"Ugh, Hound Puppies," said Howie.

I got Sebastian to lie down, promising him a belly rub. Howie was less than thrilled with the prospect of proximity to the 11-month-old pup.

Only me saying, "Stop, Howard, stay," kept him in the picture. He hates photographs, and really hates posing with the kid.

However, the picture is good in that you can clearly see how much bigger Sebastian is than Howie these days, and the cute little puppy of last year undoubtedly has a bit more growth coming, and weight, as well.

Had I but had the camera in hand this morning I could have harvested shots of an energetic and extensive beating that How administered to Seb; the striped fiend would pin Sebastian to the carpet, gnaw on his head, his neck, his shiny black legs, then turn away, sneezing -- and when the pup would scramble to his feet, afix the back of Howie's head with his border collie daddy's stare, How would spin, leap, and crash chest to chest with Sebastian and knock him down again.

Sebastian loves it. As soon as Howie turns his back, Sebastian starts stalking him, staring, unblinking. If Howie doesn't move, Sebastian will rush him, and poke him on the cheek, then turn tail and run like mad. This was one of the reasons I didn't get any photos of the beating this morning: Sebastian ran away around the back of the dining room table, and Howie followed him, nipping Seb's buns twice around, both of them running as fast as they could.

I laughed until I was coughing too hard to stand up straight.

In spite of the "Oh, I loathe this puppy" posturing, when we go out for walks, Howie has begun to wait for Sebastian to catch up to him when they are off leash for a run. If we keep the pup on leash so that Howie can have some private sniff-and-mark time, Howie now just stops and stands, looking back at Sebastian, as if to say, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Today's only update is that we began stacking this year's firewood. It's almost all small, light stuff, and we got halfway through the pile before the sun came around and the flies found me. That's a good morning's work. I'll start a third rank of wood on Monday, and then we'll be good for heat until next fall ... unless we have a freak winter. Total cash cost? $200.