Today is, according to the Japanese and the Koreans, one of four days that a dog can clearly state the date. According to their cultures dogs do not go bow-wow they say wan-wan. So today the date is wan, wan, wan-wan.

The next three are: wan, wan-wan, wan-wan; wan-wan, wan, wan-wan; and wan-wan, wan-wan, wan-wan.

Our neighbor, the firefighter, is throwing his New Year's party today. Cars fill our yards and the road. Music is blasting. People are wandering back and forth.

The poor dog was terrified. We found out how she feels about loud noises when we took her out last night. The parties in the neighborhood we blasting fireworks and shooting and she just headed back into the house.

So we couldn't get her to go out to do her business. To get her to settle down we bundled her into the car and took her over to UOG to run and, more importantly, to leave nasty surprises for the grounds maintenance crew.

When we got home we wandered over to the party for some dinner and brought her back the bones. She's happy now.

Happy New Year!