My first summer out here in Amagansett — the summer of ’15, when I was 10 months old — I did something that really freaked out Beagle Man and Mom.  Beagle Man had gone for a bike ride, and I was hanging with Mom on the deck outside their bedroom.  Then she decided to go for her walk, and assumed I was safe, since the deck is surrounded on three sides by walls, and on the fourth side, by a guard rail.  But here’s the problem:  I can clearly see the ocean from the deck....

Of course my first MY PALS column is about Ruckus:  He’s more than my pal — he’s my brother. The only car Rucky likes . . . We do everything together.  Everything.  If I pee, he’ll pee right over it.  Same spot.  And vice versa.  When we get separated, we’re both really sad.  While we’re together, though, we play nonstop.  Ruckus always wins tug-of-war.  Wrestling, we’re even.  In fetch, he may be faster, but I’m smarter.  He’ll go for...

Hank’s Gang: L-R, standing: Edith, Jorion, Ashley, Jaysa, Aaliyah; Foreground: Victoria (Edith’s little sister), Kelly, Kemba In my most recent post, I wrote about the dogs who crashed my high school reunion two weeks ago.  What I neglected to tell you is that just five days later, Kemba crashed the after-school Writing Club I run at Bryant Elementary School in Bridgeport.  Okay, so he didn’t exactly crash:  The kids have been begging me to bring him in ever since...

. . . And no, Kemba wasn’t one of them. Yup. The Beagle Man. But he certainly got his share of notoriety in absentia!  Sandy Stark, the first of my classmates to spot me as I cruised through the doors of the Teaneck (NJ) Marriott at Glenpointe, said, “Well if it isn’t the Beagle Man!”  She added that Kemba was the second-best-looking dog in the world, after her Crosby.  (That’s a debate for another time . . .)  Burt Boltuch, a loyal follower of my...

Beagle Man and the Missus spent three days last week in Nashville.  Maybe you remember that I’ve been to Nashville a couple of times myself?  [September 2011, LA/XC-1, Ricky Storms N-ville; B-Man, Buzz, Mrs. B. But where’s the Beagle?         and September 2013, LA/XC-3, You Never Know Who You’re Gonna Run Into in Nashville]  I know the B-Man remembers, because I heard him say, when they were walking from their hotel to The Listening Room,...

It’s 9:15 AM — a gorgeous, blue-sky spring day.  I’m driving over to Winslow Park My boys for a fun, relaxing time with my boys, Kemba and Ruckus. I park in the Westport Playhouse lot, in the absolute closest spot to the off-leash area, and open the doors.  Both dogs make a jailbreak to where a cluster of their buddies are already circling.  They have no interest in other areas of the park where they might possibly bother people.  They don’t even see people — they...

Wayne Chrebet: Six concussions in 11 years of playing football in the NFL It’s two days later, and I still feel like I was hit by a truck. The incident took place Wednesday, in Winslow Park, and it wasn’t a truck that hit me.  It was two dogs.  Two large, white dogs, running at full speed, like silent cruise missiles.  By the time I became aware of them, I was flat on my back, not knowing what had hit me.  I could tell the collision had been fairly violent, because the...

Sheriff Ryan A snippet of conversation overheard between Kemba, Ruckus, and Ricky . . . RUCKUS:  What do you make of this new, tiny, squeaky mini-person in the house?  And how long d’ya think he’s gonna be around? RICKY:  Bad news, Ruckster.  The little guy is part of your pack now.  Notice the way your mom and dad keep trying to make you think he’s your “brother”?   Please.  You can see he looks nothing like you.  More like a Cavalier King Charles.  Or...

All right, here’s the prize break-down in Matt’s 45-man March Madness pool:  First place: $1,250; second place: $600; third place: $300; fourth place: $50; last place: $50 worth of (top-quality) toilet paper.  And though Beagle Man won’t come out and One Shining Moment: Beagle Man was actually tied for first last weekend — for a few hours say it, I know what he’s thinking: that he’s gonna win the whole shebang.  Just listen to him, so sure about...

Friday morning I got this text (screenshot, right) from Robby.  The time was 7:37 AM, as indicated.  Clearly he had Cardiac Kemba SportsCenter on — no surprise there — as he was getting ready to head to the office.  The teaser — BACK IN DAY: CARDIAC KEMBA — caught his eye.  Of course, he had to watch — work be damned. As far as I can tell, Robby’s hero of all sports heroes is Kemba Walker.  Now a Charlotte Hornets All-Star, the pint-sized Walker carried our beloved UConn...