Mission(s) Accomplished

All-in-all, today was a pretty good day. I left here at 5AM, dropped Eddie off in Blaine at 7:30, and was standing in line at the passport office in Vancouver by 9:40. I walked out less than an hour later with the promise that my bright shiny new passport would be waiting for me on July 16th. I was even a bit disappointed at how quick it was. I was all set up with my IPod and a new book The Worst Hard Times, a story of the dustbowl in Oklahoma and Texas by Timothy Egan. The book grabbed me right away, and I didn't even have time to finish the introduction and first chapter. But I saw my number come up, so I packed up the book and did the passport thing.

Then I think, rather than hanging around in Vancouver, I'll head right back and miss the big crunch at the border (it's Canada Day weekend, which , for you Americans is kinda like Canada's July 4th, but it's on July 1st instead) I got to the Peace Arch around 11:40 and saw the sign saying the wait was 1-1/2 hours there and 1 hour at the Truck Crossing. So, smart guy that I am, I went to Aldergrove/Lynden. It took me a half hour to get there and then another full hour to get through customs. Grrr.... I wish Eddie had been there to bite someone! Things are going more or less swimmingly until I get to Marysville. Stop and go all the way home. Double Grrrrrr! But I'm home now, and all's well.

Eddie

Well, I've given up my loveable, but somewhat psychotic, Schnauzer Eddie. I'm taking him back to his foster mom tomorrow morning. I think I was prepared to deal with a problem dog by giving him a good home and some training, but I wasn't prepared to deal with a dog who bit four people in three weeks. He's going to need a lot more time, training and effort than I can give him.

I'm going to drop him off in Blaine on my way to Vancouver, BC. I'll try and get to Vancouver as early as I can to stand in line to apply for a new passport in person. I'm told by the Canadian Consulate here in Seattle that the Vancouver office can process an application in ten working days if I apply in person. I'm just afraid that after all the bureaucratic BS, I'll stand in line for six hours and, in spite of the consulate's assurances, the office will tell me I'm at the wrong place or that an ex-pat can't apply in person, or some other nonsense. I'll report back and let you know how it goes.

Happy Birthday, Caroline!

Well, actually her birthday was yesterday, but I don't feel guilty in being a day late with her birthday greetings on this blog. Yesterday, I spent a good chunk of the day preparing my world-famous ribs (one of her birthday requests), and then late yesterday afternoon, we went through the locks on WaveGuide, picked up a bunch more of her friends on Lake Union, and then had a birthday bash on board tied to a mooring ball near the Aboretum. A good time was had by all!

Here's Caroline tending a line as we go through the big locks. Going through the locks was more of a pain than normal. It took an hour and a half to get in to the Ship Canal and then another hour to get back out to the Sound. Apparently the Big Lock is shutting down for repairs for a few days, and commercial traffic is way up in anticipation of the shutdown.

Here are Megan's wounds from Eddie, and speaking of chewing on things, there are my ribs on the grill.

We didn't get back until late last night and I didn't clean up the boat. So I guess I better get going and wash the rib juices off my deck before they become a permanent feature on the boat.

Stupid Passport Rules and Psychotic Dogs

Yesterday, my rejected application for a new Canadian passport arrived, three months after I applied!!!! The US changed their rules, not only for Americans for re-entry to the US, but also for Canadians to have passports when they fly to or through the US. This has created a huge backlog for American applications, and even though I'm sure it never even occurred to the US, it has created a huge demand for Canadian passports as well. Then, to make matters worse, the Canadians changed their rules on passport photos, and are enforcing them to the nth degree. My application was rejected because there are very small shadows on the background. So now, to get a passport, I have to get new photos and get to the back of the line and wait another three months. Or I can go to Vancouver, BC, and apply in person. Those applications apparently take 10 working days to process. Then I will have to go back to Vancouver to pick up my new passport because they will not mail out passports to those who applied in person. Grrrr. I guess I'll end up going to Vancouver. The good news is that there are worse places in the world to have to spend a day or two.

Eddie may end up being more of a challenge than I initially thought. Last night he bit Megan for no apparent reason. A week ago he bit Ute, again for no reason. (I thought it was men he didn't like!?) A week before that, even though he was tied up on the foredeck of my boat, he jumped off and bit a guy who was walking his bicycle down the dock. I'm working on his separation anxiety (putting him in his crate with NPR on seems to help when I'm gone), and I'm working on his psychotic-rabid-dog greeting to whoever comes to the door, but biting is not at all acceptable. He is enrolled in a Bettter Manners class starting on July 9th, and I can only hope that works. He's good on the leash, loves walks, and is loving and affectionate with me, but if I can't get his aggression under control, his long term relationship with me will be in jeopardy:(

Netflix

Netflix is great! My taste in movies tends towards the unconventional and towards documentaries, both of which can be hard to find in the local video store. But for a mere five bucks a month, I can get one movie at a time from a seemingly endless list, and when I've finished watching it, I mail it back and get a new one in a few days. I think I'm limited to a couple of movies a month, but that's OK too, because otherwise I'd be more of a couch-potato than I already am. In the last few weeks, I've watched a couple of documentaries about Townes Van Zandt, and I just finished watching Jesus Camp. Next on the list is Iraq in Fragments. None of these titles are readily available at my local video store. So as much as I like to support a home-grown, local business, most of my video rentals will be going to Netflix.

Jesus Camp is a genuinely scary movie about a bunch of pre-pubescent kids, their home schooling, the mega-churches they attend, and a summer camp that trains them to be warriors for Jesus. The movie was made in 2006, before the congessional elections, and before the fall of Ted Haggard (the meth-loving, self-loathing, homosexual head of the National Association of Evangelicals who plays a prominent role in one segment of the movie). Maybe the repudiation of Bush and his crowd will diminish the influence of these whack-jobs in government. We can only hope.

Which brings me to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapters 11-14. Chapter 11 starts off about John the Baptist, who is now in prison, and how his followers are asking if they should be following John or Jesus. Obviously, Jesus is the correct answer. Verse 12 states, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." Huh? A revolution in heaven? It must mean that the kingdom of heaven is on earth, not heaven. Then Jesus goes into a rant about how the destruction of Sodom "...will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you." (v.24) Then the chapter closes with "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (v.29) Somehow, Sodom and Gommorah, Part II, doesn't sound very restful to me.

In Chapter 12, Jesus and his disciples get in trouble with the Pharisees for harvesting some wheat on the Sabbath. So much for Jesus' previous statements about fulfilling the law! Verse 17 is another one of those about Jesus doing something to "fulfill what had been spoken by the prophet Isaiah." (v.17) Another prophecy checked off the list. Here are a couple more memorable verses, "....no city or house divided against itself will stand." (v.25) And then there's W's favorite, "Whoever is not with me is against me....." (v.30) I had read and noticed that Bush often speaks in biblical terms to his evangelical base that mainstream listeners wouldn't catch, but this is a biggie I missed.

Chapter 13 relates the parable of the sower and the seed. I have often said that the biblical seed fell on rocky ground when it fell on me, but I got the story wrong. The seeds that fall on rocky ground grow quickly, but die quickly in the sun because there is no depth to the soil and the roots can't develop. On reading the actual parable, I guess I'm more akin to the thorns that immediately choked off the growth. After this parable, his disciples ask him why he speaks in parables. Jesus, who seems somewhat exasperated by his stupid disciples, explains it all to them, but then launches into more parables.

Chapter 14 relates a couple of famous incidents. One is the beheading of John the Baptist at the behest of Salome, the beautiful dancing daughter of Herodias, the wife of Herod. Her dancing bewitched Herod to the point that he offered her anything she wanted. She asked for "...the head of John the Baptist on a platter." (v. 8) Countless classical paintings (Wikipedia lists at least 50), and several operas, ballets and plays are based on this incident. I suspect that the fascination with this subject by artists is that it was great excuse to paint a sexy salicious subject while nominally adhering to a bible story. The story of feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fishes, which follows the Salome story, pales in comparison. At the end of the chapter, Jesus walks on the water, and Peter wants to give it a try. It works for a while, but like Wile E. Coyote, who keeps on running off the edge of a cliff until he looks down, Peter sinks when the wind comes up. Unlike Wile E. Coyote, Peter is rescued by Jesus, who then says one of my favorite lines, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (v.31) Actually, I use the line, "O ye of little faith...." but even in the King James version, the line is "O thou of little faith..." I guess I've had it wrong all these years.

Other News

I put my condo in Whistler on the market last week, and got my first offer this week. This morning I counter-offered the low-ball offer. I priced the condo to sell, and there are a couple more interested parties looking at it this week. Assuming it does sell, I think I'll look at getting a cottage in the Lake Wenatchee area between Leavenworth and Steven's Pass. The area is close enough to Steven's Pass for downhill skiing, and there is lots of cross-country skiing and snowmobiling in the area. As much as I hate the sound and stink of snowmobiles, it might be fun to have one of the newer, cleaner, four-stroke ones. I think I'd make better use of the place, and I wouldn't have the hassles of rental management companies and Canadian taxes.

I've also had people looking at my boat in the last few days, and apparently there are more to come. I'm not so optimistic about selling my boat quickly (it's been on the market since last fall), but if it does sell, I'm sticking with my plan of buying a new Hanse 400 sailboat. In the meantime, I'll continue to use and enjoy WaveGuide rather than letting her sit at the dock looking pretty.

My New Orleans friend Ben is finally out of the hospital after spending most of the last couple of months in the hands of the medical-industrial establishment. He's not out of the woods yet, but things are looking a lot better.

As for my blogging the Bible series, I will continue through the end of Matthew at least. I knew the Bible was boring, contradictory, and just plain nonsense at times, but I didn't really expect slogging through it would be such a pain. The first couple of entries were OK, but the third one isn't taking shape quite so easily. If I get over the hump by the end of Matthew, I'll continue, but I'm only doing it for the fun and intellectual exercise. If it's not fun or interesting anymore, I'll do something else.

Matthew 6-10

This Sermon on the Mount is a real stemwinder, but I'm looking for a theme here. It starts off in Ch. 5 with The Beatitudes, upholding Jewish law, lust, swearing oaths, turning the other cheek, and loving your enemies. It's a bit strange when it comes to adultery and divorce, but so far so good. Ch. 6 starts off with a rant against hypocrisy, inserts the Lords Prayer (minus the 'forever and ever' ending I learned as a kid), and then returns to the anti-hypocrisy rant. An odd part is that whenever Jesus rips some form of hypocrisy, he says of the hypocrites, "Truly I tell you, they have received their reward." (vv. 2,5,16) Huh? What reward? After telling people they cannot serve God and wealth, he gets really cult-like, telling followers, "not to worry about your life....what you will eat or what you will drink.....what you will wear." (v.25) "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own." (v.34) So what does Jesus envision as a godly way of life? A tribe of half-naked, feral, foraging people?

Chapter 7 goes back to the hypocrisy theme for a while saying, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged." (v.1), and then goes into an Oprah-like, power-of-positive-thinking belief that if you want something, ask for it, and you'll get it. "Ask, and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." (v.7) Then comes the Golden Rule in v.12. The Sermon ends with some comments about who (no hypocrites allowed) gets into heaven, building your house on a rock, not sand.

Chapter 8 gets a bit strange again. Jesus heals a leper when comes down off the mountain with the multitudes, and then tells the leper not to tell anyone. Didn't thousands just witness the miracle? Then he goes to Capernaum and performs a few more miracles to fulfill prophecy again (v.17) He recruits a few more disciples, but gets back into his cult-like mode by telling one who wanted to bury his father first saying, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (v.21) He gets back in the miracle mode by calming the seas, and then casting the evil spirits from a couple of demoniacs into a herd of swine who promptly run off a cliff and perish. The townspeople who saw this got freaked out and asked Jesus to leave.

Chapter 9 starts off with a few more miracles, the recruiting of Matthew the tax collector as a disciple, and then a few more miracles. He does this all very publicly, but when he heals a couple of blind men tells them not to tell anyone. I don't get it. What is it about this public secrecy? Then he does a whole bunch of miracles, "...curing every disease and sickness." (v.35)

In Chapter 10, Jesus gives his disciples (and names the 12 for the first time) the power and authority to perform miracles themselves. But the miracles are only for Jews, no Gentiles or Samaritans allowed. He gives the disciples some detailed instructions about what to expect, but then gets back into his cult-like apocalyptic mode. Get this from v.34-36:

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come
to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his
father,
and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law;
and one's foes will be members of one's own
household."

Whatever happened to the Prince of Peace? Maybe all those right-wing-whacko, bloodthirsty, evangelical goons are right after all.

Bush's Watch, Part II

Damn, it looks like his watch wasn't stolen after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g3HuKp4x28&NR=1

Bush's Watch

I love this.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=56515

He's greeted like a rock star in Albania, and someone steals his watch. I wonder when it will show up on EBay.

The Gospel According to Matthew

The title reminds me of a very entertaining and irreverent book, Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore. Moore takes an unconventional view of the life of Christ looking at it through the eyes of Biff. He follows the Biblical record where it exists, but then makes up the entire portion of Christ's life from the age of twelve until he reappears on the scene at the age of 32 or 33. Basically the premise is that Christ and Biff travel the world seeking the original Three Wise Men who are immersed in different Eastern philosophies. It's a funny and witty book that explores the basis of religious philosophy. I highly recommend it.

But on to the subject at hand. Matthew, Chapters 1 through 5.

Chapter 1 is a pretty boring recitation of Christ's human lineage. Actually, it's Joseph's lineage, which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, since Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus' conception. The lineage lists three sets of 14 generations. Seven is apparently a special number in the Bible, so 7x2x3 must be extra special. There are some interesting and recognizable people in the line: Abraham, Isaac, Ruth, David, Solomon, Uriah (of Heep fame), and Jehosephat (of jumping fame).

Another interesting tidbit that I'd never noted before....v.25 "[Joseph] had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son." You'd never know that, at least from Catholic tradition.

Chapter 2 is covers the birth of Jesus, complete with Wise Men, but no shepherds, and no manger. The wicked Herod is out to get the baby Jesus, but Mary and Joseph are too quick, and flee to Egypt. This brings up the first of many actions throughout the Gospels that have always struck me as a bit odd. Verse 15 states plainly, "This was done to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. When they left Egypt years later (verse 23), Joseph made his home in Nazareth, "so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled. After you read a few of these, you start wondering whether the characters had a checklist of prophesies and were making sure that each was fulfilled.

Between Chapters 2 and 3 is the gap covered by Lamb. John the Baptist makes his appearence and baptizes Jesus in Chapter 3. I've never understood why Jesus would repent of his sins (what sins?) and be baptized by John, and neither did John, but he did it anyway.

In Chapter 4, Jesus goes into the wilderness after his baptism and meets Satan, who tries to test him, but Jesus doesn't bite and doesn't do any miracles for him. After the desert scenes, in verse 14, Jesus left Nazareth and made Capernaum his home (here we go again), "so that what had been spoken though the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled....." This is when he starts his ministry in earnest, recruiting Peter, Andrew, James and his brother John as disciples, and goes on the miracle tour, "proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every diesease and sickness among the people." (v. 23) He became a star!

Chapter 5 is the chapter that all of the right-wing,whacko, fundamentalist, Bible-thumping, bloodthirsty "Christians" seem to ignore. This is the Christianity that I grew up with, and even though the "seed fell upon barren ground" and the whole Christian concept never "took" with me, this chapter is the essence of what I envision a Christian life would be like. Can you imagine Jerry Falwell (burn baby, burn) or James Dobson or Pat Robertson ever quoting v. 9, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God." How about W. himself quoting v. 39, "But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer." W. was always big on evildoers.

This chapter has some very familiar quotes that a lot of people wouldn't think come from the Bible. v. 13, "You are the salt of the earth...." Reagan liked v.14, " A city on a hill cannot be hid." It seems that whenever the USA imagines itself as a "city on a hill" disaster is sure to follow.

But there is also some weirdness in this chapter. Check out v.17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prohets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." I guess that means we should stone adulterers, homosexuals, and kids who mouth off to their parents. Or at least keep kosher. And one of my favorites (and Jimmy Carter's), v.28, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This isn't just temptation and resisting temptation. If you think about it, you've done it. That has never made sense to me. If it's true, I'll certainly burn in hell. And then there's v.34, "But I say unto you, Do not swear at all..." v. 37, "Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one." So why does this supposedly Christian country insist on swearing everything on the Bible?

Anyway, enough said for now. There will be more.

The Pharmaceutical/Medical-Industrial Establishment

Last Thursday evening I got into my car and plunked down into the driver's seat just like I usually do, when I felt a sharp stabbing pain on the right side of my lower back. (I should explain that back pain for me is unusual in that I've been blessed (by whoever does the blessing) by not having the chronic back troubles and pain that seem to plague so many of my contemporaries.) It hurt, but I didn't think too much of it until I tried to sleep that night and was awoken by pain every time I rolled over. But some Ibuprofen seemed to dull the pain, and it seemed to get better until Monday when I contorted my body to get into the lazarette on my boat. This time, it felt like someone stuck a knife in my back, and I had a hard time getting out. Thinking I might have seriously injured myself somehow, or worse yet, the pain was the first symptom of a horrible cancerous tumor that was going to kill me, I made an appointment (that same afternoon!) to see a doctor at Group Health, my new HMO. Actually, it's just new to me. I've been a member ever since my UW student insurance expired last year, but I hadn't used the services yet. All-in-all, it was a good experience. The doctor (actually a physician assistant) assured me that it wasn't the sign of anything terrible, gave me a prescription for Vicodin (for pain) and Naproxen (an anti-inflammatory drug), and sent me on my way. I figured, this is good so far, but what will the pharmaceutical-industrial establishment charge me for the drugs? I was pleasantly surprised to pay only $24 for the both prescriptions! I was even more pleasantly surprised to have the pain almost disappear overnight. I've heard that Vicodin has a street value far in excess of it's prescription cost. Anyone wanna buy some drugs? I might need a few bucks to pay the medical-industrial establishment for the visit.

I finished The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright. It's a good read that I'd highly recommend for anyone interested in the history of Al-Queda from its philosophical roots in the writings of Sayyid Qutb in the 40's to the emergence of Bin Laden in the 90's and the catastrophe of 9-11.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I've got several books in my to-be-read stack, but I might bypass them in favor of something totally different. For any of you who read the on-line magazine Slate once in a while, you might have caught a series called Blogging the Bible. You can check it out here. http://www.slate.com/id/2167894/ This is a series written by a secular Jew with a superficial knowledge of the Bible who decided to read the entire Old Testament and offer his commentary on a regular basis. The result was an always entertaining and sometimes enlightening take on this most understood and misused book. I think I might take a shot at blogging the New Testament. I've read a good chunk of it in the course of my Mennonite upbringing, and read more in some of the classes I've taken over the years, but I've never read the whole thing. It might be fun.

Stay tuned.

The Sopranos Finale

Caroline and Megan and Chris came over last night for Episode 86 of the Sopranos. Well, Megan and Chris aren't Sopranos fans, but they heard there was a free meal to be had. Caroline and I cooked a few dishes (lasagna, tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil, marinated asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, arugula and mushroom salad) out of Entertaining with the Sopranos (yes, there really is a Sopranos cookbook!), Megan and Chris ate and ran, and then Hal and Tamara (late converts to Sopranos fandom) came over watch the final hour. This last season has been a good one, with the tension building from episode to episode and plot trails leading to who knows where. Will Tony get whacked? Will he betray the mob and go into witness protection? Will his shiftless son quit his whining and become a man? Well, David Chase (the creator and godfather of the series) fooled everyone! Phil got whacked, so Tony won the mob war, but did he really win? The suspense in the final scene in the diner where the Sopranos were meeting for a family dinner was incredible. Meadow coming late and having trouble parking her car, Tony flipping through the songs (with us trying to catch a clue in the names of the songs) in the mini-jukebox at the table, doors opening and closing, an ominous looking guy going to the bathroom (like the scene in the Godfather when Al Pacino comes out and shoots the corrupt cop), and then....nothing. The screen goes black making me think for a moment that the cable had died, and then the credits rolled. No resolution, tidy or otherwise to explain it all, just life with all it's messiness goes on. I guess.

This and That

Nothing much earth-shaking has been going on in my life lately, but it's probably time for an update of sorts anyway.

Caroline got Eddie this card to welcome to the Friesen household. In case you can't read the caption, it says:

I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless,
incessant barking.

It seems appropriate somehow.

After a week of living with me, Eddie is doing fine. He's showed his true colors as a loving little furball by sleeping with me and cuddling with me when I'm watching TV, but he still hides behind the facade of a vicious psychopathic killer when anyone comes to the door. He also can't deal with being alone for any length of time. A couple of nights ago, I left him alone for a few hours only to find him barking and howling and wimpering pathetically when I returned. The following night, I put him in Angus' old crate, which seemed to calm him down a bit. I guess it will take him a while to trust the fact that he's landed in a pretty good place to live.

I went to see Christopher Hitchens at Town Hall last Thursday night. He was pushing his new book, God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything. I haven't read this book yet, but it's the latest in a series of books by public intellectuals exposing the idiocy and danger of religions of all kinds. I did read two of them, The End of Faith, by Sam Harris, and The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. Both were excellent well-researched and well-reasoned arguments for atheism and agnosticism. Hitchens is a writer and political pundit who is hard to categorize. He would probably call himself a contrarian. He used to be a Trotskyite, but then settled into a more conventional left-leaning viewpoint. I agree with him on many issues, but his support of the war in Iraq is something I can't understand. He can bash Bush's lies and incompetence with the best of his critics, but he clings to the view that the initial invasion was the right thing to do. In any case, on Wednesday night he was both erudite and entertaining, sometimes coming across more as a stand-up comedian rather than an Oxford educated scholar. It was great fun!

I've been working on my boat on and off for most of this last week. I ended up buying a variable-speed angle grinder and buffing kit. The red paint has oxidized to the point I can't remove it with my limited muscle power alone. The whole rig cost me several hundred dollars, but it's still beneath the $600-800 cost of a professional wax job. So far I've done most of the transom and swim platform, and it seems to be working pretty well.

Well, it's time to carry on with my morning net-surf. If anything interesting comes up, I might even do another post.

Eddie's fine!

This is going to be easier than I thought. Eddie has already bonded with me, even giving me my first "kiss" today. I was sitting in my favorite chair, watching some BS on TV, when he put his front legs on the chair as if to ask me if it was OK to come up. I encouraged him to come on up, and he jumped up and lay on my belly with his face toward me. He slowly inched his way up, and then, like a guy trying to get his first kiss on the first date, went for it, and licked me full on the mouth. I guess he likes me after all!

Now if I can just cure him of his really obnoxious (he goes absolutely ape-shit aggressive) way of greeting anyone who comes in the door or walks by in the courtyard, we'll be fine.

Eddie's Here!!

I picked up Eddie in Blaine this morning. My first impression of him wasn't all that good, as he barked and lunged at me when I walked into the house of his foster mother Debbie. But I soon got into his good graces by first ignoring him and then giving him some beef jerky when he calmed down. He was somewhat bewildered on the drive home, but was fine otherwise. When we got home, I took him on what is the first of many walks around Fremont. He's fine on the leash (no worse than Angus), and didn't cause any trouble with other dogs or other people. Here in the condo, he's fine, except when I move around. Then he does his best to stay out of my way. Megan came over, and after a bit of a barking fuss, he warmed up to her almost right away. So any of you women out there who have been looking for an excuse to come over, come on over and visit me and my dog. We'll both enjoy the company.

I think he'll be fine. Next week, I'll enroll him in some dog training classes of some kind and try get him to trust me (and listen to me) more.

NEWS ALERT!!

There may well be a new addition to the Friesen household!! Tomorrow, I'll be driving to Blaine to meet Eddie (short for Edgrrrr), a black standard Schnauzer. He is a rescue dog, 7 years old, who doesn't like men, but I'll see if I can change his mind. I like the look in his eye.

Watch this space for further developments!