The Bumpases

I found a few old photos that I took after the fiery demise of my old computer. Some told a pretty good story.

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I recall getting up and walking outside with a cup of coffee. It was a beautiful day and the sun was rising over the ridge on the other side of the road. Flowers were blooming, trees were budding, and the world was good. I thought to myself that life was perfect here on Bully Hill. Then I suddenly heard the telltale jingle of dog tags coming from the side yard. Sarah and Garfield stumbled into view like two smelly, yellow rain clouds hovering over my parade. (Note: this was probably a week after the skunk hunting incident and they still were rather pungent.) Reconsidering my declaration of perfection, I looked over at them and said, "Oh yea, you guys." Then I realized that it may have been the first time I saw Sarah and Garfield without their giant, bounding progeny, Cowboy. I asked them, "Where is Baby Huey?" No sooner had the words come out of my mouth, Cowboy came into view with a blanket hanging from his mouth.

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My wife had purchased several blankets for the Bumpases so they could have a proper and comfortable bed in the corner of our garage. Cowboy enjoyed taking these blankets and moving them to the middle of our driveway which has better views than the garage. Thus, it was not too surprising to see Cowboy rearragning things. But suddenly a thought popped into my head, "That's funny, neither of the blankets we gave them had a spine...." Yes, of course, it was not a blanket, but rather a full deer pelt with a complete spinal cord and even a jawbone attached... lovely.

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As I sat contemplating whether I could reformulate my concept of perfection to fit this situation, I realized that, having just applied to refinance our mortgage, an appraiser would be arriving shortly. What will a pack of free-ranging, skunky dogs do to the price of a home? Has anyone ever had to pose that question before?

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Needless to say, this is the scene to which the appraiser arrived:

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There were dogs chewing on fur;
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There were dogs chewing on bone;
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There were dogs rolling on both;

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There were contemplative moments when dogs considered what to do next;

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But of course, there was no remorse.

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The appraiser was a little put off, but thankfully, everything worked out. A pefect ending at least?