As I prepare for the beaglefest, I can't forget that last year Ellie was there, sniffing butts. Who would have ever imagined that a sweet old girl would roll in a change my world. God, I miss her. It doesn't get any better, just less immediate.

Live in the Bay Area? Have a beagle or a beagle fetish? Beaglefest 2001 is tomorrow. I'll be there with some random dogs.

Nice. CNN.com - Black man executed 82 years ago gets pardon - June 1, 2001. Yeah, whoops, sorry about that, even though you're already dead. And people still think the death penalty is a good idea? If you're wrong, you can't bring a dead guy back to life.

This is so funny. No, it's not nice but you'll laugh anyway.

VW Beetle starts up after being buried for 10 years. Yes!

"All a man needs is a good set of teeth and a good barber."
Jimmy Luxury, the best artist ever. Buy his CD now!

Update on Ginger
You may remember me talking about my friend Karen, who was killed when she fell asleep at the wheel. Her adult daughter Lisa was in the car and suffered a broken neck. A foster dog, Ginger, was also in the car and suffered major injuries.

I'm pleased to report that after extensive surgery, both Ginger and Lisa are on the mend, Lisa in traction but walking with a walker and Ginger in a crate but ready to get back to her high-strung life. Enough donations to cover 1/3 of Ginger's surgery have come in so far, thanks to everyone who helped.

In other news, we now have doggie seatbelts for all of our dogs.

2 dogs that we'd been trying to place through our rescue are being put down today. They're only 3 and 3 1/2 but one is a biter (or at the very least, a forceful snapper/snarler) and the other barks agressively non-stop. We'd sent numerous families out to meet them and wondered why they didn't get adopted. We stopped wondering when one was finally placed and returned hours later because he attempted to bite a little girl.

I know we can't save them all but this is the first time I've had to deal with this. At least the guy who has them now is going to be there when they die, they won't die alone and they won't be forgotten.

A Belly Full O' Funyons
Last night, we ducked out for some dinner and while we were gone the doggies had an adventure. Zeus jumped on top of a crate I'd left too close to the counter's edge and snagged the big bag of individulally-wrapped Funyons that I'd finally cleaned out of my car after our LA trip. He also helped himself to Nilla Wafers, Alice was kind enough to help Zeus and Bagel out by eating pretty much all of them.

We came home to a very fat Alice and a guilty-looking Zeus. Bagel staunchly denied any involvment. Alice got some Pepto in her dish, mixed with cottage cheese, which, while disgusting, she ate anyway. Blech.

Look, it's me, getting ready to go out on the ice at Monday's game. At least I think it's me. We won 3 - 0!!!

A bunch of chippies just moved into the cubes across the aisle from me. They started off the day by going into a cleaning frenzy with so much Simple Green that I got a headache and had to go outside. They enjoyed a catered lunch with much discussion of black bean soup and now are speaking quite loudly about their new surroundings and a woman named Debra, who doesn't seem to be here.

Good thing I'm moving to where they used to sit (don't ask, I can't explain it) next week.

Mark your calendars and tell me the woman on the page doesn't look like she's marching in a gay pride parade.

For Andrea, who thinks that you don't need to test-drive a car: MSN Carpoint tells you how to test drive a car.

We spent the weekend in our backyard. Not enjoying it, mind you, but working our asses off in it. (Seriously, at one point my shorts got so baggy I was showing crack, which of course I pointed out to Andrea) We rented a rototiller, driving my squareback so we'd have room to haul it home. Which was all fine until we went to load it, it was 1 inch too tall so we decided to rent a van from the rental place and haul it home that way.

Rototilling is a bitch. Andrea solved the problem of the tiller getting away from her by tying one of our many dog leashes around her waist and the tiller. We both spent much of the time tilling pretending we were cracking a whip above the tiller, then laughing hysterically.

Sunday we finished laying down 20 bags of fertilizer and rolling it out so it's sort of smooth. We thought hey, we'll just go and get some sod, then bam! we'll have a lawn with grass. Turns out that the spot market for sod is terrible, we called every Home Depot in the area (I know this because we now have a map of the Bay Area with every Home Depot on it.) The city of Cupertino won't allow them to sell it, every other place is sold out by 11 am on delivery days. I think we're forced with having it delivered for an extra $50, but at least then we won't have to fight for it. I'm checking out this page of Local Nurseries just in case I can order it without having to go into Home Depot again.

How was your weekend?

It's official! There are no reasonably priced homes in Pleasanton CA. Thanks JT

I get teary-eyed even thinking about what happened 2 years ago today. We had been to the pet store 2 nights before, buying the right bed, the right leash, bowls, toys and anything else we thought our Incoming Princess Alice would need. We'd arranged the bed in a cozy corner of the living room, all we needed now was to wait until we could pick up Alice.

That morning, May 27,1999, we got up early, we were so excited about her! We got a little lost on the way to Alice's house but still managed to get there 1/2 hour early. This is a major feat, we're late for EVERYTHING!

We passed the time in a grocery store down the street until finally, it was 9:30 am, time to get our Alice! We raced up the road and with pounding hearts, knocked on the door. When it finally opened, a vision in light brown and white came running out of it. That was Alice! I was in love!

We spent over an hour with her and her mom for the last 8 years (Alice was 9 at the time), hearing stories and getting kisses from our Princess. When it was time to go, Al came with us like she was meant to, hopping into the car like she'd always known one day we'd come to get her. On the way home, I promised her that we were her last home, that she'd never have to worry about anything again. She just looked out the window.

When we got home, she found her new bed right away and was snoring logs within 20 minutes of our arrival. We moved the bed so we could watch her sleep.

It's been 2 whole years since that amazing day. The sun shined, the heavens opened, and God gave us Alice, still the most amazing thing in my life. Today, at 11 1/2, I see her slowing down but just when I think she's officially and old dog, she surprizes me once again. In that time, we've adopted and loved, then held Ellie as she died, adopted Zeus, fostered many and now today, we have Rainie Roo, a 5 month old basset who's mom is named after Ellie. But through it all, in her mind, Alice is the only dog and will always be the queen of our roost. The day I met Alice was the best day of my life. I don't know how the sun came up in the morning without her here.

Please join me in congradulating Alice on her 2 year Gotcha Day. I'm adopted too, and I know that in a lot of ways, Gotcha Day is better than a birthday, it's not just the day you were born, it's the day you came home for good.