Today is warm despite the breeze and sunny with blue skies. I haven’t been able to say that in a long while. Gracie and her dog pal, Cody, are playing in the backyard. Cody lives down the street, and when he is let him out, he runs right here to play. When they’re done and banging on the dog door, I’ll open my front door, and Cody will run right home. Gracie will be panting with her tongue hanging.

I have a list for today and tomorrow to get ready for Tuesday when I’ll be taking the 7:10 bus to Boston. I have to report at 9:30 for surgery at 11:30. Coffee will then be on hiatus until I get home. My pet sitter will move in on Tuesday.

When I was a kid, our dog Duke used to stay at my grandparents’ house if we went away. They were not animal people, especially not Duke people. If they let him out, he’d head back to our house, several blocks away. He just knew where to go. My grandfather would drive up and fetch Duke, and after doing that a few times, he’d end up tying Duke outside. One time Duke was uptown and happened to find my grandmother. Those were the days when dogs roamed all over the place, no leash laws anywhere. Duke followed her from store to store though she tried several times to shoo him away. I guess she didn’t know how stubborn Boxers can be. Duke followed her into Woolworth’s where he lifted his leg on the comic books. The manager demanded payment for the ruined comics. My grandmother told him the truth, “He is not my dog.”

Duke is the reason I always have Boxers. He was a great dog. He always made us feel safe, and he’d growl at anyone walking around outside the house. Once he nearly went through the screen screen door at someone on the sidewalk by my house. Another time he did jump out of the car window while we were stopped at a red light. My father pulled over, jammed on the brakes and took to the chase. Luckily someone saw what has happening and grabbed the fleeing Duke.

Gracie is a brindle just as Duke was and, like Duke, has a tendency to take flight if given the chance. Luckily, Gracie heads down to my friends’ house, and they capture her. She is far less stubborn than Duke was, and other than taking off, she lets me be the alpha dog in the house.