Since this is the final full month and 999th post on David's Musings, I would be remiss to not mention my now 7 year old beagle, Ralph.  I got Ralph when he was six weeks old in April of 2008.  He was a handful at first.  When people were involved in this blog, at the very start, everyone wanted to know about Ralph more so than they did me!  Ralph has been mentioned numerous times.  I even had a series with Ralph a couple of years ago entitled "On The Road With Ralph."  We went on visits to Civil War Memorials around the south on that trip.   Ralph was a joy and a real pain on that trip.  I never plan on doing that again.  But, Ralph eased the long monotonous trips on the interstate.  Ralph even had an escape from the backyard.  I thought I had lost him forever.  I chronicled that story in "Ralph:  The Great Escape."  I get sick just thinking about that incident.  Ralph and I have been through some really tough times together.  He actually helped me through my divorce.  Ralph was just there for me to take my mind off things.  He was with me during the hellacious day of August 29, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast (and, yes, Katrina affected more than just New Orleans that day).  

Ralph has hip problems now.  He is getting medication to deal with it.  In fact, he has surgery scheduled for April 10th.  It will not be cheap.  But, he is my best friend.  I have to help him as much as I possibly can.  At 7 years of age, Ralph is a middle-aged dog now.  So, like me, he is going to have health problems.  Putting him down is out of the question.  So, don't even go there.  In short, Ralph has been a truly good friend to me, even if he does drive me crazy sometimes.  He no longer chews on furniture or bark at every bird that lands in our backyard.  But, if you are an intruder, you best consider leaving.  Ralph is an excellent watchdog.  In a way, Ralph is as much the owner of this blog as I am.  He has been a part of it from the start.  Just type in Ralph in the search bar above-right to see how many stories are about him over the years.  He may not be happy about us leaving this blog.  But, he and I both need to move on now.

Editor's Note:  This will be the only post this week.  The next post will be on March 30th, next Monday, celebrating the 1000th post on this blog.  After that, there will be two more posts on the 7th anniversary and a farewell post from JD Weldy.