Bad dog Roscoe?

So, the other day a letter arrives from the company that puts out those dog-a-day desk calendars; the one that has a different dog for each day of the year and you tear off the page to reveal the next cute dog in line.  So anyway, the letter tells us that we are to be congratulated for having our dog Roscoe selected for the bad dog-a-day calendar for 2012!  Bad dog!  Not good dog Roscoe!  How did this happen?  The Missus was not about to take this lying down like a sleeping dog, no sir.  She called the company and spoke to an actual person who informed us that sometime, long, long ago when Roscoe was barely out of puppyhood the Missus sent a picture of him looking particularly cute to the dog a day calendar company.  Some many years later they apparently worked their way down through the pile of applicants and lit on this picture for their sister publication Bad Dogs.  The Missus thought the picture was cute and not bad and the lady of the phone agreed that the picture showed a cute dog but they needed a dog for sometime in 2012 and Roscoe is the one.   Oh well, as they say, no publicity is bad publicity as long as the name gets spelled correctly.  At least we will get a free calendar out of the deal.

And in the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished department:   When I am in the swimming pool and see a poor bee struggling in the water to save itself (I guess they come for a drink, get too close and...splush! in they go) I will give it a lifeline, get it onto the pool deck where it will dry its little wings and buzz off to get more nectar for the queen and fertilize some crops while it is at it.  After all, the bee population is declining and someone has to do something to save agriculture and mankind from starvation.  So there I was in the pool, literally minding my own business without a thought in my head when suddenly I was viciously and without warning stung by a honeybee!   The sucker got me on the shoulder and ended its life in the pool.  Older son was called on to get the stinger out of my injured flesh.  Stupid bee, didn't it know I am one of the good guys?

Finally: young son's Eagle project to construct 200 comfort packages for a Marine battalion in Afghanistan is underway.  Any family members who may read this and want to contribute to the project, now is the time!