Taking Pleasure in the Little Things

I'm pleased to report that a) I did not lose my job and b) little Penn started lifting his leg when he pees.

I've been busy of late focusing on getting religion out of politics via some letters to the editor and writing to my congressmen, etc. I was extremely angry about the outcome of Prop 8 in California. Hearing about the immense effort put forth by a good friend made it personal, and therefore even more angering. Stinking Christians.

The fact that the federal government has decided to play Santa Claus with my money hasn't helped either.

So I'm taking a deep breath and trying to enjoy the little things. These dogs sure do help.

Fresh off the joy of Penn's graduation to doghood, I was in the kitchen preparing a dinner of hot sausage, peppers and onions in sauce over fried polenta. The dogs wanted to go out quite badly, so I let them out into the very wet and muddy backyard. In the meantime, I was chopping the green peppers, and had only gotten as far as quartering them.

When the dogs came back in, they were covered in mud from some playing and tussling outside. I dried them off with the towel we keep by the door for that purpose, and before I was done with Z, I saw Penn trot off to the kitchen. In spite of yelling "NO!", I heard the inevitable crunch, and Penn trotted by again, mouth slightly open so as not to eat the pepper until he was sure it was something worth eating. Somehow Z ultimately came up with the pepper and quickly scarfed it down.

The moral of this story is that in spite of the horrors of the outside world, pets can make you laugh even when you're about ready to pack it all in. I can never thank them enough.