This song always reminds me of Jeff, he just LOVED Patti Page. I still can't believe that he's gone. Some days all I do is lie here and think about my brother. The food lady had the big loud box on and I think I overheard someone saying that Mike Vick should be playing football again before long. I don't understand that at all.

Oh sure, I've heard them say that "people are more important than dogs" and I guess they're right, after all, they're the people. But it seems to me that there are some really good dogs and some very bad people. Jeff was one of the digginest dogs ever.

Madone... dogs don't have remedies that people do...simply by virtue of the opposable thumb thing. (That's OK, we coulda had it, we traded it in for loyalty.) Thumbs...as every dog knows, are required to dial 911. With them, people can also sue each other for half of everything they own...or more! They can lock themselves up! They can even escape to shelters, read the street signs and drive the indoor couch on wheels.

We dogs...huh...we're pretty much at the mercy of every human being's decency...whether they be on a national stage or in some secluded basement in the Virginia countryside. Don't people understand that it's their DECENCY that we're guarding? Without it, we're all truly humped.

Whether it be by serendipity or a Godlike Creator, the humans have claimed dominion over all the planet and we dogs are a part of that planet. If Mike Vick had kicked a single condor egg, the world would be up in arms...and rightly so. But he didn't. He just created an atmosphere of dread and doom for all of dogkind. So much so that parents use the Mike Vick story to teach pups not to wander. It's not like WE'RE endangered, so no one speaks up for any one dog too much. I guess they figure, "Hey, dogs eat trash, we can treat them as such."

And as for that schmuck Mike Vick...I don't want to hear that "he's done his time" anymore. Yeah, he did...they let him out didn't they? So what's your bonin point? I wasn't on that committee. And you know...I don't even begrudge the man a chance to earn a living. But life is tough for everyone right now...let him do what all ex-cons do...weld stuff. He shouldn't be given a job where he gets so much of what it was that he killed my brother for AND hero status as well. And, one thing I've found from my time on this Earth is that people, like dogs...are either good or bad. Unless some craziness happens, good people don't turn bad and bad people don't turn good. People may learn to modify their behavior but their hearts don't change.

Before people came along, we dogs were happy to roam the planet, free and in control of our own destiny's. People wanted us to provide and maintain security systems for them and we've done a scrappin good job of it. Even some bitchy people get some Alpo-lishious guardians pets in their dogs. It's not easy to get the instinct to protect people outta one of us...I wonder what it takes to get the decency outta one of them?

Jeff...May You Rest In Peace

Payton