What the dog is doing

Being nicer, I suppose, than the average kid who has left home, I call my parents pretty much every morning. It makes my mom happy, and while sometimes I don't feel like having the obligation, it's usually more of a pleasantry than a hardship. For most of my time since leaving, the nature of my family has meant that two topics of conversation were pretty much always part of the call-- "What'd you have for dinner last night?" and "What's the dog doing?" We're funny people.

For the last two years, since Carmen passed away, that second topic sadly had to be retired, as there was no longer any dog of which to discuss the doings. Not, of course, that her doings were particularly noteworthy; we were just inordinately interested. :-) But it's nice, now that they have Merlin, we can go back to talking about canine endeavors that are fascinating to no one but us.

I learned today that Merlin likes to crawl under my dad's desk while he's working at it to lay at his feet. :-D