Paolo and Speck

Despite the understandable assumption that being unemployed leaves a person with vast quantities of free time, I've found that nothing could be further from the truth.  Aside from the black hole of time consumption that's called internet job hunting, I've also tried to stay busy by picking up odd jobs on the side.  For the record, I'm immensely thankful for these opportunities, because they are helping with the financial pinch.  However, these things can have the effect of putting a crimp on one's normal routine.

Take my most recent gig:  house sitting for my friend Angela while she visits family in New Jersey.  The house itself probably would have been fine sitting there all by it's lonesome.  It's the furry inhabitants that were the main focus of my attention.  Allow me to introduce you to Paolo and Speck...

These little charmers are Angela's babies, so I had very specific instructions as to their care and well being.  Not that it was too hard:  other than an inclination to yappiness, they're otherwise fairly nice dogs.  And affectionate!  The golden one (that's Speck) is pretty attached--he likes to be wherever you are.  So if I'm reading the paper over coffee, he's laying on the rug nearby.  If I'm watching TV, he's snoozing on the couch next to me.  When I'm ready to go to sleep, he finds a spot on top of the duvet where he can feel where I'm at and snuggle in next to me.  It's hard not to get a little attached.  But only a little. 

Especially when this is the site that greets me at the top of the entry stairs whenever I return to the house...