Letter One from an Empty Nest

I actually still have two dachshunds living in the nest but it is devoid of the fruits of my thirty years' labor as a domestic engineer and human developer. One dachshund, a miniature red smooth haired named Biscuit, is scratching the carpet underneath me practicing for the day he'll get to hunt badgers for real. Fred, my black smooth haired, is lollygagging on the couch watching me.

My humans, my babies, my children, my works of art are scattered to the four winds.