there will be a question at the end of this story...

once upon a time there were two doggalas - one who was 14 months old and one who will be a year old on january 8th. it was a wednesday - daddy was gone in orange county and mama had taken the baby to work with her in the morning - and although mama had left the heater on, the light on in the kitchen and the dolly crib full of toys as well as the favorite blankies for those boys...apparently it was just not enough. nobody came to visit them on that wednesday...the garden guy lee comes on thursdays, the contractor never came either...so, left to their own resources...and with an inordinate amount of time on their paws...so began the day to remember.

they finished up their dinner from the night before - apparently mama made more than the three of them were interested in eating - but something "snacky" in the morning was not so bad - especially when they had started their morning out with chicken strips from the cookie jar. what better than leftovers from dinner to complete the morning snack routine they asked each other?

almost every toy in the antique baby cradle had to brought out and inspected. when that inspection was finished, said toys had to be carefully placed throughout the house, starting in the front living room and festooned throughout the living room, down the entry hall and into the family room - ending most strategically right at the hearth. once the doggala toys were dispersed with care, they then decided that their fleece blankies also needed to be festooned around the family room...draped over their woofie pillows. what is a woofie pillow you inquire - easy to explain - mama bought them huge pillows covered in red fleece - and imprinted on the red fleece are the words "woof" - thus the large pillows became the "woofie" pillows and they are just the most fun. they are particularly useful to doggalas when they are used as a "stop" at the end of a very large race around the house...and if you slide with abandon into the pillows - it stops you softly right up against the fireplace on the hearth.

now, all of the above probably took a little bit of time...but there was more time to fill before mama came home with daisy girl and the roughhousing began in ernest. wait...mama has a stack of brand new, beautiful fresh, perfectly put away in piles, daisy puppy pee wee pads in the laundry room and for heaven's sake...i, nickolas can reach them...is life any sweeter? i, nickolas have helped myself to one that happened to be left on the floor by accident, but i, nickolas have never actually helped myself to any from the pile in the laundry room and my big brother gatsby is encouraging me and has promised me that he and i will stand up to mama when she gets home...

you guessed it...and now comes the question. just exactly how many pieces and how far and how much like snow can two doggalas with more time on their paws than they know what to do with, strip, rip, tear and destroy two puppy peewee pads full of stuffing and batting and blue plastic - basically a disposable diaper but flat?

the answer to that question was discovered last evening when i arrived home at 6:45 p.m. and let me tell you that the amount of pieces was beyond description and counting them would have been beyond description ...and it looked much like it had snowed inside my house and the two boys just couldn't understand what could possibly be wrong...and why i was laughing and why the broom, the dyson and the dustpan were brought out to control their beautiful work of art.

can life be any sweeter? the doggalas don't think so!!