A love story

Our dog Max, is in love. Now we have several lovely mate choices in our neighborhood. There is a beautiful well-mannered Golder Retriever across the street. A sassy little pug from somewhere in the back and an adorable young puppy that occasionally visits next door. But none of these will do for our Max. He has very high standards. He just won't settle for anything ordinary. But, alas, he has found his true love. He has found life-long companionship in a piece of 2x10 scrap lumber laying around our back yard. Max and his friend are joined at the hip (well, maybe the jaw). Every where Max goes Scrappy is sure to be right there as well. They wander around the back yard together and relax on the front porch. Unfortunately , Max's love isn't allowed in the house, so they must spend some time apart, especially in this inclement weather we have been having. So when it gets too bitterly cold, Max will come to the back door with his wood in his mouth and whine pitifully. When we come to the door and tell him to "leave-it" he reluctantly, but ever-so gently drops his dear friend right outside the back door (literally, keep your eyes out if you ever step onto our back deck), and shuffles inside. Only to immediately lie down in front of the glass and pine for his piece of pine (ha ha). Then as soon as he is warm he begs to go out again (over and over). It is really quite pitiful. Pitiful turns tragic in the morning if the snow has fallen and Scrappy is buried, or worse--frozen to the deck. Panic, and hysteria ensues, as Max tries desperately to rescue his icy damsel. He claws and bites and whines frantically, until Everette takes pity on him and frees it from the deck. Happy again, to be reunited with his soul mate, Max saunters off the deck to frolic in the snow.

Ok. So this is completely true. Of all the toys Max has, this is the one he loves the best. Three other hysterical things are:
1. This piece of wood is larger than Max's head and quite heavy, so heavy in fact, that Max can barely carry it around.
2. Sometimes if he is carrying it by the long end he can't clear the deck steps. So you can sit in the kitchen and watch him repeatedly try to get up onto the deck and bang the wood into the deck steps. Then he stops backs up, drops the wood (long end up still), picks it up (the same way) and tries again.
3. Max loves to play fetch with his giant stick. He will drag it to the back door and whine, and Everette will come out and heave the thing out into the yard (literally it is like throwing shot put), and Max will go bounding after it and lug it back again.

None of this is an exaggeration. I have, more than once, closed the blinds so Max can't stare at it and whine. I wanted to take pictures of the two of them, but the board is currently buried under several inches of snow, thanks to our March Snow storm (I love Indiana). So when the spring comes for real I will post some photos.