I Hate Cats...please throw tomatoes!

It's true, I hate cats. I'm allergic to them and am sitting here right now with red-rimmed eyes and a runny nose. We've got two geriatric beasts, who live down in the basement because they can't stand Valour, our Golden Retriever, (see below)and want to live out their stupid lives in peace.

One belongs to my son and one belongs to my daughter. They've provided an emotional "security blanket" during all of our military moves across country and back again. The kids count on them for cuddles when Dad's away, as he is now, and as soon as they come home they both ask, "how's Barrington today?", "how's Screech today?".

My husband and I switched offices (long story) and so I'm back in the basement corner, having feng shuied as much as possible to keep my writing mojo. It must be working because I've got two stories on the go which is grand. Other then these stupid cats, who've decided they like to lie on top of a) my mouse, b) my mouse when my hand's on it, c) curled around the top of my keyboard, and d) on top of the phone.

I'm a dog person. (see below!)If I wasn't allergic to them, I'd probably think cats were fine as long as they stayed off my bloody desk. So, who out there enjoys a cat as Muse? I know Allison Brennan, thriller writer, has a gorgeous cat named Nemo. I prefer my Muse to stay on my shoulder, and away from my runny eyes and sniffling nose.

Ok, wing those tomatoes at me! And tell me what you think the differences are between cat people, and dog people.

What a difference a year makes.....

Here we are a year later; my husband's back from Afghanistan and we've gone through the "re-entry" phases of integrating him back in to "normal" (whatever that is!) life, we got another Golden Retriever who's led us a merry dance for the past 11 months, my son's graduated, and now summer's half gone again.

Our dog, "Valour", has been quite the challenge to train. Although we got him from the same breeder, he's nothing like Tessa. He's extremely alpha, high energy, and stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. Not really a "Golden" temperment at all. He's what our trainer likes to call "a lot of dog". I meant to re-start this blog when we brought him home to follow his genesis for 9 weeks old to....whenever, but I spent the first two months sleeping on the couch with him as he fought food allergies and illness along with crate training.

We've done puppy class, Basic Obedience, and Nosey Scenting Level One so far. He's been ill a couple of times, to the tune of $$$$ in vet bills. He's 11 months old today and just starting to settle down a bit. I can also vouch for the fact that Cesar Milan's tactics don't always work - the "bite" Cesar advocates meant nothing to this guy! Still, it's a joy to have a dog in the house again. I can't imagine being without one.

It's a joy to have life start to seem normal again. Please stick around for some book reviews, doggie info, philosophy, and my writing process. And card-making, scrapbooking, and knitting. It's all grist for the mill, as someone famous once said. (or, if they didn't, they should have)

Thanks for stopping by!