Just one more thing...

Derek and I have decided there is one more thing we need to get to make our house a home: a puppy. Well, actually, I decided and then I talked Derek into it. The deal is this: he can get cable if I can get a dachshund. After several frustrations and disappointments (I called today with credit card in hand, only to find that the puppy I wanted had just sold!), I am going to put out the call to my loyal readers. Please let us know if you know any good breeders of dachshunds. We would like a female, short haired, miniature dachshund. We prefer black, brown, or red (or some combination), but color is not very important to us. We don't plan to breed the dog, we will get her "fixed," and aren't going to show her. We just want a healthy, affectionate pet. We would also consider an adult dog, not just a puppy. Gee, that sounds pretty picky, doesn't it? But I bet that someone I know knows of the perfect dog.

You may have heard of "Six Degrees of Separation?" Aside from being a game (connect any Hollywood actor to Kevin Bacon in six steps), this is also a sociological theory. The idea is that any person on earth is connected, through relation or acquaintance, to anyone else on the planet through six steps or less. For instance, if I wanted to talk to a plant pathologist about a plague on wheat during the Middle Ages (hey, I'm a food historian, I love this stuff!), then I would ask my friend Emily to ask her Dad, who is a plant pathologist, who could either answer my question or find someone who could. So, if I wanted to find someone who had a little girl dachshund to sell, I should tell everyone I know, and if there is such a person (or such a dog) anywhere on the planet, I would eventually hear about it. Do you think it will work? (Click here for way more than you ever wanted to know about the theory of six degrees of separation.) My friend Elizabeth pointed out that more people than I suspect read my blog (including a guy I never met in the construction business who said it had a nice explanation of the building process. Funny, I thought I didn't know WHAT was going on during the building stage, but maybe that is normal?) Elizabeth didn't actually suggest that I look for a dog this way, but she started me thinking about how it is an amazingly small world, which gets even smaller on the internet. (Insert Disney song "It's a Small World" here--nah, that would be too mean.)

Actually, I kind of just want to steal my mom's dog, Holly. She is cute and sweet, unlike SOME dachshunds I have known. (My mom's previous dog bit my mother-in-law and peed all over my friend Naplover, among other transgressions.) But my mom likes the dog more than she likes me, so she would never forgive me. Admittedly, the dog has never talked back to her the way I did as a teenager. My mom even has a pillow that says "Let me get this straight, my grandchild is a dog?" Yep, that's right, mom. But you can still send our new puppy baby presents, okay? She might even get her own room, but most dogs prefer to sleep as close to their "parents" as possible. Derek swears the dog will not be sleeping in the bed. Yeah, that's what my Dad said, too. I will refrain from posting a picture of my Dad, sound asleep, holding the dog. But I do have one.



Holly, opening her Christmas gifts, with a little help from Mommy