Well, the vacation was wonderful. I've been trying to figure out how to upload pictures and a narrative . . . for some reason Image Event, my picture place, isn't taking the pix. I may be near my limit, I guess. I'd rather do something more creative, anyway - but I haven't figured out how to FTP to Host Save, which is my web provider. So I'm making slideshows, which I'll be able to upload to Streamhoster, my movie place . . . yeesh.

At the moment, though, I'm feeling kind of blue. On the vacation, and subsequently, we talked about giving William to Louise (who watched him while we were gone, and who still has him). There are all kinds of really good, really sensible reasons for doing this: He requires a lot of maintenance, and I do most of it, and I don't really have the time now, let alone come fall, when I'll be driving so much. And even aside from the maintenance, life with two dogs is much harder than life with one: since retrieving Wally from the kennel yesterday, we've noticed that without William around, he's far calmer and he barks a lot less. Wally's very competitive and dominant; when there's another dog around he has to be Top Dog. So William's quality of life here isn't all that good; he can't play with anything because Everything Belongs to Wally. Also, he doesn't get enough exercise, despite my best efforts; and he doesn't get enough quality time with any of us, because Wally's too jealous. And Wally's quality of life seems better without him, too - he gets all the attention and all the toys and all the table scraps.

The reduction in dog hair (to which I am somewhat allergic) and the relative lack of barking is really nice, too. I had gotten to the point where I despaired of ever getting the house reasonably clean - the day after we finished painting, the floor was waaaay grungy and the hair was mounting up already. And the dogs have positively shredded the windowsill closest to the front yard - they even broke one pane of the window a while back, rushing at it to try to get to the mailman one day. Then, too, the pair of them barked at everything - people passing by, people they thought were passing by, squirrels in the yard, birds in the trees . . . They would get each other going. With only one dog, I'm just astonished at how much less chaos there is around here. The maintenance issues, we could work out as a family - but we would never be able to tame the chaos. And that's more distruptive to me than anything. Maybe it was growing up as a functionally only child in a very orderly household - but I can't stand high levels of noise.

Having said all that, I also have to say that William is the sweetest dog I've ever laid eyes on. He's friendly, loving, responsive, got good manners, and is well-trained. He is a downright gem. I love him dearly, and today I really miss him. If it weren't for the fact that Louise is the perfect dog owner who appreciates all his good qualities, can give him the life he deserves (she's taken him everywhere, which I always wished I could do), has the time to care for him and give him lots of attention, and really misses her dog, who recently died, giving William up would be completely out of the question. But this arrangement is good for everyone.

But at the moment it feels really rotten.