Kid TV

Back in the day when we felt less breedy, we got us a puppy. Where we were -- literally and figuratively -- at the time, there was another puppy 'bout the same age as our puppy. You could set these two puppies to a-playin' and stand there for hours watching them slobber all over each other. This was called "Puppy TV".

We still have the puppy but our viewing habits have changed significantly.

My Dad spent most of Memorial Day sitting on a chair in the backyard watching Ye Olde Kid TV proving he was smarter than me. I was inside cooking breakfast for everyone. Between pancakes and pots of coffee, I'd glance out the window and there'd be Dad with the dumbest grin on his face. At first I figured he had just remembered a routine from one his old Bob Newhart or Bill Cosby albums. (By the way, in case anybody wonders why I am the way I am, listening to these albums about ten thousand times as a child might be a good place to start. There's a lesson in there somewhere, I suppose.) But then I looked again and I could see he was rendered stupefyingly happy by the sight of his grandchildren running madcap around the yard.

Mostly, it was Aurelio dashing about with Max trailing behind in absolute awe of his gigantic cousin. In a quiet moment, seen here, Max takes the opportunity to teach Aurelio about one of his favorite pass-times: Tasting Charcoal Briquettes. Aurelio is wisely hesitant.