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While I was running Xena and Ozzy at Melton Hill Lake yesterday morning, Ozzy started acting strangely. He stiffened, nose in the air, and started walking gingerly as if across sharp gravel. Then Xena reacted, too. She was bolder, bounding forward to where the dead fox lay in the field. It’s neck was ripped out. Body still steaming in the morning cold. A coyote must have caught it, I thought. I was quick to drive the dogs away from it, thinking rabies thoughts. As we continued through the park, the image of that fox stayed with me. It resonated more than I realized.

I’ve begun re-reading Joyce’s Ulysses, and later on Saturday I came upon this passage, where Steven is walking along the shore and watching a dog that’s moving toward him stop to investigate the bloated body of another hound.

“… The carcass lay on his path. He stopped, sniffed, stalked round it, brother, nosing closer, went round it, sniffling rapidly like a dog all over the dead dog’s bedraggled fell. Dogskull, dogsniff, eyes on the ground, moves to one great goal. Ah, poor dogsbody! Here lies poor dogsbody’s body.

“– Tatters! Outofthat, you mongrel!

“The cry brought him skulking back to his master and a blunt bootless kick sent him unscathed across a spit of sand, crouched in flight. …”

Amazing. It also drove home what an incredible writer Joyce was. In fact, fueled by insights from the Ellman biography of Joyce, I’m enjoying this go-round with Ulysses much more than past reads …

After considerable procrastination, I’ve put several sets of photos online:

1. Jamaica: These are shots from the trip Lara and I tool last summer. I still need to add descriptions for the photos.

2. LornaFest: The going away party for Lorna the snarky intern.

3. Canaan: Photos Lara took during the annual gathering at Canaan.

When our friend Boogie died, we took in her dog, a scrappy five-pound terror named Jingles. Somehow the name doesn’t quite capture the sound and fury of this Maltese. So we started casting around for a new name. And I started thinking of the emperor of Lilliput in Jonathan Swift’s incredible “Gulliver’s Travels.” This was a little man with a big attitude. Just like Jingles. So we decided on a new name for the little guy, retaining his Jingle but adding a bit of attitude. He is now Jingles Golbaste Mamarem Evlame Gurdile Shefin Mully Ully Gue, Delight and Terror of the Universe. Since that’s a lot of name for a little pooch, we’ve shortened it to Mully Jingles.

Here’s Swift’s description of this regal monarch. We think it fits the newest member of our pack (yes, I’m up to five dogs now …)

“Golbaste Mamarem Evlame Gurdile Shefin Mully Ully Gue, Most Mighty Emperor of Lilliput, delight and terror of the universe, whose dominions extend to the ends of the globe, monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men, whose feet press down to the center, and whose head strikes against the sun, at whose nod the princes of the earth shake their knees, pleasant as the spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter.”

Yup. That’s Mully Jingles. If you want to see a few photos of him, click here.

And if you have never read “Gulliver’s Travels,” snap it up. Incredible book. Swift was an incredible satirist.