Mellow Gold

Mellow Gold, I have no idea why I put that as the headline, though it is the name of a Beck album. I am, though, pretty mellow about Bernie and all things Chad. I saw my immediate neighbor yesterday, across the fence. I've seen her over the winter, usually shoveling snow, but her three-year-old daughter, Carly, was with her, so that precluded any conversation about you know who. So yesterday, mom asked, "Is Bernie gone?" You see, Carly kind of stalks me from her window. It looks out over my backyard, and she pretty much has a 24/7 watch on Chad, particularly in the summer when I'm outside more. So for sure, at some point Carly noticed that Bernie wasn't around. I told Mom about Bernie's new home, she was sad--it sometimes amazes me how genuinelly sad some people with no real vested interest become over this--and then said, "We've had many, many discussions the past couple months in our home about where Bernie is." I took this to mean that Carly was versed in the subject of death at some point during these conversations. As I mentioned in a previous post, Carly used to give Bernie treats through the fence. Initially, I'd have to coax Bernie over to her, but eventually, Bernie would walk over to her anytime she was standing at the fence. It was cute on both Carly and Bernie's part.

Then today I saw another neighbor who owns a crazy Poodle-looking dog, though I don't think it's a Poodle. It just looks like a big Poodle, Shadow is it's name. Shadow is a couple years old now, and I started talking to Shadow's human mom and came at Shadow to give him a vigorous greeting, and Shadow freaked out--humorously, not violently. He lurched here and there, finally banging into my fence. I thought it was hilarious! Then I pet him while I told mom about Bernie. Shadow is good, he told me to say hello to Bernie and her blog's faithful followers.

Dogs, you gotta love 'em.