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Three of my friends (1 former co-worker, 2 Internet friends, all female) are having birthdays these next three days:

First of all, today is the birthday of Kim Novak of Yay! Kim Blog. Kim was one of my first blogging friends when I first started over 6 years ago, and about the only one from that era that I still keep up with. Bonus points: She’s a fellow Texan! Go wish Kim a great birthday, and listen to some of her great music while you’re there!

Tomorrow (the 29th) is the birthday of one of my newest friends, Debra from Atlanta. I met her in Second Life last summer (where she goes by the name of Stephi), and she’s one of my best friends in that virtual world. Bonus points: We were born just 3 weeks apart!

And finally, on Thursday it’s the birthday of Vickie, a longtime reader and commenter on this here blog, and former co-worker at Chucky’s Madhouse, where she still endures to this day. Bonus points: She’s a fellow Texan too!

Happy Birthday to all my friends!

Seriously, could YOU have resisted this face?

We’ve had her just over 24 hours now, and she has quickly made us her own. We don’t know her history, but she’s obviously been trained, including her potty habits.

Most importantly, Bristol isn’t in a constant fret over having another dog around, and in fact seems to enjoy the company.

More pictures and updates will be forthcoming …

Yes, we interrupt these updates once again (seeing as I can’t get around to catching up) to make a major announcment: We have a new dog! Here name is Dixie, she’s allegedly a sheltie/Australian shepherd mix (but I distinctly detect beagle influence), and she’s very sweet, just like our little Molly. We got her from the same rescue group that we got Bristol, so we were pre-approved, and got to bring her home after the first visit.

Bristol seems relieved to have a big sister once again. He’s seemed lonely this past three weeks. We’re glad we found a dog that’s similar to Molly in many ways, because we were afraid that Bristol would be too territorial and aggressive if we brought in another small lapdog type.

But he’s accepting her, and even seems to be enjoying her presence.

As for Dixie, she’s settling in nicely, and doesn’t seem to be nervous at all.

By the way, I know you’re going to be shocked, but I DON’T HAVE ANY PICTURES. See, I didn’t want to use the flash, since that might scare her, and pictures taken without the flash didn’t turn out well. Plus, I can’t seem to find the USB cable for the camera (the stupid Olympus uses a proprietar USB cable, so ordinary cables won’t fit) and I don’t have an up to date cable reader, so a workaround will take a little time, but it the mean time, here’s her page on Petfinder. (If the link isn’t working for you, that’s probably because they’ve taken it down, since she’s no longer available.)

But stay tuned for photos and updates!

Yes, if you’ve been keeping up with my blog in past years, you know this is about the time that I wish my ol’ college buddy The Spook a happy birthday! Since last year, he had a song written about him by country singer Jake Kellen … I’ll see if I can get permission to play it here …

In the meantime, if this is the first you’re hearing of the Spook, go back in my April archives of previous years and read up!

As promised, I’ll start catching up on important developments I haven’t been able to blog about over the past six months, starting with the most recent and the one that’s most affected our lives: The sudden loss of our sweet Molly last week.

We had gotten Molly almost exactly 5 years earlier and nursed her back to health following two surgeries and a possible lack of nutrition due to being fostered in a house with several other dogs.

Molly was the sweetest puppy you could ever hope to know, and was the perfect big sister, first to Schotzy, and, after he passed away in July 2006, to bratty little Bristol.

Last Wednesday morning she seemed fine, but in the afternoon she was having trouble standing, and by the time I left for my evening shift at work, she had no energy and wouldn’t even stand on her own. She was unresponsive when my wife came home from work, and the vets kept her for observation and did all that they could, but by 7 PM, she was gone.

The vet told us the next day that she had had a tumor on her spleen, and that tumor had ruptured. There was nothing that could be done.

We were devastated, of course, but we loved every minute of the five years we had with Molly, and we’d like to think she felt the same. She’ll be in our hearts forever.

You can help us celebrate her life and honor her memory by checking out Molly’s photo gallery on Flickr.

I think I’ll go cry now …

Wow, after more than six months, I FINALLY got my blog editing interface fixed!

I’ve got a lot of things to catch y’all up on …

Well, no, just 3 or 4, actually … I lead a dull life …

But those things will wait for another post; in the meantime, Texas is on fire and we’re breathing smoke.