“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx

Okay. It's Tuesday, April 2, 2019, and I have my hands full. The best I can tell, Mr. Bentley is making pretty good progress in terms of how he is aging. He is still a puppy, but for this breed, he will end up at one-year-old being the equivalent in age to a 14 or 15-year-old child. (The rule of 7 years of human life for 1 year of a dog's life is a generalization and it does vary depending upon breed and size.) That's exactly what we need. Another teenager in the house. The wife asks me from time to time if I have attempted to discipline him in a particular area. I tell her that I have spent time talking to him. Reasoning. She hears me but typically just shakes her head. She may need to get that head shaking checked the next time she sees her primary care. The other day I was trying to explain to Mr. Bentley how that him trying to imitate a pig by rooting with his face down into the grass only aggravates his tendency to get infections. As best I remember, he yawned. I told him how these continued medical outlays were something we needed to try and curtail. Think about it. Since he came on board my out of pocket for vet bills on him are higher than what I have spent on medical payouts for myself. I am glad we have Mr. Bentley, however, I do need to get across to the folks at the animal clinic that I am not his daddy. They hand him to me and usually say, "Okay, you can go back to daddy now." Really? I will give them credit for one thing. They do know how to quickly calculate the costs incurred at each visit and they can process the payment, faster than a speeding bullet. The things I do for the wife's dog.

I know that anyone can be a Santa Claus. I get that. And, believe me, I've seen some really odd looking folks doing their best to represent the Jolly Old Elf. The above photo was one posted the other day on social media. That's what got me thinking about the variety of people who reprise this role. (There was no explanation for the photo. The guy could have been picking it up for someone else. Or, he might be in his Spring-look and just taking care of the suit until the Christmas season.) I do like photos that tell a story. I'm not sure that one does, but, I do like those that do. It could be worse.

I hope the parents of that little guy have long term mental care as part of their health coverage. I think many of you know I am serious about my Santa-look. I do my best to end up looking something akin to the popular Coca Cola Santa. However, I've noticed many different Santas in my time that did not end up with a classic presentation, yet, their love for the children came through. And, the children responded to them. I had a fellow Santa tell me that doing this work for money only is a terrible waste. He said if you don't love the kids to begin with, you have no business suiting up. I think I not only agree with that comment, I actually resemble that remark. 

Yours truly, five years ago, doing my thing.

Yesterday morning, Monday, I had to take Mr. Bentley to the vet. It was a coolish 40 degrees. The wife was off to an eye appointment. My pickup heating system has been acting strangely of late. Closing in on 190,000 miles, I try not to be bothered too much by these types of issues, however, on a coolish morning, it would help to be able to clear the windshield. It didn't feel like doing that yesterday. No problem. The pattern is there is no pattern. It tends to kick in with the heat when it gets good and ready. Or not. I'm not too upset about it because warmer weather is coming and thus far, the cooling system does work. Oh yeah. The cooling system was working really good at 40 degrees yesterday morning. It reminded me of the 1956 Ford Sedan my mom purchased brand new. That was the first brand new car in our family. I don't know if they called the extra accessories bells and whistles back then, but, that tomato red car didn't have any of them, period. No radio, no heating, no A/C. I think folks called it stripped down. At any rate, mom, at that time, worked in a diner on the evening shift and on weekends one of us kids went with her to keep her company. When she got off at midnight we would make our 20-minute ride home. In the dead of winter that was one cold ride. We had blankets and quilts to keep us warm. I mentioned to Mr. Bentley that not having any heat on our ride to the vet was pretty much easy compared to those cold rides home back in the day. I think the back in the day registered because he looked at me and yawned. Have a great rest of the day and may God bless each one. Amen. ...More later.