AT PRESENT we have numerous cats but no dog. There was a time a few years ago when we had two smallish doggies.

Li'l Sophie (above) was old when we adopted her from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. We weren't told her history and didn't ask. She was deaf, losing her sight, and had to have most of her teeth yanked. But she had two good years with us before we were forced by her deteriorated condition to put her down. Here she is sleeping in a sunbeam on our bed.

Huxley came out to Utah with us from Florida. He lived his whole life with us, a feisty piebald dachshund, lovable, and a royal pain in the patoot! When his time came, as with Li'l Sophie, it was hard on us.

Both Sophie & Huxley are buried in our small pet cemetery, along with several cats. Every once in awhile, I start thinking it would be nice to have a dog again, but I have resisted the idea. Cats are so much easier, for starters. We're fenced for a dog if we ever choose to have another one but for the time being I'm limiting myself to worrying about other people's dogs. I put other people's dogs in the same category as other people's children: stay the hell away from me!