In which I learn of the original New York Dolls....

"Hey Maddy, what's this?"

"What's what - hey, how did that get down here? I've been looking for that!"

"What's it about?" The "Dolls" part had me intrigued, naturally.

"It's an autobiography. The New York Dolls were a band, and Arthur Kane was their bass player." She picked up the book. "They were a little like the Velvet Underground. Pretty much everyone who heard them wanted to start a band of their own. Not that they sound anything like the Velvet Underground."

I looked through the book a little bit. It took me a minute to put together that this was the same band I'd heard her play the other day when we were coming back from the grocery store. If I remembered correctly, the song was called "Bad Girl."

I think I'll borrow it after she finishes it.

~*~

 I don't think I mentioned that John-John and Shel got another dog. This one's a mini-dachshund named Coco.

I don't think John-John was too crazy about the carrier Shel bought, though.

 "Caroline? Remind me again how I got talked into this..."

"What's wrong with it?" I liked the color.

"I feel like Paris Hilton That's what's wrong with it. Even my mom doesn't carry her dog around in a handbag - Coco!"



At least he's friendly. Maybe a little too much so...

"Coco..." Shel really isn't the voice of authority. "Get back...here?"

"Coco! Get your arse back over 'ere!" I love it when John-John's British side really comes out.











"Sorry, Emmaline..." John-John looked at Shel. "Next time one of us needs to remember that leash."

Shel looked sheepish. He was supposed to pick up a leash at Pet Goods earlier today, but he came home with two bags of gourmet dog food, the aforementioned carrier. a personalized bowl, a bunch of dog toys and three dog sweaters instead.










~*~

A bit later, Emmaline, China Girl and I went to see if the daffodils have bloomed out yet. We couldn't stay out too long, because everything was still damp from the rain last night and more rain is on the way.

As you can see, we're close. Maddy said there are probably over a thousand daffodils about to bloom. Her father had read somewhere that daffodils increased the resale value of a house, so he planted five or six lots of 500 bulbs apiece. She said they used to be planted in military order in neat, straight beds, but have long since naturalized and now grow in drifts. She likes that better. She said he also planted tons of hosta, which, around here, is basically setting out a salad bar for deer. His solution for that was to nag her mother into spraying almost two acres worth of plants with deer repellent practically every single evening. After he passed away, her mom's solution was to remove most of the salad bar. I think she replaced some of it with azaleas.

We're not sure if there are bluebells, asters or windflowers, but they're pretty.

Maddy couldn't remember what this was, but it's already flowering. There was a bumblebee hard at work gathering pollen, but she flew off before we could get a picture.











We're fortunate that we're only getting rain tomorrow from "Winter" Storm Walda....