Ghosts. Spirits. Who is going "I don't believe in those" or "LaLaLaLaLaLa, scares me, don't want to know!"

The spirits around us generally leave us be. They have better things to do than rattle chains, tip over chairs, and make spooky noises that have the hair on the back of our necks standing up straight.

However....sometimes they have been part of a family for a long time, and want to let their loved ones know they're okay.

A friend of mine, Leslie, and her husband lost one of their dogs not too long ago. Zena had been with them for years. She was Scott's dog, mostly.

She got sick, very sick. Their other dog, Maisie, considerably younger, took to creeping around the house. She didn't want to disturb her ill and aged sister too much.

Maisie (grey) taking care of sister Zena

As Zena's time to pass came closer, the family drew in. They loved Zena, told her what a good dog she was, how important she was to the family. It wasn't anything she hadn't heard before, but it was especia...

What do you call your dogs? Do they have pet names? What is is about us humans, that we have to have special names for those we love? (Glenn calls me Babe - which has nothing to do with the pig - I think.)

We call Amy and Bernadette  "The Puppies" - they just turned 9, for crying out loud. But that's how we call them - "Puppies! Puppies!" The fact that when we do that they come running might have something to do with why we keep calling them Puppies.

8 weeks old. Bernadette on the left, Amy with the white spot on her forehead.

We got Amy and Bernadette from a friend who always liked to give her girl dogs one litter of puppies before being spayed. Momma was a Labradoodle. Poppa was an Australian Shepherd (as opposed to a Rolling Stone). The Puppies look like Poppa except more slender than your typical Aussie, and they're more mid-sized, about 35 lbs each.

When we first saw them we were deep into whatever season of Big Bang Theory (BBT) was on the air. We asked the puppies what the...