It's hard work being my muse, but Coco tries. Here she is perusing the newspaper in search of interesting tidbits for me to blog about.

But eventually, Coco tires of this, and she can become awfully annoyed at the endless (to her, very boring) tappy-tappy game I seem to be playing with the keyboard. When this happens she asks me -- no, I'm afraid she tells me -- to let her go outside to play with her toys -- her latest being a Cheng Shin model 53-559 mountain bike tire, which someone so helpfully discarded in a local park.

I could almost swear she suspects it's a giant snake which managed to get itself twisted into a stubborn infinity position, and that only she can shake it loose.

Considering that the tire was free, it's not only cheaper than her poor bedraggled Otis and Claude Bettie fetch throwing toy, but it's easier for me, because I only have to throw it once or twice, and Coco does the rest.

It's perfect for a psychotic game of tug-of-war too, but the shrieks and growls Coco makes when I pull and she won't let go sound a bit blood-curdling, and I have to think of the neighbors.