The tale is told of the day mom's dachshund, apropriately named Loki, took the cover off grandma's ironing board. Loki was something of a legend. He made sure that mom's boyfriend, the father of historian David McCullough behaved himself. One of the sights of the neighborhood was grandaddy arguing with Loki about which way they would go on their walk. Grandaddy successfully argued a case in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, but he couldn't persuade Loki to go his way. Then Loki would get tired and granddaddy would have to carry him home.