Today the weather was a bit on the dreary side but we were saved by a visit from my nephew (J.R.) and his marvelous companion (Maria). They live in Auburn, about an hour from where we are currently camped and were very nice about doing the driving to get to us. J.R. brought his dog, Bruno, who is a Tibetan mastiff and no larger than a normal industrial air compressor. It is fortunate Bruno is good-natured because he could eat almost anything he wanted with his victim being incapable of escaping a horrible death.

We hobnobbed with the relatives for a few pleasant hours when J.R.’s phone rang. It was his neighbor letting him know that his distant house had fire alarm noises coming out of it. The neighbor peered in J.R.’s window and the place was not filled with smoke. There were many theories about why the fire alarm was being obnoxious but none of them turned out to be true.

The actual reason for the worrying alarm turned out to be simpler than any of our theories. It turns out that J.R. has another rhinoceros-sized Tibetan mastiff that was left at the house because he has a slightly more abrasive personality than Bruno. The other dog, Bodie, was naughty at the house. His behavioral tidbit for today was to attempt to clean off the pan used to make breakfast at J.R.’s house this morning and in his man-hating clumsiness he had turned on the electric burner which ultimately vaporized the pan but left the house standing. The dog was unharmed and can continue his affection for his housemates and total, unwavering hate of male strangers and visitors. He would have loved to eat me the last time I visited J.R. and Maria but a sturdy muzzle kept him from biting off my arthritic hands or other projecting parts.