Our recent trip to California was amazing. The weather was beautiful – not the ten inches of snow beautiful that fell here last night – but mountains of green, hearts of kindness and Max.

Max, you say?

We were visiting our friends Jill and Eric Lacher. They have a dog, a Rottweiler, named Max. Here’s pictured with Jill.

I had met Max one time briefly when he was young. Jill was at our house for a roofing project, and Eric and Max stopped over. Eric held Max on leash. It was a brief acknowledgement of one another, but I was busy.

Tazzy, known as Taz, was part of our family for almost fourteen years. A miniature schnauzer, Taz was a big dog in a little dog body. Energetic, animated and friendly Taz enjoyed playing and enjoyed people.

Taz is the one with the big smile on the far right in the photo.

Some dogs are inside dogs, other dogs are outside dogs, Taz lived in our house. When he was a puppy he slept in his dog crate; a large metal cage with one-inch square mesh. Comfortably cushioned Taz’s crate was safe place for him to sleep, to find security and to stay out of trouble.