Six Puppies and One Disgruntled Elf

SHHHHH! The puppies are sleeping! Huh? I have discovered the most charming website. Actually, you can access it in a lot of ways. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam. You can try that link, but if it doesn't work, try a Yahoo or Google search by typing in Cute puppies:the most popular live-streaming video of all time? and you will find it.

A family has placed a twenty-four hour web cam on their shiba inu puppies. Beware, this site is addicting. You can watch these six little darlin's play, nap, wrestle, nap, squirt, nap. Honestly, our book group watched them for thirty minutes last Friday. The pups did nothing but sleep, with an occassional stretch, whimper, ear flick, or tiny foot movement. Eventually, one woke up and wanted to play in the worst way. He tried nudging the others awake. When that didn't work, he went from pup to pup and chewed on their tails. He walked across them, pounced on them, and hollered at them. Nothing worked. They were nestled in for the night. Finally, in desperation, he chose a victim, grabbed her by the collar and did one of those ferocious shaking maneuvers that dogs do to their toys. Nothing. In frustration, he walked out of the doggie bedroom, into an area off camera where there is a large, fenced in play area. I am sure he was sulking.

The first thing I did this morning when I came in was check on them. They have grown since Friday. I am afraid some will be leaving soon. I better start naming them before they go!

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A few weeks ago, Rhonda showed up...just a weekend trip from New York back to where she belongs! Rhonda is a former student, now friend, and Heart-A-Rama pal. She just finished her MFA in Marketing, and is committed to her current company for two more years. Maybe after that she'll come home! Anyway, she recently went to a David Sedaris reading, and brought me an autographed copy of his Holiday book. Some sort of happy accident occurred, and Rhonda was able to spend about a half hour visiting with Sedaris one-on-one. When he signed my book he mentioned that "Bev" would be a nice name for a llama.

Sedaris is one of my faves. He makes me laugh right out loud, which I avoid doing since I have one of those goofy, snorty sorts of laughs that either makes people sick, or makes them laugh along. Since it's time to dig into some holiday reading (and watching old movies like "Christmas in Connecticut"), Holiday on Ice is first up. For years I tried to read a Shakespeare and a Dickens a year, but that was short lived. And, after playing Mrs. Crathit in "A Christmas Carol" for more years than I can count, I can recite that Dickens work without cracking the book open.

This collection includes a Sedaris classic, "The Santaland Diaries.' This almost honest, semi-semi- autobiographic essay finds Sedaris returning to live in Manhattan, broke, and for some reason, basically unemployable. At age 33, he eventually finds a job - as an elf at Macy's. From there the fun begins. Think about the scene in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie, desperate to ask Santa for a Red Rider BB gun, is faced with a collection of seemingly demented elves, and a not to friendly Santa. Sedaris' experiences were not far from that, except that he was on the demented and not too friendly side of the situation.

Other essays in the collection include tales of detailing the nuances of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French, what Halloween looks like at the medical examiners office, the puzzling Christmas traditions of other nations, and a brand new story about a barnyard Secret Santa gone awry.

Sure, a lot of people consider David Sedaris low-brow, a bit offensive, and not of lasting literary quality. But I say, anyone who can hold his own with both Davie Letterman, and Ira Glass is OK in my book. So, if you like a little edge with your eggnog, Sedaris is your guy.