Good work, Dicho and Mary... "took him to the pound," is right.. The "pound", Wolfgang, is the dog pound, where people take stray dogs. "And the old man hobbled" with a walking cane." No wonder you couldn't figure that one out, Wolfgang. In Colonial times, when livestock weren't always fenced in, they put wooden hobbles around the legs of the animals... kinda like putting chains around the leg of a convict. Someone who walks like they're hobbled would be taking small, tentative steps.

When I was about 12 years old, I befriended a mongrel (not purebred) dog on the way home from school. We hit it off, right away, and it didn't take much to lure him home. He was hungry, so when we got home I fed him and he made hmself comfortable. When my Dad came home from work, he told me that we'd have to get rid of the dog, but I fell on his mercy. Besides, my Father was a hunter, and I think he sensed that the dog would be a good hunting dog. And she was.

Don't ever get me started on songs about dogs. I could do a full album of them.

Mrrzy... I could hum the tune for you... the tune isn't one I've consciously heard before, but my muse lives down there in Kentucky, the next holler over from Mary, so it would song familiar to you. The song is on the last album I did, Handful of Songs. I still have a few hundred thousand copies available.

If anyone ever wants to reach me more directly, I think that my e-mail address is posted somewhere around here. It's gospelmessengers@msn.com.

Thanks again, Wolfgang.

After Christmas, I'll send you some more stuff.

And a Merry Christmas to all..

Jerry