I found a deer skull in the woods.  This counts as Sparky’s Christmas present.  We are leaving it outside for now because nobody wants a skull dragged around the house.  Well, Sparky does.  It might get mounted in his crate.  Sparky would like that.

Sparky got his present today, on Russian Christmas, so that may be a cosmic sign that he’s Russian.  That would explain a lot.  He only understands English when it suits him and he likes bread and salt.  Sparky is warm-hearted, fatalistic and reckless, so the epitome of the Russian soul.