As I embark upon this new journey of living alone, these three furry friends are excellent company. Panda Bear is the white Pekingese-of-fury, Luna-Chunk is the substantial black/white hunter, and Milesy-Cat is the smaller stripey cuddle cat. (While Panda is a 10-yr old senior doggie, the kitties are just 7 months old.)

I’m thankful for them, for their unconditional love (well, from the dog anyway), their furry warmth and crazy enthusiasms.

They are members of my family.

The Law of Panda is that you do not get up from your chair, disrupting her laptime, until she is ready to get up. Only then can you move about the house. Fortunately, she’s a benevolent ruler.

Pippin makes a sour face.

Murphy relaxes, in true dingbat dog fashion.

Panda sleeps the sleep of the just.

Do you have any blackmail pictures of your pets to share?

Panda, a sober, dignified, noble dog, is hard at work protecting us from pygmy marmosets and Comcast repairpersons.

And shedding all over our dark red couch.

Gus spent much of the night under Zach’s chair.

Zoe, the friendly doggie cop, herded us all where she wanted us to go.

Sadie and Murphy are best buddies.

Panda is not very sociable – although she is the alpha dog – and spent most of her night like this.

The dogs did bring their parents. And the parents did get to eat at the tables. We had salmon mousse and crackers, smoked brisket & chicken, enough potato salad to cause a 21st century Irish potato famine, calabacitas (grilled squash, corn, onions & peppers), fresh-picked green salad and cake. Lots of cake. See the next post for more on that!

It’s not so bad turning forty-mumble mumble. We still feel young! Sort of.

The cop’s gotta stop the guy to figure out why he’s driving that way, but where does it go from there? YOU BE THE JUDGE! {cue People’s Court theme}.

We did not let Panda play with Marmalade for too long, Marmalade is not exactly an alpha cat and we didn’t want any damage.

Panda loves perching around our pond, keeping a lookout for tadpoles and fish. (Our goldfish didn’t make it through the winter but she still watches.)

Zach built the pond for us as his 9th grade horticulture class project. He got an A from his teachers and from his extended family.

Also, we have the Murphy Red Astilbe, a hybrid variant of astilbe chinensis and the more common dogweed.

Oops, this temperamental and neurotic hybrid did not excel at obedience training, and must have been out back watering the exotic maples when they were teaching the “stay” command.

I found him:

It took ten minutes and several tries to get a picture without my hand or toes in the shot – he’s that clingy. Silly cat dog.

Happy Friday!