A disruption in the space/time continuum

Ladies and gentlement, presenting Herr Floof

Sometimes life foists a darkness we didn’t ask for.

Sometimes it offers gifts we didn’t know we needed so desperately.

And sometimes, we are rewarded ten-fold. Maybe even a hundredfold.

When our beloved dog, Jack, died in April at the age of 13 1/2, The Spousal Unit and I knew it would be a while before we could face getting another dog. We also knew that, as with all of our pets (cats and dogs), one would come into our lives unannounced when the time was right.

Months passed. We missed having a pet in the house. At one time we’d had three cats and a dog, but now the house was empty, groaning for a new pet. Stubbornly, I refused to seek one out. I didn’t want to wedge another dog into the Jack-shaped hole in my heart, unfairly wishing the new pet to be just like Jack.

People like continuity, and after seeing us walking Jack nightly for over 13 years, the sight of the two of us without Jack in tow bothered the neighbors, I think. One of them joked that he was going to get a dog FOR us if we didn’t get one soon, it bothered him so.

Anyway, one night as The Lonely Twosome stumbled along on our evening walk, one of our neighbors stopped us and asked if we wanted a dog. Their mastiff wasn’t getting along with the dog they’d brought home earlier in the year, and they felt the best thing to do would be to rehome the newer dog.

“How old is he?” I asked. He was nearly a year old.

And part Great Pyrenees. Good God.

And then we met him, and we’ve not been the same since.

This is Bennie. He’s a Great Pyrenees Mountain Dog/Aussie Shepherd mix. Currently weighing in at 70 lbs, we’re hoping the Aussie Shepherd in him controls his size. Pyrs can weigh in at well over 100 lbs.

The spotlight’s hitting something that’s been known to change the weather. He’s got electric boots. A mohair suit. Hence the name Bennie, after the song “Bennie and the Jets.”

He doesn’t bark. He BORKS. You’re gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound.

“Hey! Let’s find some sheep videos and see what Bennie does,” I said. We’re lucky he didn’t knock the TV over in an attempt to herd the onscreen sheep. (Does he dream of electric sheep?)

And so, Herr Floof, Monsieur Fleuf, Señor Pelusa, has Pyr-pawed his way into our lives. You’ll pardon my delays in the graphic novel/stories front…. I’ve been distracted by a young 70 lb. dog sitting on me.

With the U.S. election darkness, he has given us some much-needed moments of light. Maybe this post will shine a little into yours.

Hey kids, plug into the faithless/ Maybe they’re blind, but Bennie makes them ageless./ We shall survive, let us take ourselves along.

Bennie and the Jets music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin. In case you didn’t know, but I hope you did.