Dog toy as fashion accessory

Tomokee was wandering around with his pull toy around his neck for a while.

Not much hope that we will win the bet

Charlotte, if you're reading this, you'll probably win the bet. At the last weigh-in, Tomokee came in at a whopping 64 lbs! A lot of this is muscle mass from all that wind sprinting he does out the back door when playing ball, but weight is still weight, even if it's not due to fat. Here's the summary of his weight progression:


June 2006 -- 48 lbs.
August 2006 -- 52
October 2006 -- 55
December 2006 -- 55.4
January 2007 -- 55.7
February 2007 -- 59.5
May 2007 -- 61.5
August 2007 -- 64 lbs!

Today's goings-on at the fence

Here's what's been happening at the side fence today:

1. Tomokee is looking through a hole in the fence watching Tomokee TV.
2. Adobe, the neighbor tortoise, is lingering on the other side of the fence.
3. Adobe sticks his neck through a hole in the fence. (Adobe is not too smart about this)
4. Tomokee barks furiously.
5. Adobe retreats his neck.
6. Repeat steps 3. through 5. until Bruce pulls Tomokee away.
7. Tomokee whines because he misses his "friend".

A typical Saturday

These are photos from the last Saturday morning walk in downtown Los Altos. Tomokee is waiting patiently in the hopes that some sort of food will fall his way. The four dogs are being walked by a popular local dog-walker/pet-sitter. She usually has at least six dogs in tow, so this must have been a slow day for her.

To great dogs everywhere: L'chayim!

A friend and colleague (Adam) had to put his Labradoodle of just under 12 years, Bennie, down over the weekend. We just found out today. We had been given a very fine flagon of Plymouth Gin by Original Adam (to distinguish the two, very distinct, Adams) and toasted the passing of this friendly beast with a mighty fine brace of martinis (erm, one each, not dual 'tinis each).

Why do we celebrate at a time of loss? Our friend, Yeshwant, used to say that celebrations were for the living since, as he put it, "the body in the box is not having a good time." It was to the survivors to pull up their socks, honour the memory of those departed and to get on with our short time on this earth.

So, to Adam and his family we send our condolences and to the spirit of great dogs everywhere, including Benzlo, Bennie and Chobe, we salute you and take this time to fondly reflect.