Introducing Lucy

Mom should know better than to leave me here alone for several days. I get really lonely and just can't stand the quiet. Lucy is the result of this latest abandonment.

Actually, while Willie is a wonderful dog, he isn't terribly playful, and as big as he is we don't really want him to be too rambunctious. I thought the twins were at the right age to have a puppy, saw this litter of "squirrel dog stock" in the paper, and she was just too cute to pass up.

She's been terrific so far and we have high hopes for her. She has taken readily to a crate and slept in it by my bed without so much as a whimper from 10pm last night until I got up this morning. She's very quiet as long as there's someone around, but she doesn't like being left alone. I've built a pen for times when we have to leave the house since she's so tiny and could easily find a way out of the yard (or heaven forbid get on Willie's last nerve), and I'm working on a dog house to go with it.

Parker, it turns out, is as excited about this little girl as anybody else and it was he who came up with what we think is the perfect name. I can't wait for them to meet her when they get home this evening, and Willie, who has been the unwilling focus of her attention since Sunday, will be very happy to get some relief.