addendum

i think it's only fair to say that kara's more torn about this new-puppy situation than i had realized when i posted yesterday morning. this is an emotional thing here. this has already been the longest stretch in her life, she tells me, that she's been without dogs, and there's almost always been some sort of an overlap. she would have an old dog getting tired, so she would obtain a puppy in an effort to revitalize the old one (which was max's role [to enliven her then-older dog (named ranger)] when she got him in 1991 and sagan's role [for max's benefit] when we got her in 2001, though that latter didn't really work out for max). when her older dog went, she would continue with the newer one, without a gap, with shared memories and all of that. but right now we've no dogs at all, having put sagan and max to death within 2 months of each other, and in some respects it does seem a little disrespectful to get new ones already. no one's denying this. this is not something we're having an easy time with here at all. there is tremendous guilt, especially regarding the sagan situation; we might well have done more for her somehow.

however, these new puppies have presented themselves, and kara dearly misses having dogs in the house, so, again, more likely than not we'll have additions to our family this weekend. just so it's known that although the idea of new puppies is exciting, there are complicated feelings here.