The Labrador In Him (or Ode to My Socks)

A small sampling of my miss-matched socks, thanks to Jack.

I have a fondness for socks, particularly socks without holes. I even like to wear a matched pair, but that's getting trickier every day.

Jack has a fondness for socks with holes in them. Woe to the sock that is carelessly dropped, or stuffed into a pair of shoes.

I've been told this is a common trait among black labs but it still seems unfair that Jack embodies all the most problematic traits of his three contributing breeds: beagles follow their noses no matter what (check), shepherds like to herd (check), Labradors like to chew (check, check, check, check, check).

After this morning's futile search for two socks of the same pattern and hue I decided to snap the photo above and bid a fond farewell to the conformity of life in pairs.

Jack Cleans Up

As you can see in this photo, Jack's notion of house work is to make more of it for me. Note the fresh trail of shredded paper on the carpet. (Someone left a piece of mail on the coffee table, again!). Jack was about to beat a hasty retreat when he saw me coming back from emptying the vacuum but I caught him in the act. I'm thankful he chewed up the junk mail and not the vacuum...I'm already down one cleaning attachment as it is.

Can anyone recommend a hound dog proof vacuum?

Don't Let Your Hound Dog Get Bored, or Farewell to a Broom

There is one thing Jack likes as much as sniffing and that's chewing. Usually, he is very polite and confines himself to the dozen or so bones he has stashed all over the house. But some things are just too good to pass up. Alas, the porch broom met an ignoble fate last week when I left Jack out on his chain a bit too long. A guy can only dig holes, bark at robins and chew up the cedar hedge for so long before his attention is bound to stray. At least I have a start on this year's Halloween decorations.