February 18, 2015

White Dog just shook her head. "Seems Zsofia has confused Ash Wednesday with Dirt Wednesday," she sighed as she nodded toward the Baby. Zso had just bounded in from the yard and her entire face and front paws were covered. The Darker Shade of White Dog has become convinced that all of the bamboo, the Bradford Pear and the Butterfly Bush need to have their roots aerated and be pruned by chewing off the trunk. It is a training issue that Steve only wins when he is in the yard with her. For the sake of our delicate bits of leafy beauty, "caging" the plants has been added to the To Do List.

Looking forward to a traditional Asian meal to ring in the New Year, the White Dog Army supervised Steve's thinly slicing chicken breast, water chestnuts, ginger and assorted exotic mushrooms. YoYoMa, Zsofia, and Bella, the veggie lovers, "helped" me sliver carrots, shred bok choy, mince garlic, chop broccoli, and sort bean sprouts that would be mixed with shrimp and plum sauce for mo shu pancakes. Of course, there would be noodles (for long life) and almond cookies. Steve had found beautiful yogurt candy dipped fortune cookies at the grocery.

As we sat down to eat, each of the WDA with his or her own bowl for feasting, served on a red mat, White Dog said, "I hope the Sheep is a forgiving Zodiac Ruler." "Why," I asked wondering what karma might be coming that I did not know about.

"Well, the WDA is not particularly kind to our curly coated baa-ers." "What have you all done?" Steve put down his chopsticks to ask. "Well, there is the well known fact that Lamb Shanks are one of our favorite celebration meals. And we all love lamb and rice kibble. AND SOME PUPS who shall not be called out...Puff, Yo and Zso...have chewed the legs, ears and eyes off of all of the sheep stuffies we own. If I were the Chief Sheep, the Zodiac guy, I might not be sending good fortune to this house."

"White Dog, you are getting yourself worked up over nothing," I told her. "You above all here know we make our own fortunes. The WDA is a powerful force of goodness; nothing in the Universe is going to be mad because Puff unstuffed a toy shaped like a sheep."

Steve had his phone out and looked up the zodiac sign. He read to her, "Chinese symbol is: 羊 yáng
Sheep (goat, or ram) is among the animals that people like most. It is gentle and calm. Since ancient times, people have learned to use its fleece to make writing brushes and skin to keep warm. The white cute creature often reminds people of beautiful things." 

"Hardly sounds like we need to hide in fear for the next year," Taiko gently teased. "But if you are worried, I will be glad to eat your cookie and swallow whatever fortune it holds."