Boy or Girl?
The sun rose in a sky
that was an equal mixture of pink and blue clouds
   as if God could not decide today
      whether He wanted a boy world
or a girl world.
So he gave us fraternal twins?

Snake Dance
Halli barks at a rock
   she barks boldly
then retreats
   over and over.
Suddenly the barking changes
   the retreats become longer
Ah, there's the reason:
a rat snake coiled three menacing feet high
hissing and striking back.
Jeanine
retrieves the unwilling Halli
and pulls and  carries her into the house
where a whimpering barking Halligan
seems to say,
"Let me at 'im, let me at 'im. I'm king of the jungle,
let me at 'm."

Halli the Herpetologist

Today Halli unearthed a six-foot rat snake from underneath the downspout by the back door. It was curled into a multi-curved S and striking at her when I caught her and carried her into the house. Now she's running from door to window to door, whining and yelping and yodeling, wanting to get outside.

This is her third snake, and every one she finds is bigger than the last.

Halligan the Wonder Dog

In case you were wondering about Halli, she's the biggest goofball on earth. Here's proof, in case you find Bill's poems a bit far-fetched:

She likes to play in the spray from the hose while I'm trying to water my plants. Leaping around like a complete derp, she bites and snaps at the water, ending up completely soaked.

This is the same dog who panics when it rains--let one drop of rain hit her and she is banging on the back door: Mom...Mom! MOM! It's raining, Mom! Lemme in, lemme INNNN! Mom! Mommy! I'm gonna melt, I'm melting! MOMMMM!!

The other day I got distracted by her antics and fished out my phone. Set on "multi-shot," I probably took 50 photos of her bouncing around, and here are the best ones. It's not easy to photograph a moving target when you're trying to spray a hose with one hand and not drench your camera.

All Bill's poems are true. She does steal clothes off the line. She does corner snakes under rocks. She does chase turkeys, and is amazed when they fly away.

You definitely can't say she's unhappy--being a rescue dog pretty much guarantees that a dog will appreciate living the good life in a home instead of a shelter, and her story is one of early abuse and neglect. But now? Pure joy.

Wash Day
The jeans came down
    off the clothesline
because Halli pulled them down.
Then she ran around the yard
   with me in hot pursuit
       trying to get my pants back.
I'm glad that Jeanine didn't have
   her phone's video camera going
      or I might have soon been watching Halli and I
on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Summer Sky
Thunder can be heard in the distance
        lightening streaks brighten the far horizon
But not a drop of rain for the tomatoes.

Are You an Ant?
The ant strode across the vast expanse
    of the white toilet bowl cover
and just as it was about the claim it
    for all 'antdom'-- or perhaps Pixar--
the hand of God
    (two fingers clothed in two squares of toilet paper)
reached out, grabbed the ant, and tossed it into the toilet.
Shortly afterwards
the toilet was flushed
and our hero sent swirling down the pipes
and into the nearby lagoon.
Once there
the ant crawled out of the toilet paper
and onto dry land.
Life continues for our hero,
in a different world.