Who Dat? 1/26

As a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University and a long time non-fan of Brett Favre and his need for attention, I was very pleased at the results of the NFC Title Game.   While the Jets are not my team I tend to root for New York as a whole when the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Rangers are not involved but I can never root against Peyton Manning, I lived in Tennessee when that poor SOB was in Knoxville and I can tell you that never have so many expected so much from so few(him).  The fact that he did not win 3 NCAA Championships while at Knoxville seemed unforgiveable to some of the folks in the Volunteer state.  This is a unique Super Bowl for me, no Giants so nobody to root for, no Cowboys so nobody to root against, I like the Colts a little, I like the Saints a little and I stopped betting football 20 years ago, oh well I'm just gonna enjoy the commercials and hope for a 56-54 shootout.

Just finished reading W.E.B. Griffin and his son's latest novel about the OSS(later the CIA) vs. the Nazi's in Argentina during WWII.  I've read Mr. Griffin's books for 20 years and while he seemed to use a lot of filler with Telegrams from one character to another in some of his books, the last few works co-authored with his son have been outstanding.  This Honor Bound series is as good as the earlier books about the Army and the Marines, and the most recent addition to the Philadelphia Cop series was the best in a long time.

Just an update on my pups.  I'm pretty sure that Chocolate Chip ate half a tennis ball today and his whining leads me to believe that it's trying to exit the scene.  We are trying to leave them in separate rooms a few hours each day to develop their independence, Fox is fairly cool with it, but Choc's squeals have hit notes that Pavarotti only dreamed of.

Kids and dogs! January 16, 2010

My daughters are now 22 and 25 and while I love them to death they are not as much fun as when they were 2 and 5.  Stories about my kids kept my friends amused for years.  The first word that Veronica ever read, M A C Y S, (at age 2, maybe 3 I may be bragging) while her mother was reading an ad for Macy's was a clue as to her future abilities.  Not as a reader, she gave that skill up after second grade, but as a shopper.  She can still do major damage to a Department store and a credit card.  The outstanding ability of Denise to lie with a completely straight face as she looked up from her crib with her diaper around her ankles and shook her head no, when her mother asked her if she had taken her diaper off. Or on one of those rare Sundays (Easter) that we attended Mass when Denise asked in a very loud, high pitched voice after our explanation of Easter, and just as the church quieted down for the procession, 'Where's the dead guy?"  I miss those stories and I miss those days.  My daughters are still a lot of fun, but our conversations are not nearly as hilarious as when Veronica used to answer 28,29 to any question you asked her from her age, to her weight to the channel on the TV.  I realize that one may not make sense to all of you, but in my house it killed.

So 10 years ago I broke down and bought Denise the puppy that she had been begging for, she picked out a beautiful English Cocker Spaniel who we named CHIP, within two weeks it became painfully obvious that Chip was really my dog, especially when it came time to walk, bathe, feed or pick up poop. I can't complain, the Chipster was 32 pounds of love who would pee on you as quick as look at you. Mary (wife) would always comment on how sad he looked even as his nub of a tail was beating like a metronome.  We talked about getting him a companion dog to keep him company while we were all out at work but we never did and last year Chip went overnight from being an energetic, ball of puppy fur, to an old man.  After becoming one of those people I used to laugh about who spend thousands of dollars on a dog, Chip was humanely put down and passed away in my arms.  We had him cremated and I once again became the cliche of the pet owner who's pet's ashes are in a box on my mantle.  For weeks I would say hi to the box and occasionally I imagined the box barked at me as I came in the front door.  After everything that we had gone through with the Chip, Mary who amazed herself about how much she cared for the dog despite not being a dog person, felt that we had had enough dogs to last a lifetime, some day I'll tell you about Wizard.  But the Lord (and me and Denise) works in mysterious ways and after an extensive internet search, Denise discovered a breeder (Blue Chip Kennels, how's that for coincidence) who had a red headed version of Chip, and within a week,  Fox was on his way from Iowa to New Jersey.  As we waited for Fox, Denise showed me a picture of a chocolate brown puppy from a later litter at the same breeder and remembering the lonely life of Chip, Fox got a little brother named Chocolate Chip.  After we peeled Mary off the ceiling we started to accommodate our lives to these two little beasts.  We've already had them chew through electrical wires, swallow socks, lick a hole in the wall behind their crate, they have accomplished something that no alarm clock ever could, getting me to wake up at 5-5:30 AM with a small bark or whine.  I look forward to many more adventures and will relate them soon.

New Year's Resolutions

I hereby resolve that with the New York Giants out of the playoffs, I will root for the Jets and any team that plays the Cowboys.  I will not criticize the Yankees if they don't clinch a playoff spot before the All Star break.  I will vote against any politician who initiates negative campaigning.  I will read any book written exclusively by James Patterson, Tom Clancy, but not those that have a co-author, with the exceptions of W.E.B. Griffin and Dick Francis who are setting their sons up to take over the family business, I only wish Louis L'Amour and Robert Heinlein had done the same.  I will start using my Sony Reader.  I will continue to love my wife and I will continue to watch How I Met Your Mother, but they need to give us some hints or they're going to lose me.