No doubt you’ve noticed the schizophrenic disconnect between the daily picture and the text. I need to make an exception this once. It’s no secret I spoil Murphy, my dog. Murphy likes playing with stuffed animals but I need to keep her out of my good ones so I have been buying her stuffed animals to play with at dollar stores and the Salvation Army.

The first stuffed animal I got specifically for Murphy was Barney. Not this Barney. This is the fourth or fifth incarnation of Barney. Sometimes I get her other stuffed animals, anything I can find; but nothing lasts longer than the Barnies. Of course, since the first stuffed animal was “Barney” she thinks “Barney” means any stuffed animal. Perhaps that’s only really cute to dog owners.

She also knows that the Barney song — I hesitate to confess that I know it, at least part of it — means she should go get Barney. And then of course we play our tug of war.

The first thing she does with every incarnation of Barney is rip out the hard plastic eyes. She never attempts to eat them, she just rips them out and leaves them for me to fetch and discard.

I don’t know what I will do if I can’t find any more Barnies.

SS