I don’t feel guilt over Kila, but I needed to wait for dog-need to ache, to melt me so wet again I would embrace the work, the pissing, the apologies to countless strangers, bags of poo, the ruined collaboration chair, and whatever penitence for Kila remained.  It took 11 months. Welcome René Desbarkes!  Thank you ACDR.

For a few minutes the Chollaballs and their new dog were an internet sensation! My favorite comment: “you can barely see a puppy in there amongst all the love.”

werd!

I’m sorry I peed in the house 15 times in 36 hrs. Can I jump in your lap while you’re driving? Can i cross under you while onleash? I was planning to  chase the cats over the fence, wouldn’t that be fun??

G got a dog and a bike for xmas, ish. Close enough that she is still very stoked about close enough. Here’s how i know this – last trip to Rocky Point i went out on the SUP in January, told G I was afraid of falling, and asked her if she’d laugh at me if I did. “Absolutely” she deadpanned. We’re good like this, tinyMusher and I. Merry Xmas.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together and give a warm Scottsdale welcome to tonight’s featured act: Día, La Diabla, the Annnnnnggggggggggeeeeeeeeeellllll of Darknessssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!

We all liked Rene Desbarkes, a lot, but it just didn’t resonate with us. Picking names was the main topic of discussions for the 5 days from when my friends Kathleen and Robin at the rescue agency told me they found just what we wanted – a young female, smart, ready to nuzzle the world with my daughters.

A spot! A spot!
A magnificent spot!
My dog has a magnificent spot.
I’m so glad for a dog with a magnificent spot.

And the  most beautiful  bentley. Tsaina’s blaze was askew, a brown vein pulled to the left by her magnificent spot. Kila’s forehead was precision striped, so balanced and integrated with her countenance i’ve lost its details in its perfection. I remember it as the cleanest and most resplendent, kissable patch of her. Día’s fur is so short that you feel her warmth waving your hand near any part of her. I like getting all up in that, any of it,  and not getting sticky and stinky and dirty.  I hope she will live in harmony with Arizona.

She follows you differently than Kila, who was always in front, or behind, enough that you could see her and hear her and she did not invade your personal space. A 55lb predator, as cozy as a fleece pullover, if and only if it was needed. I imagine Dia is following me, and look back to see and hear nothing, then look down to find her on me. She sneaks up and herds. She is a shadow, a smell, a smokey meatsack trotting an inch off me.

I have been sleeping on the couch all week, full of love and wonder for a new best friend, in these precious weeks when i get to build us together. I remember what Kila’s nape felt like. I still remember what Tsaina’s neck felt like – it was softer and smoother and shorter. And Dia’s is different from them both.  I am at the beginning and see the end. Which makes enjoying this beginning so sweet.

Bugs: not stoked.
Cue the music from the finale of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

the crate came from a friend, the next day. It was dirtier and rustier and absent my fresh spraypaint. It took a few hrs i should have been at work, a few dollars, and Beckie’s I-told-you-sowing for not getting a new one from the store. I never needed a crate before, but never had a 6mos-old aussie cattledog before. I happen to like visiting a buddy I haven’t seen in awhile, restoring something, keeping it out of a landfill, like adopting a dog from a rescue group. It was a quicksilver nesting phase, just like a cattledog.

she revs about 30% higher than us. and I picked her. If I was playing Dungeons&Dragons, she would be an elf. And so too, i think, would i.