Stella's Place

A block away from my home is Stella's home. She is a beagle or, as Alice sometimes says, a "beagl-ly-beagl-ly. She has a dog bed on her people's front porch. Her job, I guess, is to bark and bark in a big pack of beagles running after foxes and rabbits. In the City of Palo Alto, behind a white picket fence, she is out of luck on her primary job.
So, instead, she watches her fence closely whenever she is outside. She has the ability to smell one a house or two away and then when one walks by her fence, she charges barking very loudly.
Her people are sometimes embarassed by this, such as at Halloween when one of her human kids at Trick Or Trick said to Alice, "I'm from Stella, the beagle's house.... sorry about all her barking" before Alice said anything. She doesn't mind Stella's barking, That's her job as a beagle! But, I have to admit, it can be unnerving when one has forgotten Stella might be outside
From a couple of weeks ago, Stella has been joined by a pug named Budgie (Pudgie? spelling?). When Stella is out, Budgie joins in the charge and bark work load. But, once when Stella was not outside, Budgie didn't come near the fence line to say hello. Instead she stayed back and just gave some muffed half barks.
I always worry if I do not see - and hear - Stella when I walk by her fence. I look and sniff for her. And, if able, try to leave a hello message for her.