April Pupdate

Readers- We're still working on our taxes and are therefore harboring particularly ugly feelings about the government which could easily cause us to say something we'd eventually regret...assuming that a hellfire missile fired from one of Barry's drones gives you time for regret.

So instead of moving up a few notches on the president's "kill" list, we're doing an update on Penny - the official dog of Hope n' Change!

Penny is a bit over 5 months old now which, according to a dog survival manual we're reading, is the start of the period between 5 and 7 months in which all dogs go through a transitional period of being Tasmanian devils. On meth. Seriously, she puts out more energy every day than Solyndra produced in its entire existence.

Penny has been growing fast and is currently about 30 pounds - and we have no idea how big she'll eventually be (we think she's a shepherd/beagle mix, although there seems to be a hint of mountain goat in there, too). We've recently enrolled her in obedience training and she appears to be pretty smart. At least, she's smart enough not to do anything until she knows she'll get a special treat for it, much like most politicians.

Happily, she's already won our hearts - not to mention winning a number of skirmishes in the long-fought battle to sit on the furniture. And while we still miss our previous dog mightily, Penny really has helped us cope with the loss - especially in the evenings when, owing to some miracle, our hyperactive pup turns into a loving, sleepy little source of warmth, comfort and existential peace.

In short, Penny is a (sometimes exhausting) joy and comfort for the whole Jarlsberg family. Although Mrs. Jarlsberg points out that she does have a slight resemblance to Bark Obama. Especially when she's eating her own poop.