Pets

What is it about our pets?

Why is it we grow so attached to them? How do they ingrain themselves so much into our lives and...literally...become family members?

Is it their companionship? Is it their attentiveness? How do they sense our moods and react accordingly? I can’t explain it.

We are cat people and probably have too many of them, but each of them is unique in their personalities and how they interact with us.

Earlier this month, we attended two funerals and a funeral visitation in 7 days. The first was a distant relative, the next was the mother of a close friend and the last was a great-grandmother to our daughter-in-law.

During the same 7 days, we had to put down a favorite cat. Barney was a gray tiger-stripe, about 15 years old and the wife’s favorite. (That’s Barney, Bernie and Bonzi in the photo above, left to right.) I always thought that Barney was a couple of clowns short of a circus, but he was a lot of fun and had a certain quirkiness about him that all of us enjoyed. Barney’s body was shutting down and we were forced to deal with it in the humane way.

What bothers me is the fact that I may have grieved more for Barney than I did for the deceased folks and their families…. I can’t explain it.

Anyway….Barney, thanks for 15 wonderful years…we miss ya, buddy.

Cops and Lawyers

If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman. He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the policeman's credibility....

Q: "Officer -- did you see my client fleeing the scene?"

A: "No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away."

Q: "Officer -- who provided this description?"

A: "The officer who responded to the scene."

Q: "A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?"

A: "Yes, sir. With my life."

Q: "With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?"

A: "Yes sir, we do!"

Q: "And do you have a locker in the room?"

A: "Yes sir, I do"

Q: "And do you have a lock on your locker?"

A: "Yes sir."

Q: "Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?"

A: "You see, sir -- we share the building with the court complex, and, sometimes, lawyers have been known to walk through that room."

The courtroom erupted in laughter and a prompt recess was called.