Happy B'day Maddie Mulligan!

My little girly is two today. Well, her grandma decided this would be her birthday, because do you ever really know when you adopt a little pup? This picture is of us the day after I adopted Maddie.

Maddie is my first dog. Neal's Tilly, who loved me through a hard time in my life, was the first dog I ever REALLY knew, the dog who made me think I might want a puppy pal of my own. Less than a month after I moved to NM, lonely and sad, my sister MB sat outside of Pet Smart, holding my chai and not at all annoyed, while I fell in love with the divine Miss M. Her name is short for Madrid, my favorite town in NM. Her loving previous owner (who was moving and not sure she could take Maddie a.k.a. Tickle with her) and I spoke on the phone, and I learned that Maddie was from Madrid. X, her first owner, had found her tied by a shoelace to a telephone pole. As if that isn't awful enough, she had over 300 ticks and shards of glass in her. Life picked up after that...I adopted her mere hours after X, broken hearted, gave her up. She's living with Tilly and Neal in CT now, learning to be a more obedient girl, and cute as an effing button. I'm so in love with her, I can't imagine life without her, even if I'm 2,500 miles away from her. Sometimes I hear her singing for her supper (she LOVES her some supper!) during my phone dates with Neal.

For her birthday, she dug in the muddy back yard, then took a road trip to Auntie I's to visit her pal Romeo. Neal's promised a sliver of cheese for a special nighttime treat.

Mama loves you, birthday girl! xx