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Bummer!
(from Macbeth)
My agent’s comment: “Barkis could be in Macbeth. The part where they all disguise themselves as trees before storming the castle.”
Barkis is a posterboy on the dog-training website of Beaujes. You can see his testimonial here. Judith is a brilliant trainer who uses principles in a fantastic book on dog behavior called The Other End of the Leash.
BeauJes Dog Training & Boarding Testimonials
YO! Barkis is one year old today! Happy birthday to my shiny boy! Here are a few highlights of the Year of the Dog:
Here he is a year ago …
…getting more handsome every day…
(sometimes I’m naughty)
…. I’m in Canine Good Citizen Class…
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… I love the beach! 
…and I climb trees so I can look out to sea…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE! Woof, from Barkis.
He’s so humiliated.
A compulsive quiz-taker, I just had to find out what my dream home would really look like. Loved the “sulking corner for the scorned.” Barkis isn’t too sure about the cat named Vincent. Here’s my analysis, based on my replies to the quiz. Click the link at the bottom to custom-create your own dream home.
Your home is a
Daylight Athlete’s Mansion
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| Find YOUR Dream House! |
“There is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
–Ratty to Mole in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Around here, we go boating. A lot. It’s just so scenic. On the Sound, it’s also a way to avoid traffic. When I had jury duty in the summer, I went to the courthouse by boat–a 15-minute ride–thus saving myself a one-hour commute. It’s a way to try restaurants and visit friends on the mainland and to entertain people when they visit.
Jay used to watch a TV show called “Sea Hunt” with the main character called Mike Nelson, played by Lloyd Bridges. Anyone else remember that show? I’m totally blanking, but I think Jay hears the theme song in his head when he’s out on the water.
So there I was, putting the finishing touches on my revisions, when the carrier John Stennis came steaming home.
Welcome home, Navy guys! This closeup gives you a perspective of its size. Note the 200-car Washington State Ferry in the background:
In fact, seeing how tiny and vulnerable the people on deck look was the inspiration for the mishap in one of my books.
Barkis took it in stride…
But the show wasn’t over. Along came a shiny new yacht, with a helocopter hovering overhead, apparently filming or photographing it.
I put up a slide show of the whole business. And here I thought living on the water was supposed to impart a zen-like calm….
In further news about my apparel, 5000 sailors saw me in my jammies when an aircraft carrier went by my house.
It’s pretty common to see a carrier in this part of the world, but I also live in a spot where the carrier can see
me.
Which is a tad disconcerting when you are standing in your yard, blinking at the dawn, having been awakened by an insistent puppy with a very small bladder.
A passing aircraft carrier is surprisingly quiet, even surrounded by tugs and Coast Guard vessels. It glides by, barely leaving a wake, and on a very still morning at about, say 5:30a.m., sound easily carries across the water.
Who doesn’t remember GO DOG GO, aka the best early-reading book in the history of the world?
My niece taught Barkis to climb the juniper bushes today and they spent hours up there:
Barkis is 10 weeks old today! Ruff!
Would you please check out my adorable new companion? He is a lovely Doberman, eight weeks old today, and I named him Barkis, after a character in David Copperfield (and, not coincidentally, in Summer at Willow Lake). Dickens’s Barkis is a simple cart driver who falls in love with Peggotty after tasting her pies, and then sends David to give her his now-famous message, “Barkis is willin’.”
Barkis Verbossa Wiggs gets to keep his floppy ears and undying affection for his people. He already loves the great outdoors, and sleeping on my feet while I write. Consider me smitten!
