An Epic Ballade of Texas

I recently spent a couple of weeks house-sitting for Tom and Beverly Griffin while they took a trip to Alaska (you may remember I lived at their house for a month or so, back before buying my condo). My job was to take care of the house, the mail, the plants and the pets at their lovely house south of town, which shall henceforth be referred to as: My Country Estate. It was pleasant to become reacquainted with the pets, who were fairly well-behaved. One funny thing about them is that at dinner or breakfast time, each of them would try to eat out of someone else’s bowl, and would only return to theirs if the other two were already taken. For instance- here is a picture of Bandie (the dog) waiting for Millie to get out of the way so that Bandie can eat Millie’s food, while Raton leaves her bowl alone in favor of Bandie’s dog food: Later, Bandie eats Millie’s food, while Millie looks on longingly… So Millie approaches Raton’s bowl, which unfortunately had already been licked clean by Band...