Let the Fun Begin!

Today begins the 21-day break between summer and fall semesters; I don't have to be back on campus until August 24. This summer break I have no major ambitions. Last summer I did have big plans and then got to spend the vacation sweating the removal of a 50-foot, 100-year-old, half-rotten oak tree towering over the house as Charley churned its way to Florida, followed by 8 days with no electricity because my other neighbors didn't get their trees down before the storm. I now feel lucky that the oak cost only $3,500 to remove, a real bargain as the rip-off artists arrived a day or two after the storm and were charging $18,000 to cart away trees the same size, now lying on front lawns, the cars in the driveway crushed underneath.

Today my one big goal was to take a decent portrait of the basenjis. And so I give you the beautiful Yo-Yo ...


... and the handsome Bug: