One of the great joys of working with Poe is watching this aloof boy blossom into a loving, protective member of our family. Although he is still a bit hand shy with strangers, he is developing new confidence along with a sense of security and belonging.

I posted this picture on DK, but here's more of the story that goes with it.

Saturday afternoon, I was cleaning my pantry as the storm started to pick up intensity. Out of nowhere, the wind started gusting. I heard a *whoosh* outside, but didn't think much of it.

Next thing I knew, Lassie Poe ran upstairs and started barking furiously. Then he ran downstairs, barking all the while until I came to see what the ruckus was about. Sure enough, this tree was down and had missed the house by only 10 feet!

From left to right are Poe, Talullah and Clyde (DRC foster)

We had a wild rest of the day with more trees down in our yard, across our driveway and in our neighbors' living room. We drove across town to get pizza and the ride home was downright terrifying. Our city is like a war zone! We worked all day yesterday to cut up the tree pictured here and barely made a dent in it. Most importantly, Paul fixed the fence (busted in three different places) so the dogs could go out off-lead.

After being without power since 4 pm Saturday, it finally came back on late last night. How did I know? Lassie Poe started barking to alert me!

As Liz told me, "Every pack needs a squealer." So far, Poe has alerted us to everything from people at the door, to Clyde and Talullah escaping through the broken fence, to an infected wound on one of the cats, to the ups and downs of this weekend's storm.

It's been a quick few weeks, but I think he realizes he's got a good gig that's worth protecting!