Our favorite extra. No remodel is complete without a cute little puppy to piddle on the new hardwood floors.

Sparky! was born Saturday, September 20, 2003, the son of Jakasans Triple Triumph and Jakasans Precious Heirloom. He's a three pound, eight ounce Maltese. We expect that he'll be about seven pounds when he's fully grown.

The pink on his face is lipstick. Not his. Leisa's!

"Let's get this over with," is the look on Brittany's face. The look on Sparky!'s face says, "you're not going to make that bright flash again, are you?"

Brittany's thinking about maybe smiling. Sparky!'s thinking about what a good place the carpet would be to do his business.

I mowed the backyard the afternoon of December 13th. Sparky went out to do his business, play, and eat cat poop. When he came back in, his paws were green. He was introduced to the sink and to shampoo.

We had him for several days before he got his name. We didn't want a stupid dog breeder-type name like "Conklin's Klassi Baroness" or "Jakasan's Sof-Tuch Shylo." We wanted a name that would match his personality. We thought of "Snowflake." Nope. Snowflakes just lie down on the ground and never move. He just bounces around all over the place. "Casper" was considered, but however cute the cartoon ghost is, in order to get to Casper the friendly ghost, you have to start with "Casper, the friendly dead boy." Didn't work. Leisa and Brittany both vetoed cool names like "Fang" and "Duke" and "Spike." We watched him bounce around in the yard and it reminded me of electric sparks dancing around. He was Sparky. He bounced around so much that we added an exclamation point after his name: Sparky!

!

Gatsby Chair: $549 at World Market.
Carpet to piddle on: $49 at Lowes.
Accent Pillow: $19 at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Collar and tag: $15 at PetSmart.
A Puppy this cute: Priceless.

Sparky! helps with the web page.