I read in every position and in every room.  I read in bed–although not long and I am careful what I read:  I don’t want nightmares if I can help it.  I keep books and literary magazines in the bathroom.  In fact, my wife bought and put together a small cabinet she spent hours researching just to keep my reading material neatly in the bathroom near the toilet.  Of course, the reading I do there is in bursts.  Most of the reading I do is in bursts.  It was amazing I actually made it through Keith Richard’s autobiography–all 540 pages of it.  It is really rare for me to read a novel.  My favorite room has a spot right next the comfortable though ragged Lazy Boy chair where I keep my favorite devotional, “My Utmost For His Highest”, by Oswald Chambers.  Most of my favorite books are in that room so I know where to find them when I am looking for a particular passage.  I love to read and I have never had so many books in my house.  I married a “book” person.

Let me introduce you one of my pets:  “Atilla The Hun” or “Tilla” for short.  He is a sixty plus pound black dog who just turned two.  His father “Pax” is a rottweiler mix and his mother “Sweetie” is a golden retriever and both live with us.

He is the reason we built our 100 foot long fence over a foot higher.  He could jump the previous one–not the biggest dog we have (we have four) but he is lean and muscular with a barrel chest and the only dog of ours who could perform that feat.

The state dog warden once paid us a visit.  It seems “Tilla” escaped and “terrorized” the local neighbor’s dog (and I use that word “terrorized” really loosely).  The two dogs simply barked loudly at each other.

He does have a timid nature although loving.  When my son comes over, he usually runs in the other direction.  And my son is good with dogs.

There are two other things he does that are unique:  he locks himself in the bathroom when he wants attention and the other is when he is anxious to go out he twirls rapidly in almost perfect circles.

He is the only dog who knows how to let himself out the front door.  We usually keep the screen door locked now.

He is the most aggressive of our four dogs.  If you put out four tidbits in front of them, he usually gets three of them.

He used to think he was still a puppy and snuggles onto my wife’s lap while she is sitting on her Lazy Boy all sixty-six pounds of him.

I started giving him an occasional walk for he was the only dog put on a chain (before we made the fence higher this summer).  Remember he could jump the fence.  I felt sorry for him.

Every time he hears the rattle of the chain he appears right in front of me.  Usually in five seconds or less.

He has become my dog and often sleeps with me on the bed.  There are probably more stories I could tell about him but this is a good start.