Hanging with the Big Boys

I didn’t get to walk with the WWTs yesterday because Mary had to baby-sit her granddaughter, Christina, who had fever. So instead of the tantalizing smell of dog messages on fire hydrants, I had to put up with the stench of nail polish, when Mary painted Christina’s toenails (green) for the first time. Fortunately, they did take me on a short walk down the street after lunch, when Christina felt better.

I can’t complain too much though, since I got to go to Austin over the weekend. While Mary and Lewis spent time manning their Maverick Publishing booth at the Texas Book Festival, I got to hang out back at their son Maverick’s house with Chigurh, his dog.

Now Chigurh is ten times my weight, but unlike his assassin namesake in “No Country for Old Men,” he is the essence of kindness. His friend, Townes, a weekend guest, is a little scarier as he growls from time to time, but I felt pretty comfortable hanging around with the big boys—even if they did hover over me when I ate.

Now that Mary’s grandchickens are more comfortable, they want to come out of their pen and forage for bugs. Whenever Maverick let them out, he made us dogs stay indoors, which was a drag. But I must admit we did relish the leftover scrambled eggs after breakfast.