I wondered how long it would be before Patches would tire of only having an occasional voice in a weekly newspaper column. The weeks he writes this column are difficult ones to live through because Harold and I must listen to one line teasers about what will be seen in print on Wednesday and put up with his constant boasting. Confidence is a good trait, mind you, and I am glad Patches has so much faith in his ability as a writer but geez Louise, I would appreciate just a tad of humility here and there. Anyway, as I was saying, I knew with his great passion for the written word, it would not take long for him to hunger for a more regular outlet and sure enough he came in a couple of months ago and asked me how to set up a blog. Blog Dog, Patches of Brilliance has been up and running on a daily basis since September and that silly old dachshund has quite the following. It just so happens I had set up a site for myself on blog spot over a year ago and never did anything with it. I’d set it up as:notthelifeofrileybutthelifeof lindy.blogspot.com and so when Patches asked, I just used that site and personalized it for him. It is set up so a person can share the blog directly to their Facebook page and of course, Patches does that every single morning without even asking me first. I happened to change my password the other day and he was absolutely furious with me and extremely frustrated because it kept denying him access to my account. He told me it was time for his own account and I told him when he could chip in for the cost of online services then, yes, it certainly was. He flipped his head around and started to stomp out of the room but turned back around and told me not to worry; when The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel and all the other shows want him to appear because of his blog, he will be paying for ALL of his own stuff! I do have to admit something that kind of sticks in my throat…Harold absolutely loves Patches blog and reads it first thing every morning. Furthermore, I have never heard Harold laugh so much at anything in my life. Sometimes when I am in the living room and Harold is in the spare room at his computer, and I hear that deep down, sincere laughter; I will admit to being deep down, sincerely jealous of my very own dappled dachshund. The blog has what they call a dashboard and it is like a control center. It shows all the posts, total amount of readers and then it breaks the readers down into countries, how they accessed the post and even with what server they used to access it. I thought Patches was going to jump out of his skin when I told him people in Russia, India, China, and Ireland had read his blog. He took off and ran around the house four times and finally stopped in front of me panting like a marathoner who had forgotten to carb load. He caught his breath, struck a regal pose and said…"Mom, I am a world-wide winning writer wiener!” I cautioned him about his excitement and reminded him that he had not actually won anything yet. He placed his paws on my lap and said “but mom, yes I have…I have won the hearts of readers all over the world! Don’t you think that is amazing? How many people do you know who can say that, let alone dogs?” I bent down and hugged him tight because he was absolutely right! I love you all with all my heart and if you have a computer drop by and give Patches a read…if you love him here you will absolutely adore his blog. He didn’t even ask me to say that…truth is truth and I always speak it. Happy Thanksgiving and I am so thankful for my little Blog Dog! Harold just told me tell you to type in: notthelifeofrileybutthelifeof lindy.blogspot.com (he told me not everyone knew that was the web site and I needed to explain, he told me never to assume and make you guys mad like I do him).