Raoul’s Two Cents: April 29, 2023

Man’s Best Friend: The Good, the Bad and the Noisy

Thursdays are my busiest days. It really distracts my flow of thought when people call me on Thursdays for the most trivial of reasons. So it really bothered me when Tonka and Tinker were unusually noisy today. Our corgis were in a Thursday barking mood. The slightest sound, would trigger one to yip! and the other would yap! and the cycle would continue forever. If I grow deaf early I will blame them.

At one point, I wondered if there really was something I needed to pay attention to, so I poked outside the door and they ran outside to check the parameters.

“Nope! No thieves! Check! No postman, check! No neighborhood dogs — all’s clear!”

They were barking for nothing. Nothing!!! I looked at their puppy eyes and pointed my finger at them “Quiet! No barking!I” With their ears rolled back and their saddened eyes I was pretty sure they got the message. Professor Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, would have been proud of my discipline technique.

I go back upstairs and continue my work. A few minutes later they go at it again. Ayayay!!! Give me a break!!

Then I remembered a conversation I just had with my wife last Sunday. I said, “One of the reasons why I don’t think people should neuter their dogs is because their lives are so short. Having offspring would mean having a successor to carry the baton.”

And then my wife said something I didn’t expect. She said “Oh no, these two are the last. I will be too old to care for any dog when that time comes.”

Her remark hit me like a brick. I got nostalgic.

I remembered the unbearable grief my sister and her husband went through when their restless little monster of a shih tzu (Boris) passed away. I could see their funeral procession a mile away. I remember my good friend Ed and his wife Debbie. They had 2 dalmatians (Delphine and Cedric) that died a few years apart. I remember the last one had incontinence and pooped all over their beautiful home. I could not understand then their devotion to these animals. And how could I forget Zoe, our own shih tzu who never learned to poop outside and would eat her own poop to hide the evidence. Boy! I still miss that smelly pup. I remember his wide eyes asking me to play while his mouth dribbled with poop.

Thank God for our dogs, our cats, our birds, our lizards — why did God create them? Because He wanted to demonstrate the meaning of unconditional devotion … something even our people friends fall short of. We don’t deserve their loyalty. Yet we treat them like … like … dogs! I never thought I’d say this but with all the love they give us — we should really treat them like kings.

I guess the next time Tonka and Tinker shatter my eardrums, I should just bow down and say — long live the king!

Am I making sense?

TGIF people!

Raoul

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Joe of Los Angeles

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Joe of Los Angeles, CA

Long live the king!

PARTING SHOTS

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA

Thanks to Hannah of South Dakota

Thanks to Maling of New Manila

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

I found these

THE TRAVELING BOY

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with these.