The Christmas shoes.

I Ho-Ho-hope you made out well from Santa for Christmas. I did, thanks! I got a skateboard and a G.I. Joe and a pony!

No, actually, but I was very happy to get (among other things) a new pair of L.L. Bean duck shoes, also known as their Rubber Moc Bean Boots.

My wife got me a pair years ago, and they proved exceptionally useful. Easy to slip on for runs outside with the dog; kept my feet dry in all weather except snow that came up over the top of the shoes; and able to handle my strap-on spikes for ice. 

The old pair lasted for years. In fact, I would still be wearing them if not for Izzy the Pup Wonder. 

The Artist at Work

Izzy takes his time about wrecking toys, but is fast as lightning about destroying my shoes. This is pair #3 that he has wasted. Tralfaz got one of my old pairs of boat shoes years ago and ate up the shoelaces (leather pisgetti!), but as you can see, Izzy is truly indiscriminate about how he annihilates the footwear, as long as he annihilates it. Pull up the lining, chomp off the toe--whatever works. 

I have to be careful to keep my new shoes out of his reach. 

On a similar note, I got my wife a new rug for the family room. I was lucky to get a duplicate of the rug that's in there now. Why? Because Izzy is slowly destroying the one that's there now, and she's quite fond of it. 

We think that maybe he smells our late dog Nipper on it. But more likely he just likes to chew anything that doesn't chew him first. Last night he destroyed a tube of Aquaphor while no one was looking.

The plan is to not put the new rug down until Izzy is older, wiser, more obedient, and has had his little surgery. We hope that by then he'll be less inclined to ruin things.

🎅🥾🤶👢🎄👞

P.S.: Biggest surprise of the day -- my wife, a longtime defender of circus peanuts, got a bag in her stocking. She triple-dog dared me to try one. And... I liked it. I've spent years hating on the circus peanut but I liked it. I'm so ashamed. 

I will; not, however, eat candy corn. For those waxy, tasteless nubs, my mouth is a bridge too far.  

P.P.S.: If you're wondering how I wrapped a 5x7' rug, I didn't. It's still rolled up, wrapped in plastic, hiding in the cellar. I wrapped a picture of it from the Web site.