Another part of our weekend was attending the wedding of a good friend of ours. I was a little worried because it was billed as an outdoors wedding and "summer casual" dress, which I don't really own, but the groom OK'd nice jeans and I was not the only one wearing them, thank goodness. And we (at least Sparky and I) got to spend most of the evening indoors. The back yard and pool were really beautiful, but it's too hot here!

We were almost too late, he had told us to arrive a little after the time on the invite, and it was across town from our home, so we ended up actually walking into the backyard just before the ceremony started. Very lovely, very informal ceremony (the bride & groom have been there before, as have a lot of our friends including me & Sparky). The home was really beautiful, and instead of photos of kids there were photos of the owners two Labs all around. When Sparky found out they were actually there on the premises he went nuts. He's been having Lab withdrawal since out 16 year old baby passed away. I have also, though Phoebe keeps us both so busy we're still very undecided about getting another dog.

The dogs were caged in the back of the house and when we went back to see them they were so excited. Our dog had been very calm and quiet in her last years (though her mate, a lab/sheperd mix had been very hyper) and it was strange to have two enormous full bred very happy male Labs rushing at me. They are so lovable, but SO big and so active. We pet them and Sparky drooled over them, and then they went back in their cages for the majority of the evening. Very well-behaved and well-trained dogs, just a bandanna on their necks, not that a collar and leash could have controlled them if they wanted their way.

In my first marriage we had gotten a dog (my beautiful male mix breed) who had been my baby. He was very hyper & active, though, and after a year we thought he could use some company, and went and got another black Lab mix female. I was actually planning on getting another male, but Tala picked me out. Together they were an enormous handful, especially after I got divorced. Having two large dogs meant I always had to have a house with a yard, couldn't travel, and just a lot of responsibility. We'd always had dogs growing up, but my dad did most of the work. My dogs were barely trained (they could sit and shake paws for treats), the male could jump 5 and 6 foot fences and the female could climb chain link fences, so I was on constant worry mode. They both made it out of the yard several times each, the female just walked around to front of the house and scratched on the door (smart dog). The male went running out into traffic, once I had to chase him down still wearing a motorcycle helmet and full leathers.

Near the end of the party, someone (not us, we were across the house with the hosts fortunately) let the dogs out of their cages and into the main house. Which delighted my husband but caused a panic with the hostess, who had to run around closing off rooms and transferring food out of reach. One of the dogs plunged head first into a bag of garbage, bringing back more memories (the reason I originally bought my kitchen trash can with the step-on lid). We rubbed and petted them both till we got "doggy hands" (more memories, constantly washing our hands, Labs have very oily coats).

Most of the people we spoke with at the party (mostly 30-50 range) had either kids or cats. And one woman said as soon as her kid went off to college whe wasn't having anything at all, not a cat, dog, fish or even houseplant. I can sympathize. I never wanted kids, I actually always wanted a cat but didn't grow up with them so I ended up with two high-maintenance dogs instead. Now that I'm a kitty mama, I really am happy, she's not low-maintenance, though, she's Burmese. Sort of like having a tiny Border Collie. But, she's an indoor pet, I don't have to go out in the heat, the rain or the cold in the middle of the night anymore. I do have to be careful what I leave out because she has managed to reach just about every square inch of the house (up to the ceiling itself) which is a new experience. But for now, we're still on the fence, and enjoying the air conditioning...