Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound.
I hope you enjoyed your three-day weekend. I also hope you took time out to honor those who have served and given their lives so we can enjoy the freedom that is denied to many in this world. God bless them and all who have served and are currently serving this great country.
Since I am writing this in advance, I am not sure what I plan to do over the holiday, but I suspect it will entail lots of outside work, weather permitting. Speaking of outside, I need to have a conversation with Big Boy…that is what I call my neighbor’s dog. He is a big dog. His markings remind me a bit of a German Shepherd, but his size is more of a Saint Bernard with a very thick coat of hair. He is a very good dog — and for his size he is very timid — but we crossed wires a few weeks ago. I had bought some tomato plants and was keeping them in the garage due to a sudden cold snap. When I got home from the gym, I decided to set the plants out to get some much-needed sunshine. Big Boy came over to pay me a visit; we shared a few dog biscuits and belly rubs. Satisfied, he headed back home across the road, and I went inside to get some supper. Later, I went back out to put the plants back in the garage before it got dark, and lo and behold, not one plant was left in their container. Nine plants were scattered all over the ground. Not sure what he was looking for. None of the plants were damaged, and they are now in the garden growing up a storm. Nevertheless, he and I are going to have a one-on-one, man-to-dog type of discussion, between dog biscuits and belly rubs, of course.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” — George Patton
SMILES
A 12-year-old daughter asked her mother, “Mom, do you have a baby picture of yourself? I need it for a school project.” Her mom gave her one without thinking to ask what the project was. A few days later, the mother was in her daugher’s classroom for a parent-teacher meeting when she noticed her face pinned to a mural the students had created. The title of their project was: “The oldest thing in my house.”
One day grandma was out, and grandpa was in charge of me. I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little tea set as a gift, and it was one of my favorite toys. Grandpa was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a little cup of “tea,” which was just water. After several cups of tea and lot of praise for such, grandma came home. Grandpa made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was “just the cutest thing!” Grandma waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for grandpa, and she watched him drink it up. Then she said, as only a grandma would know, “Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?”
That is all I have today. As always, be good, do good and play safe.
– JR
Walter Wilson Jr. is an Ohio native who lived in Chester from 1991 to 2000, where he worked for Allied-Signal (Honeywell). He resides in Sullivan, Ind.
