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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Well old Mier</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>On 1 November you'll be with us for exactly a year.
According to the rules of the Drool, that is your Gotcha Day. Unfortunately I
will not be here to congratulate you, but there are a few things I need to
discuss with you.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>1 Your Bed Manners : You know, we have a very
special bed made of cedar wood. When the air is still one could always get a
faint whiff of the cedar aroma. Since you arrived, most of the nights the room
smells like the trenches in the First World War, you know. And another thing ;
there is sufficient room on the bed for you and Mariette and Sally and me
to sleep comfortably. Why you insist on lying diagonally across the bed is just
a mystery to me. Most of the nights some of us are now just demoted to the spare
bedroom.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>2 Your Medical Expenses : In the year that you've
been with us, I've spent more money on your health than on mine. It was the
seizures, the tick bite fever, all the blood tests, inocculations, the growths
on your eye lids, the thorn in your eye, the stick in your lip, that smelly
gland and then well, that little operation...........</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>3 Your Wild Manners : You know Mier, here where we
live, it is not the desert anymore. It is not exactly civilization, but you need
to be a bit more careful. If you run off like you do, chances are that you
will get bitten by a snake, or you'll injure youself - like a thorn in the eye.
You know exactly what I mean. Also, this gravel road on the boundary of the
property : the farmers drive along it at breakneck speed. If you get in the way
you are history my friend.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>4 Food : You really embarrased us in front of our
friends : Zipping that chocolate croissant from the woman's plate ! It was
inexcusable - but actually I found it adorable ; you should have seen the rest
of the company's faces. I must give you this - you refined counter surfing
to a blitzkrieg.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>In the Christian religion not much is made of dogs.
We read about the dogs eating the crumbs falling from the table, or the dogs
licking the sores of the man with leprosy. But when we were in Tibet, we saw a
lot of dogs at the monasteries and temples. You know what : Those people believe
that a monk who did not quite make the grade in his previous life can come back
as a dog and is therefore welcome at a place of religion and treated with
respect. Also, in one movie Dianne Keaton makes a statement (rather profoundly,
what what) to Woody Allen that dog is just God spelt in reverse order. But that
is only in English.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>So what to think of it all ? I'll tell you
:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>You accepted us as your family without any
reservations, in spite of being ill treated by humans before. You give us
unconditional love and loyalty without asking anything in return - well except
for a bowl of food, at least two slices of bread and what can be zipped from the
counter or the neighbor's rubbish bin etc. Your big smile and floppy ears sort
of filled a gap that has been left a few years ago.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>We love you, old man : HAPPY GOTCHA
DAY!!!!!!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Frans & Mariette
Breytenbach</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>