Dragonfly Ranch

Dad’s been with us almost two weeks now, and he’s settling in. This is his corner of the living room. Sophie’s in her usual perch keeping watch over the neighborhood.

This was January 10 at Point Isabel.

Chester is now one and a half years old. He’s inexhaustible. We’ve given up hope of wearing him out; an hour at the dog park barely slows him down.

View it in high definition on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galV4Eqxhok

I’ve posted the wrestling video on YouTube. You can find it by searching YouTube for “pyoungholm”, or at this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DjucV1_ZxE.

Or just play it here:

Watching a movie, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

Last night I caught all the dogs and cats sharing the daybed with Arlin as he watched a movie. If you look closely, you’ll notice that Sophie is watching the movie too. She and Chester are the two animals that pay attention to movies. Chester mostly barks at dogs and horses on the screen, while Sophie has more eclectic tastes. We never know what will interest her, but when something catches her attention, she’ll climb onto the shelf right below the projected image, and stretch herself up to try to touch it.

Chester the lapdog, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

It was one year ago (the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s Day) that we got Chester. He’s grown, and grown up, a lot since then. He’s now almost a year and a half old, and he weighed 55 pounds at his last visit to the vet in November. He’s still very wiggly and rambunctious at times, but he’s learning to settle down.

He’s working things out with the cats. Although he still wrestles with Sophie, he doesn’t pounce on her every time he sees her (as he used to), and he’s even worked out enough of a truce with Willie that they can share the daybed (click to see an unstaged photo).

At the dog park, he’s very good about coming when called (though far from perfect). His favorite game, besides stealing Kai’s tennis ball, is playing catch-me with another dog who likes to run. Not only is he faster than most other dogs, but he’s wily. He likes to hide behind a tree and then feint in different directions to fake out the other dog.

reindeer 2008-05-25, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

A photo from May 25, 2008, taken near Verdal, Norway. Obviously, this is where Santa was letting a few reindeer out to pasture during the off-season. The reindeer were a good half-mile away, so it’s a slightly-fuzzy telephoto shot.

Phil with crutches and dogs 2008-11-29, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

Here we are at Point Isabel, seven weeks minus one day after I was mowed down by a speeding dog who was running with Chester.

For my upcoming sixtieth birthday, Betsy and Janet sent me an entire box of presents, separately wrapped and labeled “November 1st AM”, “November 1st PM”, and so on, up through the morning of November 6 — which is the day after my birthday (unless they know something I don’t know).

The excitement is almost unbearable.

I have the impression that there’s more to this than meets the eye. The gifts themselves are striking, but is there a secret message hidden in the sequence? And what, I wonder, would I win if I solve the puzzle?

What is the hidden meaning behind the Pumba Pez dispenser and the Elmo Band-Aids? Does the gecko key ring foretell a trip to Hawaii? Does the “P” on the matchbox stand for “Pyromaniac”? Does Willy know something he’s not telling? (He was watching very closely as I arranged the gifts for photographing.)

Time will tell.