The wise young whippersnapper . . .

from Joyce Svevad Harden

Lyle: Sorry to hear about your hearing aid, but I do think the lawyer has some legitimate claims about just who did the deed.

I seem to remember when you got the kittens you had some difficulty finding them after you laid them on your bedside table. I think I would have started putting them higher or in a drawer a long time ago, but then, that's just me.

Glad you made up with Trixie -- sounds like she did just about everything she could to get back in your good graces!

Good girl, Trixie! Joyce

Update: The little rascal also seems to have a fetish for chewing up papers. She’s attacked my IRS documents (on the floor, under my desk, in a neatly stacked pile . . . until she found them) . . . newspapers left on a couch . . . evelyn’s sorority or Kiwanis paperwork, left on the bed . . . they will often wind up in the form of tattered papers, strewn about the floor.

A couple days ago she had gotten into some papers, tore them up on the bedroom floor. I approached her, wagging my finger at her, and in my best command voice boomed . . . “Trixie, that’s a NO! You’re not allowed to do that!”

The little shit bowed her head down between her two front paws, as if praying, and you just knew she was saying, in dog language, ‘oh, I’m sorry daddy! Please forgive me.” Evelyn was in the bathroom putting on her makeup and I told her about it . . . we both absolutely collapsed laughing and couldn’t stop.

You just can’t stay angry at her. She’d never done that trick before, bowing and praying, and, as smart as she is, I bet she’ll use it again because it converted an angry daddy into a laughing daddy.