HEY, GIRLFRIEND!

Roxie, my next door neighbor, here on the Upper East Side, is a blast.

Everyday, I look forward to getting out in our playpen (the hallway, on the floor we live on). Sometimes, I can hardly wait. We call each other. No, silly ... not on iPhones or Blackberries, but with vocal cords. We exchange information like ... "yea, me too, but I'm stuck here until someone opens this darn door", or ... "maybe after my nap" or ... "how you doing, girl"?

Then the doors swing open. And we run out into a melange of bounces and half-runs and chatter. "So good to see you again", I say. She answers, "it's about time, don't you think?"

I've ask her where she gets all her energy, she replied, "it's youth, girlfriend"! I secretly think, yah yah, it's all those treats you get.

She runs down the length of the hallway after her ball ... an interesting looking thing with holes in it. I guess that's to grab it with her teeth wrapped into the holes so she could get a real good grip on it. I've seen her human Mom, Cindy, grab the ball and lift Roxie off the floor while she holds on to it with all her might. It's really funny watching that routine.

One day I'll tell you about my plaything ... that I've had all my entire life ... that NO ONE, better even think about throwing away because it's awful looking. IT'S MINE! Hands and paws off!

Now, you know, I had a somewhat hard time coming to grips with Roxie's arrival on MY 14th Floor. I've written here about that swarm of feelings and the conversations Herself had with me about sharing, and tolerance. Sharing I kinda get. But that tolerance thing ... I couldn't figure that out at all. But the other day, I heard Herself say to me ... "You're a very good girl, Mystical".
Yah, I know that, I thought to myself, so what else is new? She continued. "I see you're making room in your life for Roxie, and I like seeing that", she said.

What Herself doesn't get yet is that I like Roxie ... a lot. She's cool. She's pretty. And I like her personality. And we have a lot in common. We're both adorable, small creatures with four legs and award-winning personalities. It really has nothing to do with tolerance. Nope. Nada!

So I guess you'll be hearing more about Roxie, as I go through my life here in NYC with Herself, AuntJ and others I feel compelled to write about.

As for the other dog on our Floor, ROCKO! He gets his own posting. He's full of testoterone, that guy! How he 'tolerates' us girls on the Floor ... I donno!

I'll wait for you by the 'closed' door while I think about how much I'm going to say about Rocko and get away with it. One thing I will say now is ... he's really loved by his humans, that's for sure.