So, I'm listening to Rush tonight, with my headphones on, while Amy watches TV. (Actually, I am watching and listening. He has a webcam in the studio.)

He reads what is, basically, a eulogy over the air. It was from some podunk local newspaper in south Florida.

It was sent to him, by email, from a listener. He read it on the air.

Kind of unusual for Rush.

Especially, once I realized that it was a eulogy for a dog. A Great Dane, named Jake. Apparently, Jake was something of a local icon in Arcadia, Florida. So much so, that when he died at a ripe old age, for a Great Dane, there was a write up in the local paper.

If you are a dog lover, the link in the title of this post is DEFINITELY worth following. The stories of how this 162 pound, horse of a dog stole the hearts of an entire town and a US Senator are, truly, heartwarming.

That still didn't explain why Rush was spending all of this time reading all of this stuff on the air.

I didn't get it.

Until Rush read this quote from Jake's owner, Garry Phillips:

"Oh, he was a conservative Republican," Phillips said. "He'd hear the theme music of the Rush Limbaugh show (on radio) and he'd come from wherever he was to lie on the couch near the radio. He'd stay there until the show ended, then he'd get up and go back to his place."

I laughed so hard!!!

My wife became concerned. So much so, that I had to take off my earphones, and, partially, explain.

But it hit home for me.

Let me explain.








The cat is Booger. "Boog"

On July 22, 1985, I gave my wife, of one month, this tiny grey and white kitten. He could sit up in the palm of my hand.

The last picture is of him and our first dachshund, Hugo. Hugo was about the size of Gimli, in that picture. As you can see, Boog was bigger. He weighed about 20 pounds.

We had to put Boog down in April of 2001.

Anyway, the Jake and Rush story reminded me of one of my favorite Booger stories.

It was December 1985. I was home studying for finals. I had the third opera of Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas playing on the stereo.

It is the height of the opera. The orchestra is roaring. Sopranoes and tenor screeching. It was loud. It was raucous.

Now, Boog is a kitten. He's a smart kitten.

If he is doing something that is "allowed", I can hear him. He makes noise.

If he knows that he is doing something he shouldn't, then he goes into "stealth" mode.

I realize that I can't hear the cat anymore and I can't see him.

I go tearing through our apartment, going to all of the places that he shouldn't be.

Then, I get to the living room. Where the stereo is.

There, curled up in front of a speaker, with his head leaned back against the speaker, is Boog, with his eyes closed. I think he is asleep. Then, I make a noise. His eyes open, and his face gets this expression that says, "WHAT?!?!?!".

He was "jamming out".

I noticed, over the next few weeks, that when I played the classical music that I was studying, Boog was as close to a stereo speaker as he could get. When Amy put on the country music that she liked, he ran from the room as fast as he could, and got to the farthest point in the apartment that he could away from the stereo.

So, when I heard about Jake and Rush, I laughed, again. Part of it was for Jake, the ultra-conservative Great Dane, and part of it was for my Boog, the opera lover.

Of course, I didn't "tear up", at all, during any of this. I'm a "dog person", after all.