I forgot to mention that rainy days are also “difficult basenji” days. She will stand under the eaves, legs crossed resolutely, rather than go out into the yard and do her business. So of course, Marsh the Sap puts on rain gear, puts the leash on her, drags her into the yard, and stands there cursing in a very sweet voice until the basenji figures it’s best to just get it over with. “Come on, you little rat puppy…” Marsh coos.

My mother used to talk very sweetly to inconsiderate drivers on the road. “You buzzards,” she’d say in a kinder tone than she’d use, say, for thanking us for the Mother’s Day Macaroni Montage.