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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>It’s me again – Norm!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>So, here we are in the great State of Michigan where is has been a
nickzillion degrees COLD and Mom decides that we smell bad. I was
offended! She said we had passed the *<b>Frito</b>* stage and were well
into the stale *<b>Dorito</b>* stage. Anyway, just the other day it got
above freezing for a while, and she decided that she was going to give us all a
bath. First, she gets out the ear cleaner, then the toofer cleaners, then
the nail grinder – ohhh, I knew we were in for a rough ride. She
grabs Hoagie and hefts him up onto the grooming table – ears go good,
toofer cleaning a little less good, nail grinding – you’d think she
was torturing him! He groans the whole time! Then it is Grady’s
turn – nail grinding goes good, in fact he fell asleep; toofer cleaning
good, ears? – oh boy – the flapping! Then my turn – I was
perfect – well almost perfect – I don’t like the toofer
cleaning too much. Then Johnny – ears go good, toofers okay,
nails?? MY GOODNESS – he acted like a Houdini – twisting and
turning – Mom nailed him to the grooming table and the deed was
done. Finally Opie – he hates his ears cleaned so there was lots of
drama there, loves his toofers brushed – so no problem there, and he was
good for his nails too! That boy is learning – Mom always
wins. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>After all that, Mom was sweating and tired, so I thought we were
done. But NO – she loads us all in the van and takes us over to
Granny Pat’s. The big boys were all ‘cited – they kept
saying *<b>we’re goin’ to see the girls – we’re going
on a date – we’re goin’ to see the girls</b>*. We got
there – we all went down to the basement to the bathtub area – the big
boys were saying *<b>where’s the girls?</b>* They wouldn’t
listen to me – I tried to tell them that it was bath time, not girl-date
time! They found out – I was right! So the bath-a-thon
started – talk about rub-a-dub! Mom scrubbed and rinsed and
scrubbed and rinsed – again and again and again! WOW – for an
old Mom, she sure can give a lot of baths and lift a lot of houndies tonnage!
By the time she was finished, I think she had lifted 4328098 nickzillion basset
pounds. She kept saying that each of us was getting heavier than
the one before – didn’t make much sense to me ‘coz we weren’t
getting anything to eat – but that is what she said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Finally we were done – Mom went out and got the van all
heated up and cozy warm – then she loaded us up and we came home.
Dad had washed all of our *<b>linens</b>* and had the little heater revved up
for us – it was time for a long nap before dinner. I must admit –
it felt good not to be a Dorito anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Drools to ya!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Norm (and the rest of the Red Bay Gang)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Grady, Hoagie, Johnny & Opie<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Sandi Wittenberg - Mom to the Red Bay Basset Boys<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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