Welcome, Paolo!

We had to say final goodbyes to Lucy last December, and to Bogie on Memorial Day weekend. The losses of her friends left our other shar pei, Jazzy, without a playmate, and thoroughly bored. Well, that all ended on June 15, when Apollo came to us all the way from Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

Apollo is a 7-month old springer spaniel with tons of energy. He is blind in one eye and has limited sight in the other, but that does not keep him from playing with great enthusiasm and vigor. Neither Bonnie nor I care for the name Apollo, but he had such a strenuous transition that we did not want to add to his confusion with a name change. We decided that if we call him Paolo he will probably not notice the difference.

Paolo and Jazz took to each other immediately. Paolo, Bonnie, and I are still undergoing our "period of adjustment," but we see improvements everyday.

My Favorite Campaign Badge

My collection of campaign items numbers around 1,700. Of those, nearly 200 relate to my favorite presidential candidate, Theodore Roosevelt.

I never thought about what may be my favorite badge, but beyond a doubt this 1 1/4 inch Theodore Roosevelt badge is the one:

It is neither the rarest nor the most expensive of Theodore Roosevelt buttons but I have sought it for years. My good friend, Neal, recently decided to sell a good portion of his TR collection. He gave me first choice as well as a bargain price for this one. The badge is not actually in my collection yet--Bonnie bought it to be my Christmas present this year.

I posted a picture of my second favorite, a 7/8-inch button, a while back.

This one is much rarer than the first; I have only seen 3 others like it in my approximately 57 years of collecting. It was a gift from my father.