Gramma's new baby doll, Miss Lexus. She is a standard poodle and as gorgeous as ever. This picture was taken a couple of months ago and she's about double in size now. We took Mr. Max over on Saturday and the jumping and chasing rarely slowed. Gramma also has little Miss Mercedes (get it) in her home. Mercedes is a teeny tiny Maltese who wants to be sure everyone knows she is ultimately in charge. It can be quite a circus at times, especially when the entire gang of little ones in the family is over for a family birthday.

I'll try to get some good shots of them all on here soon. (Please refer to the Patience, Patience post for further explanation.) JJ has our digital camera, and I'm working with the antique one right now.... One of these days, I'll organize all those boxes of photos!

Getting back to Miss Lexus --- on Saturday I was able to see her fall to sleep for a few minutes. Talk about comical! She's just a rumbly tumbly ball of cuteness and loves to go to sleep on her back with her feet spread out far apart, some of them sticking straight up in the air, as if in hopes that someone will stop by to give her loves and rub her tummy! I'll see if Gramma can get a shot of that too! And furthermore - she tends to be half on/half off of the luxurious pet bed with the shiny red satin trim. In the mode of MasterCard, "Priceless."

So have you heard of Nubs the Iraqi dog? He's on his way to California from Iraq to wait for his new home with the Marine who is returning home soon. It's quite a sweet tale. Watch the news. It will be on when they're done talking about the election race, the stock market, recent robberies, the weather and the latest sports scandal. Out here they like to end the news with happy stories! I guess they figure you might forget some of the sad stuff if you hear of nice people doing good things and maybe you'll want to turn on the news back on again tomorrow night.

As you can tell, we love our pets in this family. There's just something special about having a puppy or kitten to sit with you on a rainy day. It's not the same as having toddlers or grandchildren around. But they still help you forget your troubles - and the rain.