In the last, not so exciting post, readers were challenged with picking Max from a group of 10 Maltese. Well, here he is:
Just call him “Number 3.”
The post was titled “Fungible” which, of course, is an adjective that refers to something that is mutually interchangeable. Dollar bills are fungible. Most all commodities are fungible; for example, one quart of oil is the same as another.
Things that are similar but which are not identical are not fungible even though the differences are hard to discern.
For example, Meghan Markle’s wedding veil and a receipt from CVS pharmacy. Not fungible. Snorf.
Meghan didn’t get the BOGO, free sample or 20% coupon either.
Sharp-eyed Latin scholars, few of whom visit this silly dog blog, will remark that “fungible” comes the Latin verb “fungi” and not the Latin noun “fungi.”
The verb form comes from fungibilis, meaning “to perform” whereas the noun refers to a fungus among us. Neither of these derivations seems to apply to the Malt although I guess there’s some resemblance between the Furball and a button mushroom, from an activity-level perspective if not visually.
Speaking of mushrooms, back when we toured the western National Parks in our RV, I had the Alpha Japanese Female convinced that Portobello was a city in Idaho. For the geographically-challenged, and our friends from other places, the actual city name is Pocatello.
Portabello and Pocatello – one’s a fungus but these are not fungible
As they say, explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. Ultimately you gain understanding but it really, really screws up the frog. But again, I digress.
Back to the issue of canine fungibility. It’s obvious that our dogs are unique even if they bear close resemblance to others of their breed. They could be cloned doggies and we could still differentiate them by personality and behavior.
“I’m hiding. You’ll never find me.”
That’s certainly true of Max. Mixed in a herd of other Maltese, I’d instantly distinguish him by his loud snore and disconcerting habit of generating and dispersing disproportionately large methane clouds while the AJF and I are Netflixin’ and chillin’. At least, I think he’s the guilty party .
Did anyone correctly identify His Poochiness?
Well, the closest was Lois from Florida who waffled on her selection but included the correct photo among a passel of other choices.
“I am going with #3. Or maybe #1 or #5. Oh, but look at #7.” –Our winner, demonstrating her conviction.
Still, she’s the only one who specifically mentioned #3 so let’s have her go the front of the class and take a bow while we sing her praises! Meanwhile, those who made multiple incorrect guesses are invited to stroll the silly dog blog walk of shame.
“Did anyone guess right? Because I don’t really care.”
Max was unimpressed with this whole experiment. As summer approaches, his attention is increasingly drawn to the outdoors. The flowers are blooming and the garden is chock-a-block with Asian and other veggies like daikon, kabu, komatsuna, nira, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.
Working on our plants is fun but my laborers get tired and quit on me. But they are certainly each unique and not at all fungible so I think I’ll keep them.
May have to hire some immigrants if I hope to get anything done in the gardens.
Categories: The Dog From Rancho Cucaracha
WITHIN THE K STREETS 
Whew. I was vacillating—afraid if I made a mistake Max would be disappointed. Procrastination works!?
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Aloha Jackie! Good to hear from you. Send me a note offline and catch me up with what’s happening in your world. Max says “Hi”, or would were he awake. Same with the AJF who is in fine fettle and that’s the only fettle to have. 🙂
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Bravo to Lois and her indecision! I still don’t like any word with fungi in it, no matter if it’s nouning or verbing. My takeaway here is that Malteses or Maltesi are like penguins. They all look the same in a crowd. White and fluffy and passing wind. I don’t know your Asian vegetables. It just makes me want to sing “Mr. Roboto” as the ignorant American.
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What can I say, Kerbey? You have to expand your vegetable options. There really is a world beyond Chuck E. Cheese, or as one person put it…the the Insane Rat Casino for Kids. I know Tejas is famous for beans and giant baked potatoes (“Texas-size”) but surely there is room for a nice Japanese radish, turnip, chives and mustard greens which is what daikon, kabu, nira and komtsuna are, respectively. I agree with your analogy of Maltese/Penguins and would add that both of them waddle when a bit, uh overweight.
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Hey, now, I haven’t been to a Chuck E. Cheese since 2004. The hubs will not eat sushi, so when we go to Happy Wok each Sunday after church like clockwork, I get Basil Shrimp and he gets whatever the special is. But they don’t have those multi-voweled veggies, just baby corn and snow peas and bell peppers. Now that I think about it, this is the same place where I inquired about MSG (no, I don’t care if I eat it) and the waitress had NO IDEA what MSG was. Kids today! Get off my lawn! P.S. I’m not very picky, but radishes are no bueno. However, if Bobby Flay made it, I would eat. Oh, honey, I would eat it.
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Funny you mention MSG. If I eat something with even the smallest pinch of MSG, I get a full-on body sweat, a total drenching as in go home and change your shirt. It only lasts about 10 minutes then good as new. It amuses the doctors when I list it as the only sensitivity/allergy I have and sometimes I just throw caution to the wind and eat what I want knowing the price I’ll later pay.
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Okay–there is a show called “Adam Ruins Everything” and it’s on TruTV, and he dispels myths of things like why eyeglasses cost so much and how we really DID land on the moon and how MSG isn’t even a thing to fear bc it was based on one study done decades ago and has validity. However, my mother swears, like you, that she gets the vapors when she eats MSG. I thought most places don’t even use it now bc I remember her in the early 80s making sure she didn’t have it back at Hunan Lotus or something. If that’s your ONLY allergy in your several decades of life, you are one lucky man. So when you go to ER, do they still have to put the yellow wristband on that says “allergy”? I get one for Allegra-D/Sudafed bc it makes me feel like I’m coked up at Studio 54 with Liza and Warhol.
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It’s not really an allergy just a sensitivity so no wristbands and it’s such a minor inconvenience. But I am 100% accurate in determining if MSG is present in food whether at restaurant or packaged products. Trust me and your Mom ( but mostly Mom). I’ll defer to your superior experience about the hot times at Studio 54 😀
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woo hoo! I am heading to the front of the class to take my bows! Come on, little Max. I make a great waffle…or I’m a waffler. Something like that. Anyway, it sounds like food to me. Now, who’s a good boy and wants a treat?
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As reward you get $100. Or maybe just a compliment or maybe a new car or perhaps a trip. Oh geez, it was the free compliment. Well done, Lois!
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Perhaps if WordPress had a facility for transmitting methane clouds I might have done better. My most humble apologies to his poochship…
That garden sounds fun…..if you want a canine immigrant to dig holes for planting…or just to dig holes… I have candidates…
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Max doesn’t dig outdoors at all. He digs on the bed, on the rugs, even on the hardwood floors but, happily, not in dirt. “Ewww…my paws will get dirty.” He really is a wuss dog. For 5000 years the breed has never had a legitimate job beyond “companion”.
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There are a lot of women like that….don’t get their paws dirty and always live in comfort…I think one of them just married a British royal…
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All along I thought that was what life was like down on the Finca. Leo attending your every whim and wish while you sat back on your deck and quaffed Algerian Red Infuriator and munched good-goods…what do the French call them…oh yeah…bons-bons. You mean that’s not how things are down there? :evil grin:
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I think I was born with dirty paws….
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We could solve all our financial problems if we taxed the paper stuff the CVS machine spits out. Every visit, I think we use a tree.
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No kidding. They are pretty much humorless about it too. When I go there I always ask the cashier, “Can I get one of your really long receipts?” and all I get with my mile of paper is a grunt.
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Don’t even think of swiping your card at the coupon kiosk-you’ll be blown out of the store with all that stuff.
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Congrats to Lois! Yeah, I waffled and still think Max is probably #7 or maybe #2. 😁 A fun post nonetheless. Happy yard work.
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Are you absolutely sure that number 5 is not Max in disguise? If i could have used my nose it would have been too easy! (Even without a methane cloud)
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That’s true…Doggers recognize more by sniff than sight. #5 looks like a very nice Malt and I’ve warned Max that he needs to keep up his game because there is competition out there!
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Hi Max, Buddy tavel says, what a nice life you have in calf. It was great to hear from you.
Buddy & Audrey Tavel
Tavel_audrey@yahoo.com
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Max says it’s a tough life but he does his best! 😂
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This was fun although I confess I read the posts backwards but I doubt I would have guessed three anyway 🙃. That’s a seriously impressive cvs receipt!. Is it illustrated and broken up into chapters because it’s long enough to be a book!
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Around here I think that’s pretty much a standard CVS receipts for maybe four items. Insane. OK maybe a small exaggeration. Max now thinks he can be an international dog of mystery maybe even a Bond-Dog. At least he’s mastered the skill of being anonymous.
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I know, I get receipts like that too. They cut a whole tree down so I can be reminded that I bought milk. Anonymous is a good thing. Way to go Max. I would go see that movie!
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