THE FIRST DOG IN OUR MARRIAGE

By Rodger Minatra

About two years ago I paid $1100 for a dachshund puppy which I had to drive 4 hours roundtrip to get. Although it really doesn’t matter now, I would never want my dad to know that. He would honestly drop his head in shame that his oldest son would pay so much for a dog. “Never carry the money for a dog in your pocket” he would say (I believe he was quoting his dad). It meant that you should never pay for a dog.

Many years ago in a Readers Digest publication called Word Power (1980), I came across an article called Are You a Skid-Talker, by Corey Ford. I've managed to keep that publication for all these years. The article is about something Corey Ford calls skid-talk. To me it sounds a lot like mixed metaphores, but I like the term Skid-talk better. Corey Ford says, "Skid-talk is more than a slip of the tongue, it is a slip of the mind." I've got a lot of mileage out of this article, and I've tried to record other phrases in the margins that fit the description of skid-talk. Here are a few that I've managed to record. I will share more with you when I review the article and look through my notes.

Don't count your penneys before they hatch.
You hit the nose on the head.
Little britches have big ears.

One of the first things I do when visiting other people in their home, in their office, or even on their social media site is to look for their bookshelf, virtual or real. I want to find out what they are reading or what books they think are important enough to display, even if they are not reading them. I have occasionally had people show the same interest in my reading selection, which is the reason for this post.

I have a wide range of reading interest, ranging from children’s books to biographies. Although this list is not comprehensive, I thought it might answer some questions and generate some interest. This list is mostly in the order of purchase dates and includes the title and the author.