We're in shock here at Casa de LOUD!, where things moved quickly and today Walter and I find ourselves living with a puppy. This comes just two weeks after Maisie's passing, but considering the sorrow the Tiny Labrador's death caused, it also comes just in time.

The puppy's name is Blue, True Blue, actually, but the little kids next door have taken to calling her Daisy. She's 12 weeks old and has a sweet, calm temperament. She adores Walter. He's a bit reserved in return. But he's fascinated. Camps out by her kennel when she's napping, follows her as she explores, corrects her sternly but appropriately when her puppy-ness crosses his boundaries. You can see the bond beginning to form.

It's unsettling, this mix of grief and delight. What helps is the little kids here. They still talk about Maisie all the time, ask me every day what she's thinking, and when they refer to her, they call her 'Little Shooting Star'.

The 6-year-old boy started it. Out of the blue one morning he asked "What does Little Shooting Star say?" and when I asked him who that was, he pointed to the sky and said it was Maisie.

Here's the puppy when we first met her:

And here she is discovering the delights of the Pepperdine lawn in the company of her hero, Walter.