My master is late coming home today. I worry when I don't hear his car roaring up the hill before two in the afternoon. Diablo and I always meet our master in kitchen before he goes to work. His goodbyes aren't so painful because we know he is going to say "I'm home from work!" later in the day.

Hi folks, my name is Joanie and I am Mark's faithful sharpei. I am saddled here with my younger chihuahua brother Diablo. Diablo is such a wimp! Last night, our master gave as a bath and Diablo starts shivering and whining. My master should tell Diablo that the couch isn't a face towel and to quit hiding under blankets on the couch. When guests come over, people accidently sit on him. Diablo is still immature. When I was a young pup, I used to bark at the letter carriers but I eventually matured.  Diablo does not bark at you letter carriers out there - he actually barks at the garbageman. If there was someway to let Diablo know that the trashman isn't stealing our stuff....

After my master went to work this morning, I jumped back on his bed to get some sleep. In another room, I heard the sound of "click, click, click." My canine instincts were aroused and I followed the "click, click, click" noise. It was the "clicking of the keyboard and I caught Diablo watching doggie porn, reading PlayDog and spying pics of Anita's pug off of this website with lustful eyes. Bad Diablo!!!! Even worse, Diablo has met another chihuahua off of the website MyDoggieSpace and I can tell you, this girl dog is psycho!!

Diablo is five years younger than I am, so I suppose he is sowing  his wild oats. Diablo wasn't even born yet when our country was terrorized on September 11, 2001. A day we have now renamed Patriots Day. I was a very small puppy living with my master in a tiny condo in Downtown Denver but I still remember it. A real sign to our mortality on earth is watching a fire engine pull up to someone's house. On that day there were hundreds of those big red trucks.

Even though I was a small puppy back then, I realize that humans have their own ways of remembering 9/11. My master said that they were going to have a moment of silence at his workplace at 6:46 AM. Later in the day, my master and his other co-workers were going to have a potluck and cook hot dogs while others would pitch in on American apple pies at the local store to celebrate Patriot's Day. Perhaps, my master is stuck with the cleanup and he is late getting home from work.

Because I want to go to doggie heaven someday, I will pray to God for those 2,976 victims that died at the hands of those terrorists and all of those dogs and cats that won't see their masters come home from work ever again.

By the way, God........are there letter carriers in heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?

Joanie ("") ("") - loving pawprints.