It takes a long time to get over the loss of a pet. I remember thinking when my childhood dog died that I would never, ever own a dog again ‘cause it hurt too much when he died. I have since that day, in 1978, loved and lost eight dogs. Most of them Cocker Spaniels.

When E’s dog, Bacardi, died he wouldn’t consider replacing her for a very long time. Eventually he was ready and almost immediately we were able to adopt Piper. When Sami died two years ago I was heart broken and never imagined I could start again with any one new. Saying goodbye is just so hard. Why sign up for the heartache? But the heart heals.

This spring I felt I was ready but worried, briefly, that maybe I was getting too old. This of course was just nonsense. My Mom was seventy when she adopted a dog and when he died at thirteen she got another one and they also spent thirteen years together. Unless things go terribly wrong, I expect to live as long as my mother. I put my name on the waitlist with the same breeder as Piper’s family.

With covid loneliness, stay at home workers, and a non- existent pipeline of Mexican strays, there is a big demand for puppies in 2020. A big demand, limited supply, and the expected subsequent increase in cost. But still I was ready, even if we had to wait. We waited for six months and spent more than we have to spend but life is too short to spend it without a dog at your side.

This pandemic isn’t going anywhere soon. The first vaccine to roll out is not safe for heart transplant patients so that means we will be waiting til the second or third or ? We have nothing but time on our hands. Safe to say it is unlikely E and I will ever travel again. That is okay with us as we live in paradise. Our travel money is better spent on the warmth and love of another puppy.

We can grow a lot of our own food. Our pantry is full and I just bottled thirty more red and thirty more white. We can safely stay out of everyone’s way on our 2.5 acres until it is safe for life to resume to normal. We consider ourselves more than fortunate to be where we are while the world fights this fight. There was only one little thing we were missing. I needed a puppy for my lap.

But what to name it? We wanted a girl and the only girl name in a Mark Knopfler song is Juliet. Unless we gave up buying fuel for the boat to afford a little boy puppy to name Romeo, Juliet seemed an odd name to choose.

In my search for Mark Knopfler lyrics on the google they likened some of his music to sea shanties. I searched the meaning of shanty and one is, of course, a song sung while sailors worked and the other is a house built from borrowed or spare bits. If not our house, certainly our bunkie fits that description.

I introduce to you the latest addition to our

happy home, Shanty