Two pictures today. The second one is of Mulan, with Arden, our dog, and Betty, our neighbor's dog. Mulan is shaking Betty's paw, which is Betty's new trick. Betty is over all the time and Arden and Betty are very good friends. They sleep on each other, they lick each other, the fight and make up, they jockey for food - you know all the couple things. Betty is only 12 weeks old and already she's the size of Arden. She's going to be over 100 pounds, up to 120 pounds. She's 1/2 Bloodhound and 1/2 Carpathian Mountain Dog. I took both Arden and Betty on a walk together yesterday. Arden just wants to run after small animals - his eyes are always peeled looking for squirrels and chipmunks. Betty wants to smell. Betty's brain is a smelling computer with ten times the hard drive that Arden has. The movement of her face as she smells, it's really something to behold. Every muscle jitters and undulates, rippling micro whiskers registering, her mouth agape, even her eyes look like they're drinking in -- and then factoring in -- the odor. The world is an orgy of smells and she's intoxicated!

The other picture is of the kitchen/family room in mid-repaint.

In spite of the commotion, I got a lot of writing done today. I feel optimistic and it's before 6 so I thought this is the best time to post.