So today we learned that Ruby the House-Training-Resistant Corgi has blood in her urine. So folks here who speculated that she might have a UTI could be right. We shall see: we came away this afternoon with ten days' worth of antibiotics. If that doesn't help, then she'll need an expensive set of X-rays.

The vet thinks she's too young to have crystals in her urinary tract. And as for the  Big C, she didn't rule it out but said it would be "very uncommon" in such a young…

When you live here in the 'hood, your morons are your neighbors...uhm, that is, your neighbors can be morons.

Cattycorner across the alley is a guy who inherited the house from his father, apparently because he (the guy) is not the sort who is competent to purchase a house. The place has run down and down and down (the drain!) since the old couple died, and this jerk shows no sign of moving. Or being arrested.

So Charley, my son's dopey golden retriever, is out…

This noon my son dropped by and left the 90-pound Charley the Golden Retriever in my care. He -- son -- is headed off to Grand Junction, Colorado, with his father, uncle, and that tribe to celebrate his grandmother's 100th birthday. He'll be gone four days, and Charley is here, casa mia, for some free boarding.

I…

Now this is ridiculous. This is hilarious!

This morning, Pup discovered that water bowls are good for something other than holding stuff to drink. Water bowls are excellent to play in!

Lo! You can put your front feet in a water bowl. They get all WET! Better yet, they make splashing noises! They slop water on the patio floor! Ohhhh, cool!

Now here's the amazing part: she figured out that she could stick her schnozz into the water, blow…

Cassie has names for her many toys. True! She actually recognizes them by name and will fetch a specific item when asked, say, to "Get the Bluebird of Happiness!" These critters come from Costco in gigantic batches, so she has a multitude of the things; in the case of the goofy-looking birds, there's the Bluebird of Happiness and the Redbird of Joy and the Pinkbird of Ecstasy...and amazingly, she actually can identify them by name.

At any rate, one of these objects is a…

Crawling into the sack with a glass of wine and a handful of chocolate chips instead of a muscle-decramping pill, which is probably more indicated than the potable. But last night's pill made today more or less livable, and after the day's frolics, I deserve a something tastier than a pink tablet.

Let's start, though, by saying we've had to clean up only one puppy puddle today, a decided improvement over six or eight. Goooood pup!

So that's good. One excellent…

Yes! It's true! Yesterday Ruby the Corgi Puppy managed to get through the entire day without depositing a puddle for me to clean up.

Since the average has been about six or eight clean-ups, that's an accomplishment.

There's a trick to it, though: Yesterday …

Oh, dear. Did you know that puppies can recognize each other and, like teenaged humans, gang up against the Old Folks?

Yesh. They don't have to be the same breed, either.

This morning my son called as dawn cracked, asking if I'd dog-sit Charley the Golden Retriever, who, we were told, has the gollywobbles.

This is a dog for whom…

So Ruby-Doo the Corgi Pup (we could call her the Queen of the Universe's Crown Jewel) is growing nicely. She's gained a little over three pounds since her last set of puppy shots: up to a shade over seven pounds and beginning to look more and more like a dog. An excruciatingly cute little dog.

Meanwhile, Her Royal Exalted Highness has been putting on weight, too.

Uh oh.

She's been at her ideal weight (around 23 to 25 pounds) since she deigned to…