Not Because of the Weight of His Brain

We have this dog staying with us.  He actually belongs to Himbeere but since Himbeere lives here so does the dog.  And so the dog is staying with us.  Anyway, while this dog has been living with us we have noticed some things about him.  Odd things, actually.  Perhaps oddest is how he rests his chin on whatever is handy.

Its like the weight of his head is too much to hold up so he rests his chin on whatever is in front of him.

More often than not, its on a little table in our front room. He'll rest his chin on the table, which is just the right height, and stare out the big window, into the front yard.  Not at anything in particular.  Just staring out the window.

But its not confined to staring out the window.  Sometimes its elsewhere as well.  This dog is social enough that he doesn't like to be alone.  So he'll tag along and hang out near wherever "his people" are.  And  he'll find something to rest his chin on while he hangs out nearby.

He'll rest his chin on your knee, given the opportunity.  Sometimes I think its a way of asking for attention.  He definitely does it when he wants something, although its sometimes difficult to tell what exactly he wants when he does this.

Sometimes it seems to be his way of being close to his people.  He'll do it without particularly wanting anything.  At least not obviously wanting something.

Other times it seems like he'll do it on whatever happens to be near wherever he is, not particularly looking at anything.

 Its like he's just passing the time, conserving energy, hanging out wherever.

 Yes, this strikes me a definitely a strange quirk of this big, normally energetic dog.

 He just likes to be close, near his people.

 Most dogs, when they are waiting on their people, will go to sleep.  That's been my experience.  And this dog will do that, too.  But as often as not, if he's waiting near his people, waiting until they do something interesting, he'll rest his chin while he waits.  Yes, there are some strange things about this mutt.

Commonplace Book

 A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

"How small, of all that human hearts endure, that part which laws or kings can cause or cure.” (Samuel Johnson, (1709-1785. An English poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer.)

"Remember that the first and great commandment is to love God with our heart, might, mind, and strength. All that we do should be motivated by our love for Him and for His Son. As we develop our love for Them by keeping Their commandments, our capacity to love ourselves and to love others will increase."

(Peter M Johnson, Power to Overcome the Adversary, October Conference 2019)

"You can choose to be kind. Be kind."

(Admin, Bookstore employee writes this on Facebook after “little old lady” shocks everyone at the register, Daily Love Online, September 22, 2019)

"The ancient prophets speak of ‘entering into God’s rest’; what does it mean? To my mind, it means entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in his purpose and in his plan, to such an extent that we know we are right, and that we are not hunting for something else, we are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive … The man who has reached that degree of faith in God that all doubt and fear have been cast from him, he has entered into ‘God’s rest.’ … I pray that we may all enter into God’s rest—rest from doubt, from fear, from apprehension of danger, rest from the religious turmoil of the world” 

(Joseph F Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 58).

Oaks: He's an effective decision maker. He's not a postponer. Like a surgeon who must make a decision right now and can't appoint a committee to study it. He's gifted at noticing when we need to postpone a decision to get more facts. But for the most part, when something comes before him, he decides it. And we love that.

Eyring: Even in our schedules, he moves everything rapidly; why not now? Whenever we have - if we're going to do it, let's do it now."

(An exchange between Elder Dallin H Oaks and Elder Henry B Eyring, describing Pres Russell M Nelson as part of the celebration of Pres Nelson's 95th birthday, September 6, 2019, emphasis added)

"It's good to remember that there is still a place in religion for faith."

M Russell Ballard, An Epistle from an Apostle, Ensign, September 2019, page 23)

"If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory...The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak…We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out."

(Jane Austen, 1775 – 1817, English novelist)

"The acquisition of memories is the business of life."

(The character Charles Carson, played by Jim Carter, Downton Abbey, S4:E4)

Happy Halloween!

The other day, a few days before Halloween, Himbeere and his girlfriend wanted to carve some pumpkins.  So they bought a couple and brought them to the house to carve up.  We thought that was pretty nice.  They were good enough to lay out some newspapers, to contain the mess, and then set about the job.

Himbeere wanted to "design" his before cutting.  His friend just got right down to business and began cleaning out her pumpkin and carving.

As a result, she got a ways ahead of him.  But he kept at it and kept working.

Its a fine art, carving pumpkins.  They both worked away at it.

Pretty soon some nice looking jack-o-lanterns began taking shape.

Himbeere, holding up his friend's pumpkin - she was a little ahead of him in the whole operation.

When they were all done they put candles in them.  They looked pretty nice.  Then they set them out on the front porch.  Very festive.  And there they waited until the little trick-or-treaters came along a few days later.  It was a nice evening.