Dogma

OK I admit it....I'm faceless on Facebook, I'm not a twit on Twitter, I don't text on my telephone and I've been skipping calls on Skype lately. So, to you who send me invites to one or all of these, it's not that I don't care if I don't reply, it's just that I prefer to spend what little quality time I have with my wife and my two best friends. My two best friends are always there for me and they don't really give a shit what kind of day it's been, they're always cheerful, ready to go anywhere or just lay around. They won't ask for favors or talk about their shrunken portfolios, their aching muscles, and they certainly will not ask me to go out of my way to fund a needy cause or help them move heavy furniture. My best friends are Fanny and Charlie. They're dogs...and I mean that literally.

Fanny

Fanny is the eldest at three years. She's a female schnauzer that was somewhat rescued from a pet shop. By rescued I mean she had been there for four months and , not being sold, she was in danger of being euthanized. She was quite fearful when we got her and very scared of kids. I guess that being in a pet shop for so long she got her share of little devils banging on her cage to get her attention. Fanny's a terrier, meaning that every outing is an adventure in odor land. Sure, she'll play for a while but soon enough she will resume to sniffing and tearing up the backyard for anything from roots to insects. This is why our backyard looks like a lunar surface only with spots of grass. Quite the character, she'll be as docile as can be but in a flash, if she's frustrated, she'll show it immediately with an unmistakable growl. Even so, when she comes up to me and puts her tiny head on my lap and her furry little paw on my hand, I melt like ice cream in the sun. I remember long nights when she was young and frail, I would spend long hours with her outside until she finally did her business and we could finally both go to bed. A few weeks back, while in our backyard playing, she escaped my attention for a few seconds. The next thing I heard were car horns and brakes. Rushing to the front of the house, I saw Fanny crouched down across the busy street, terrified but unhurt. My heart stopped that day and I hope I never have to relive something as dreadful.

Charlie

Charlie on the other hand is a mixed breed. He was bought off a squeegee kid in town by one of my teenage stepdaughter's friends. Unable to care for him and desperately trying to find him a home amongst his also not too bright friends, we took Charlie in because he was emaciated and had diarrhea after being bounced around for a week or so. Charlie was only 8 weeks old at the time. The cutest little pup you've ever seen. He was so cute that when we went to the park to walk him, he would spend most of his time in the air being cuddled by everyone who met him. We thought for sure at that point that he was a Jack Russell, but Charlie grew and grew and grew again. He could be a giant Jack Russell, if such a breed existed. He now weighs about a hundred pounds and hasn't lost a bit of his regal looks. I think of him as the Brad Pitt of dogs. A face like you would see on a major dog food brand. Often enough when we go for walks, people stop us and ask us what bread he is. Our answer is always the same...We don't know. Or as the vet put it , he's a Heinz 57....57 varieties rolled up in one.  Unlike Fanny, Charlie likes to play a lot and especially  with his  favorite balls, rubber or tennis,, which he keeps in a hole in the stream in the back. We play this little game where he drops the ball from an elevated point in he backyard and I return it using a golf club. He can play hours without stopping so It's no surprise that he comes to beckon me in the house with a ball in his mouth every half hour or so.

Fanny and Charlie's playground

As you can see, my network up here is mostly four legged and extremely satisfying. I'm a strong believer in zoo therapy and if not for my dogs bringing me down to earth a lot of times, I would spend way too much time in my brain. You might have done yoga with a master or even meditated in a Buddhist temple in the far reaches of Tibet where the yeti roams free but as zen as you might think you are, you'll never be as much in the moment as my dogs are. So, if you feel the need to network with me, there's a new device out called the Te-le-pho-ne. You can call anytime and by some miracle of modern technology, you'll be able to hear my voice. Or, better yet, why don't you come and spend some time with me and my wife and my two best friends. I'm sure we'll have a grand old time going for walks in the woods. Believe me we won't  need a keyboard to say how good we feel, because we'll be savoring each precious moment just like my four legged friends have taught me.

Footnote: The Dalai Lama once said:  "We anxiously think of the future while forgetting the present to the extent that we experience neither."