Update on the dog

Well, much to the disappointment of all who were rooting for me to shoot the dog next door, the owner of the rental property came by this morning, apologized profusely for the inconvenience, and promised to fix the fence right away. I guess the tenant isn't even supposed to have a dog, but had been bequeathed one by a friend. The dog is leaving, the fence is being fixed, and the owner (a very nice man) gave me his card and told me to call if there were any further problems. So the gun stays put up in the closet -- sorry, guys!

However, Darwin is hoping to bring home a rifle from Los Angeles (TSA permitting), so maybe we'll have a little fun with that at the shooting range.

As a teenager I had the job of sitting for a few hours several days a week with the grandmother of a friend, who had Alzheimer's disease. She used to recount stories of her mountain upbringing, and one of her favorites was about the time she hung a neighboring dog who hassled their chickens. The one I particularly liked involved the time she nailed her brother's shoe to the floor. She used to laugh and laugh as she recalled how he tried to pull up the shoe and got madder and madder as it wouldn't budge. Ah, tales of a gentler, more civilized era...