Have I mentioned Duke is rather more affectionate than Duchess ever was? He loves being scratched behind the ears or on his belly. If you're not paying enough attention to him, he'll come over and stick his head under your hand so you can pet him.

His favorite place for napping seems to be - not the fireplace, like Duchess - but my lap. He'll sit on my arm and stick his nose in my armpit to get comfortable. Apparently I smell quite sweet, as he takes a deep breath and sighs.

Well, today he had been napping in a dog bed. I'm trying to encourage this as I can't always be planted on the couch with him in my arms. He got up from his bed, staggered over to me, hopped up on the low futon I was sitting in, and collapsed in my lap. I honestly don't think he truly woke up at any point.

My sister didn't warn me that her dog is a sleepwalker.

Food Funnies

Duchess seems to firmly believe that anybody else's food must be better than hers.

I mixed the last of Duke's food in with Duchess' food so he could transition to the new food. Duchess stared at the mix in her food dish for a few minutes, then she began to dig it out. The kibble went out all over the floor. Spread out nicely so she could more easily pick out Duke's food.

Duke on the other hand seems to be part chipmonk. He fills up his cheeks with food - Duchess' food if you please - then runs off to some other part of the house, drops it on the floor, and eats one piece at a time.

Duchess has figured this out, so every time Duke runs away from the dish Duchess follows. Because even though that's her food, it's now been slobered on by Duke and thus makes it his food. And so, better than hers or even whats left of his mixed into the bowl.

My elaborate plan to get my sister's dog has finally come to fruition. I fell in love with him the first time I met him, but she wouldn't let me take him home. So I got my own puppy and convinced her I knew what I was doing. Then a few weeks ago she called me and said maybe she needed to find a new home for Duke. He's been having trouble with so many little kids around - those rampant two-year-olds can be intimidating, and what's a little dog to do but bite?

So Duke has come to live at my comparatively quiet house with my dog Duchess and the cat-in-residence, Ping. He only arrived on Saturday, so he's still figuring out how to settle in. Fortunately, he's slept through the night the last few nights, and he's starting to understand some of the rituals Duchess has. The combination of the two of them is pretty hilarious, though. She's bigger than him by quite a bit now, and she pushes him around big-time. He's kind of nervous about all the big changes in his life and he's been really really clingy. I've finally got the lapdog I've never wanted. Seriously, I can't sit down for two minutes without him jumping up on my lap.

Funny stories to come later, but I'll admit I've already bought him his own funny coat for taking walks in the spring rain.

Hmm, I just noticed... Duchess has been sorting her toys.

I let her have access to her whole toy box and now I'm realizing she's piled up all the socks together and the shoe strings are in there with them. The chewed-on water bottles are all lined up next to each other. Her stuffed animals are on the other side of the room in a pile.

I have two questions. What have I done as her mother to make her so neurotic, and when did she find the time? I thought she was asleep ever since we got back from her walk.

I'm back home again. Had a great trip to San Francisco - well, once I got there. The trip out there was a real adventure, starting at 4am when I got up to go to the airport. I didn't arrive at my hotel in SF until around 7pm. I did get to see some old friends - ate some great seafood - and even got sand in my shoes from a great beach.

But really I was there to work, and I did my best to both stump up more freelance work and put feelers out for fulltime gigs. Even thinking about relocating. It was really nice to have more of a social life.

Anyway, back home now and it rained today - the first sign that really and truly winter doesn't last forever. Thank goodness.

It's Friday morning and I've got a lot to get done. My plane leaves on Monday at 6am, and by now I wanted to be packed and have my schedule all planned out for next week. However, I'm still trying to churn out one more article on ultrasound before I can really throw myself whole-heartedly into the conference I'm going to next week.

There, I'll be working on articles related to video games instead of medical imaging. Sometimes even I get confused by the things I'm interested in.

In other news, the cat and dog are doing just fine.