DOGGONE STORY

Many years ago my sister Harriet came home with a puppy ... Chihuahua. Now I’m sure you know that Chihuahuas are a very small dog, and this puppy was small enough to stand in your hand. My Dad, who had had larger dogs in the past took one look at this animal and exclaimed incredulously “That’s a dog? “ He professed he would have nothing to do with it. More about that in a moment.

When Harriet came home that fateful evening, she said she had stopped at the local bakery to buy something. The store was crowded, and people were standing in line, as was she. She had on a coat with a large button near the shoulder, so she put the dog on the button. Looked like an ornament. Suddenly the woman behind her cried out, “It MOVED!” Guess she, too, thought it was an ornament.

But back to my Dad. My sister kept the dog in her bedroom while she was at work, and my Mom made sure that Henry, the pooch’s name, had food and water. She also had a basket with a blanket in it for Henry to sleep in.

Pop would come home from work, go upstairs to change clothes and wash up, and then come down to dinner. A day or two after the arrival of Henry, Pop at dinner seemed to develop a strange hunched over position at the dinner table. “Pop, what are you doing?,” someone would inquire. “Nothing”, he would reply as he straightened up. Well, you’ve already guessed what he was doing. He was feeding the dog. Seems that on his way to dinner, he would open my sister’s bedroom door a little, and of course Henry would come scampering down to join us. “Nothing” but feeding the dog. Perhaps he thought if he fed it up, it would get bigger. Well, a little.

Then there was the time all the adults in the family, except my Dad, went out for the evening. I was just a little kid, and was put to bed. When they came home, my Dad was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t in bed, nor in the living room or kitchen. Then when Harriet went to go to bed, she found Pop sound asleep, stretched out on the floor of her bedroom, with his head in the dog’s basket, and Henry curled up fast asleep on top of Pop’s head. That made quite a sight!

Other Fun Time:

THE PERKS OF BEING OVER SIXTY

- Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

- In a hostage situation you are released first.

- No one expects you to run a marathon.

- People call at 9 PM and ask, "Did I wake you ?"

- People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

- There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

- Things you buy now won't wear out.

- You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.

- You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

- You can quit holding your stomach in.

- You sing along with elevator music.

- Your eyes won't get much worse.

- Your investment in health insurance is finally paying off.

- Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.

- Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

- Your supply of brain cells is down to manageable size.