Cagle World

Autumn is upon us, but it is making me a little bit sad this year.

I have always loved autumn.

I love the brilliant colors, the chilly air and the smell of oak burning in a fire pit.

Whereas spring is about new life and fresh starts — and summer about toil and sweat and a one-week break at the beach — autumn is about harvesting your hard-earned fruits.

It’s about peacefully accepting that the warm weather will be gone soon — that the bitter cold winds and snow will soon be here.

Autumn used to be about sitting around a fire with good friends, sipping hot apple-cider toddies and laughing into the wee hours – and taking a much-needed respite from politics.

But this autumn it’s impossible to escape politics. It’s also impossible to avoid worrying about the state our country is in.

Just a few years short ago the economy was booming. The cost of food and utilities was low relative to our incomes, which were strong and growing. The world was relatively stable and peaceful and prosperity was improving for billions across the globe.

Now we have major wars in Ukraine and Israel and the cost of goods and services have soared and continue to inflate.

According to the U.S. debt clock, our national debt stands at nearly $34 trillion — about $100,000 for every person in the country — and it continues to soar at a rapid pace. How long can such spending go on?

Crime rates are up across the board.

According to Newsweek, crime is increasing everywhere, not only in big cities. With organized looting by gangs out of control and going largely unpunished, many big retailers are closing stores.

And with so many people entering our country through our open borders — including those coming here with the sole purpose of attacking us — how long will it be before the next major terrorist event happens?

This past weekend I had some friends over to my house to enjoy the autumn splendor, but our firepit party got rained out, so we stayed inside.

Normally, such autumn gatherings are filled with joy and laughter, but this year we all shared a sense of worry for our country — and the world our children and grandchildren are going to inherit.

We all expressed a sense that our world has gone mad — that nobody is in control — and we are all feeling anxious as we wait for the other shoe to drop.

Of the many autumn events I have hosted, I cannot remember any of them being filled with such fear and concern.

But that is what is on our minds at the moment — and what is on the minds of many people. The recent Associated Press-NORC Research Center poll finds that 78% of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

I’ve always believed you should never bet against America, but our political leaders had better start making better decisions than they have been making.

That means things like limiting government overreach and spending, responding decisively to fight crime and choosing effective and wise leaders who will bring stability to the country and the world.

Unfortunately, at the moment it appears that our only choice for future leader of the free world next year will be between one fellow who will be 81 and one fellow who is almost that age.

But I still have hope that we will get our act together so I can get back to hosting fun and happy autumn gatherings into the wee hours.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

When I read a news piece about the passing of longtime California senator Dianne Feinstein a few weeks ago, some of the comments left at the bottom of the online article made me sad.

Feinstein suffered a very public health decline before she passed.

Anyone with the slightest sense of empathy would think “there but for the grace of God go I” — as every one of us could suffer a similar decline before our time finally comes.

Empathy is in short supply these days, however.

I don’t recall the exact words, but some commenters who disagreed with her political positions wrote comments such as “good riddance.” Others used derogatory terms that portrayed Feinstein not as a fellow human being but as some evil entity whose death was a good thing.

This past weekend, as Hamas gunmen from Gaza invaded Israel, killing and assaulting hundreds of civilians, my heart ached for people like Shani Louk, a 30-year-old woman who had been attending a dance music festival when she was kidnapped and paraded through the streets semi-naked in the back of a pickup truck.

My immediate response was incredible compassion for the pain and terror this poor woman suffered before she was killed — my heart breaks for her and her family.

The immediate response from many others around the world, however, was coldhearted and purely political — that her suffering was Israel’s fault because the country supposedly had this terrorist attack coming.

Not only do we live in a time in which everything is political all the time, we live in a world where people with whom we disagree are no longer seen as fellow human beings who have differing thoughts, but as evil entities that must be stopped by any means.

Why have our hearts become so much harder? One of the key reasons is the way we now receive and process information.

Dr. Helen Riess, author of “The Empathy Effect,” says empathy’s decline has to do with social media.

A Street Roots report on her book says “many of the neurological keys to feeling empathy are missing from the exchange” when we communicate through texts, email and social media posts.

When communicating electronically, not face to face, there’s no chance of paying attention to body language and facial expressions — or to make eye contact, which is a really important component of empathy.

Psychology Today cites research, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, that a simple lack of eye contact enables an anonymity that fosters rudeness and encourages online trolling.

Unfortunately, the magazine reports, the era of smartphones and social media — of nasty tweets and Facebook insults — is making rudeness “our new normal.”

Riess continues that without emotional cues that we can see, we’re left with only words (and images) on a screen, which leads to detachment and creates emotional indifference.

An increasing number of people treat those with whom they disagree this way — which contributes to the general decline of empathy in our civil discourse.

Though Riess says empathy is being blunted, she emphasizes to Forbes that it can be learned.

Her thinking is seconded by an interesting New York Times article that identifies specific actions we can all take to restore empathy in our own hearts.

The simple truth is that we need to stop hiding behind our electronic devices and actively engage with people face-to-face.

We need to set politics aside now and then to embrace our common humanity — and relearn how to sympathize with suffering when humans are at their worst.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

President Biden is being dogged by a unique White House problem.

About a week ago, Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander, bit a secret service officer — Commander’s 11th secret-service-officer biting since he moved to the White House in December of 2021.

Commander must have been following the paw prints of Major, Biden’s previous German Shepherd, whose biting appetite included secret service agents, technicians and at least one National Park employee.

At one point, Major bit an unlucky government servant every day for eight days straight.

These dog-biting incidents in the Biden White House remind me of a great piece The New Yorker humorist James Thurber wrote in 1933 about his Airedale Terrier, “Muggs.”

In “The Dog that Bit People” Thurber wrote that “there was a slight advantage in being one of the family, for he [Muggs] didn’t bite the family as often as he bit strangers.”

The truth is that several biting incidents involving not one of Biden’s dogs, but two, reflects more on Biden than it does Major or Commander.

According to Psychology Today, legendary British dog trainer and author Barbara Woodhouse said “there are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners.”

When ABC News asked Biden in 2021 if Major was “out of the dog house” yet following several bites, he said yes. He explained that Major, a rescue pup, never penetrated someone’s skin with his bites.

The president said there are lots of people in the White House who can startle a dog, but that “85 percent of the people there love him… all he does is lick them and wag his tail.”

I suppose Major displayed this happier behavior while resting in between bites?

The Psychology Today article points to a recent study that analyzed the characteristics of individuals whose dogs were confiscated for biting.

It found that 63 percent of dog owners did not provide assistance or express much concern after a dog bite — or, I wonder, they rationalized the pooch’s behavior away as Biden appears to have done?

The study also found that owners of aggressive dogs were more likely to have a history of antisocial behavior, such as shouting at others or intimidating people in public spaces — which, according to Axios, Biden does routinely to White House staff.

“In public,” reports Axios, “President Biden likes to whisper to make a point. In private, he’s prone to yelling [and swearing like a sailor]… Behind closed doors, Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him.”

To be sure, the White House is a stress-filled pressure cooker, and any dog is likely to pick up on the angst that permeates the place.

Heck, even President Obama’s dog Sunny bit an 18-year-old guest who approached it for a hug.

Major Biden was quietly relocated to Delaware to live with friends he didn’t want to bite. Will Commander Biden soon follow suit?

Or will we be asked to pretend that the White House doesn’t have a dog-nipping problem — much the way we’re asked to pretend our president is at the top of his game and that his policies have put our country in tiptop shape?

Maybe the White House can defend Commander the way James Thurber’s mother defended Muggs.

She argued that it wasn’t Muggs’ fault he bit people, but the fault of the people who were bitten.

“When he starts for them,” she explained, “they scream — and that excites him.”

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

It was a family event for the ages.

Last weekend, my family traveled to Gettysburg to attend my nephew’s wedding.

I drove my mother down Friday so she could participate in the rehearsal. We had a wonderful drive talking about a variety of things, mostly stories about my father, who we lost last year.

After the rehearsal, we attended a welcome party, where we had great fun catching up with my cousins and other family members.

The room was filled with intense joy. Every person there was experiencing it, for the simple and wonderful reason that two very beautiful souls — my nephew Elliott and his beautiful fiancé Catherine — would be united as one the following day.

We’ve all been to weddings in which we think: “I give this couple two weeks!”

My nephew’s wedding was the polar opposite: He and “Cat” were meant to be — and I think I know why.

It’s because of my father.

My father had a difficult childhood, losing his own father when he was only 3. His mother went to work, and he was often alone. He drifted until he found a father figure in his football coach — and until he met a pretty young lady named Betty Jane Hartner.

He was only 17 when that happened, but it was lights out for him the moment his eyes met hers.

He told me many times that he didn’t know how he would do it, but he was going to marry that girl — and his greatest accomplishment in his long life was that he made it happen.

Man, did my father adore my mother. Marriage is hard, and there were lots of ups and downs over many years, but one thing was constant: My father adored my mother until the day he died.

His second greatest accomplishment was that he was one of the most honest and authentic human beings to walk this planet, and he deeply infused his honesty, integrity and authenticity into all six of his children.

Honesty and authenticity are what drew my brothers-in-law to my sisters.

My brothers-in-law and I enjoyed some beers late into the evening last Saturday, and they talked again about how the Purcell girls drew them in because their hearts were so big and their souls were so honest and full of love.

My brothers-in-law were drawn to my sisters because they were of like mind and soul — their wonderful parents infused in them a deep honesty and authenticity, and gave to me the five hilarious brothers I never had!

My sisters and their husbands had many children, and the authenticity that was infused in them was passed on to their kids.

My nephew Elliott is as deeply authentic as my father, and his wonderful, honest spirit attracted an amazing young woman whose soul is pure joy and beauty — and when Elliott met her, it was, as it was for my father 72 years ago, lights out.

Look, events in the news are mostly negative. Our politics and civil discourse appear to be broken. It’s easy to succumb to despair.

But when you attend a wedding as beautiful as I did, all hope is restored.

Great civilizations are built on the backs of giants, like my father, whose greatest contribution to the world was the deep love he had for my mother and the simple virtues he and his bride passed on to their children.

Our civilization is going to be just fine, I know, because my nephew Elliott and his stunning bride have picked up the mantle.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

I suppose it was just a matter of time before casual dress hit the U.S. Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has told the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms to no longer enforce the hallowed chamber’s informal dress code, which had required senators and their staffers to wear business attire.

Schumer’s directive appears to be tailor-made for Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who prefers gym shorts and hoodies over the suits and ties male senators have always worn.

When Fetterman first arrived at the Senate, he attempted to wear a suit and tie — but looked as uncomfortable as a kidnap victim constrained by a straitjacket.

After being treated for clinical depression, however, he returned to the Senate in his favorite frump duds.

To paraphrase comedian Dennis Miller, Fetterman’s clothes make him look like the kid who taps the keg at fraternity parties.

As someone who prefers slothful wear over formal attire — running pants, a long-sleeved Pitt Panthers shirt and frayed sandals — I’m sympathetic to Fetterman’s situation.

On one hand, I think the Senate deserves incredible courtesy and respect. It is a tremendous honor to be among 100 of the most accomplished and powerful people on the planet.

Senators must honor their colleagues through their manner, gestures, words and dress — one man’s comfort should never trump one’s duty to show respect to his colleagues and the august institution he represents.

On the other hand, our culture sure has gotten sloppy.

I recently found an old photo of my grandfather at a baseball game in the 1920s. He and the other guys at the game were sporting suits and ties and fedora hats.

Pretty much everyone dressed up in formal clothes when they went to restaurants, movies and Sunday Mass well into the 1970s.

The Atlantic reports that our national shift to casual wear began in the mid-’80s with tech companies in California.

“Restrictive clothing worn for appearances’ sake was inefficient, and Silicon Valley was all about efficiency,” reports the magazine.

Long work hours writing computer code gave way to tech employees dressing down in khaki pants and button-down collar shirts.

Casual Friday soon loosened corporate dress standards across the country, and that evolved into casual day every day.

Now, thanks to covid, we’ve become a country of wrinkled slobs who look like we just crawled out of bed.

Like it or not, we are living in the heyday of frump, and no public figure symbolizes frumpiness more than Fetterman — whose bold stand for slovenliness surely motivated Schumer to abolish informal dress standards for senators.

Schumer may rue the day he made this change, however.

It’s just a matter of time before Mitt Romney interviews witnesses as he still wears last-night’s silk pajama top, Ted Cruz casts votes in cargo shorts, black socks and scuffed wingtips, and Bernie Sanders filibusters in the raggedy white robe given to him as a gift 40 years ago.

Though I’m guilty of frumpism, if I were a senator I’d embrace the old saying “Dress for the job you want.”

I’d wear a crisp suit and tie and make sure my shoes were perfectly polished.

I’d do so for the simple reason that dress is a form of expression and communication — and that “dressing like a senator” will make it easier for my colleagues to respect me and collaborate with me than they would with the kid who taps kegs at frat parties.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

“Only bet what you can afford to lose.”

That’s the message from the National Football League as its betting-company partners aggressively promote legal betting on pro football games.

For years the NFL was adamantly against betting in sports.

In 2012, reports the New York Post, the league’s commissioner Roger Goodell said: “If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing.”

He was correct.

Look what happened last week in the NFL’s opening game between Detroit and Kansas City.

One receiver dropped five passes, one of which was intercepted and returned for a touchdown — leading some in the Twittersphere to question if something nefarious was up.

So if gambling creates so much distrust among fans, why did the NFL change its position on betting 180 degrees? Can you spell g-r-e-e-d?

Sports gambling only became possible in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a federal law passed in 1992 that made gambling on sports illegal in all but a few states.

With that law struck down, 37 states made sports betting legal — and gambling exploded.

Whereas legal gambling used to require a trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic city, now it takes only a few moments to bet online using your smartphone anytime from anywhere.

The NFL flip-flopped on its anti-gambling position for the simple reason that gambling on its games would generate a lot of new cash for the league and team owners — never mind Goodell’s warning in 2012, and never mind the increased pain and suffering it would cause gambling addicts.

Two years ago, the NFL signed a $1 billion, five-year deal with its betting company partners.

Gambling jumped 40% in the 2022 season and a record 73.5 million Americans — 60% more than last year — plan to bet on NFL games this season, reports the American Gaming Association.

The American Psychological Association reports that though most people can enjoy betting and gambling as harmless entertainment, up to 2% of people are prone to compulsive gambling addiction.

People with other addictions or psychiatric issues (impulse-control, mood disorders, anxiety, etc.) also are even more likely to become compulsive gamblers.

The APA also reports that the poor are more prone to addiction and that men are twice as likely as women to become addicts — particularly young men, who are betting on sports in rapidly growing numbers.

The Mayo Clinic explains that people become gambling addicts much the same way they become addicted to alcohol and drugs: gambling stimulates the brain’s reward system with a sweet hit of dopamine.

But the “responsible” NFL has gambling addicts’ best interests at heart, right?

Its PR department launched a $6.2 million “responsible betting initiative” to help each gambler understand the risks and “only bet what you can afford to lose.”

But according to Forbes, 45% of bettors acknowledge that already this season they are spending more on NFL games than they can afford to lose.

So when so much money is at stake, who can blame the big-shots at the NFL for flip-flopping on gambling?

Like so many shortsighted people running our organizations and institutions, they don’t seem to care that they’re betting on their own futures — and against ours.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

The bloodshed was everywhere.

It was all over my house, my parent’s house, my neighbors’ houses and splattered at any location in which anyone dared to pet my 9-week-old bundle of joy, Thurber the yellow Labrador.

I was desperate to stop Thurber’s reign of puppy-toothed terror, but how?

Why Are a Puppy’s Teeth So Sharp?

Puppies, like humans, are born without teeth, but by the time they are 2- to 4-weeks old, they start growing “deciduous teeth” — the sharpest blades known to mankind.

In the wild, razor-sharp teeth are needed to help puppies consume meat and soft food.

These teeth also help puppies to develop their jaw muscles and strong biting force, which are also necessities in the wild.

About 28 of these Ginsu-teeth are formed by your puppy’s sixth week. He’ll have about 42 by his 12th week, when his less-treacherous permanent teeth will finally start replacing his deciduous slicers.

Which means you are at risk of random bloodlettings for a good month or so until his permanent teeth come in.

How to Protect Your Flesh?

Your puppy has no intention of harming you with his baby daggers. The reason he attempts to bite and chew your hands, reports thelabradorsite.com, is that it helps him relieve the discomfort he is experiencing during the teething process.

One thing you can do during this time is to use voice commands to begin training your puppy not to bite; always reward him with praise and a small training treat when he complies with your commands.

A second step is to provide dental chews, which can reduce dental pains and give your puppy something else to chew on other than you.

According to Kalmpets.com, frozen carrots and watermelons are tasty treats that can help numb your puppy’s nerves and decrease discomfort. Frozen puppy toys that are durable and safe can have the same effect.

A frozen dishtowel, wrapped around an ice cube, can also reduce pain, but make sure the material is durable enough that your puppy can’t break it apart and digest it.

Corrective Behavior May Help

Though such techniques were helpful with Thurber, they did not stop the biting completely. Desperate, I hired a dog trainer to help me get my puppy under better control.

Her point of view — one that I share — is that most techniques for teaching a dog good behavior should be positive.

However, on rare occasions a corrective action may work best.

To stop him from biting, she placed a rubber “correction” collar on him that had little bumps on the inside of the collar. When he attempted to bite her, thinking he was playing, she gave it a little tug.

Now Thurber was a pup with a lot of energy and rapidly growing muscles. The tug was mild and did not hurt him.

But it was new to him and his response was immediate: he did not like the tug at all and he quickly determined that he better stop the biting to prevent another tug.

I’m not exaggerating here when I tell you after just a few mild tugs — within about a 5-minute period — he never used his sharp teeth to harm anyone again.

Cherish Time with Your Puppy

Looking back, I regret not taking advantage of Thurber’s sharp teeth to make some money.

I could have carried Thurber into a liquor store or bank, while shouting “Give me your money or the puppy makes you bleed!”

In any event, it will seem like an eternity, but by the time your puppy reaches three months of age, his permanent teeth will be in and the little sharp ones will have either fallen out or been harmlessly swallowed.

Be sure to enjoy every moment you can as your puppy blossoms — sharp teeth and all — into a healthy adult, because the transition happens all too fast!

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Visit Tom and Thurber’s dog-blog (www.ThurbersTail.com) for entertaining stories and videos that feature the budding social-media star, Thurber the Talking Lab!

Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features funny videos and lessons he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

There’s a reason the name “Jimmy Buffett” elicits immediate joy in the hearts of millions: happiness contagion.

A study conducted by Harvard University and the University of California followed 5,000 people for 20 years to determine if happiness was contagious.

The study’s finding: it most certainly is.

If you smile at a stranger as you hold a door open for him, you transfer a positive, happy energy that he can’t help but enjoy.

Better yet, according to Psychology Today, the study finds that the happiness you just infused in a stranger is shared by him to approximately three others, who in turn share it with others and so on.

Jimmy Buffet, who died Sept. 1 at age 76, was a master of happiness contagion — filling me with joy since I first heard of him at a “Buffet Party” in a Penn State dorm room back in the 1980s.

Buffet said that his audience worked hard all week long and it was his job to give fans two full hours of joy and have fun doing it.

He knew exactly what he was doing as an entertainer.

“It’s pure escapism is all it is,” he told the Republic. “… I think it’s really a part of the human condition that you’ve got to have some fun. You’ve got to get away from whatever you do to make a living or other parts of life that stress you out.”

For someone who portrayed himself as laid back and easy going, he was actually a happy workaholic.

He didn’t start playing guitar until his first year in college at Auburn, then promptly flunked out because he was having so much fun strumming and singing, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He eventually graduated in 1969 with a history degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, then bounced around New Orleans and Nashville for a few years.

In 1970, while working as a reporter for Billboard, he got his first record deal — only selling 324 albums, according to the New York Times.

By 1971 he made his way to Key West, Florida, fell promptly in love with the place, moved there and began writing his Caribbean-themed songs.

In 1973 his second record release was a success and the hits began coming — culminating in 1977 with the groundbreaking “Margaritaville,” which is still one of the world’s best-known songs.

But Buffett was just getting started.

A savvy businessman would soon emerge. He took ownership of the Margaritaville brand and built a billion-dollar empire that “includes over 30 hotels and resorts and 150 restaurants, bars, and cafes,” reports Inc.

He also published a half dozen best-selling fiction, non-fiction and children’s books.

Jimmy Buffett makes me feel like a slacker, but his story is a reminder that with a little talent, a little luck and a lot of hard work, amazing things can still be achieved in America.

Better yet, his story reminds us that any of us has the power to spread happiness — something he did on a magnificent scale.

In a modern world in which so many people choose to be smug, snarky, judgmental and divisive — thank you, social media — we can all do our small part to unleash a happiness contagion through our kindness, our smiles and our eagerness to hold the door open for strangers.

Or through one of my favorite methods: Singing “Margaritaville” on Karaoke Night.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

Houses are getting smaller again — which is going to make many Americans happier.

Americans faced with high mortgage rates and a shortage of affordable homes for sale are opting for new, smaller homes that do not have dining rooms, living rooms, spare bedrooms and even bathtubs, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Builders are building smaller homes partly to give cost-constrained buyers a more affordable option.

But it’s mostly because it’s the only way home builders can turn a reasonable profit, thanks to the high cost of construction materials, which have skyrocketed in the past few years.

Home sizes sure have soared since I was a kid in the 1970s.

According to the U.S. Census, in 1972 the average home was 1,660 square feet.

In the 1990s, with the era of the “McMansion” in full swing, no small number of homes exceeded 4,000 square feet — homes so unnecessarily big you need to hail an Uber to get from the living room to the kitchen.

The American home continued to grow until it peaked in 2015 at an average of 2,467 square feet, but now it’s fast heading back to 1972 numbers, which offers some good news.

In my experience, a modest-sized home generates more closeness and happiness among its family members.

The suburban house I grew up in was all of 1,500 square feet. Built in 1964, it was a rectangular four-bedroom box with a red-brick façade on the bottom and white aluminum siding on the top.

It also had only one full bathroom that, by 1973, had to be shared by me, my parents and all five of my sisters!

Thankfully, my parents had just enough money to add a master bedroom and bath on the first floor, which, to them, was Heaven on Earth.

Still, the house was modest in size and it forced the eight of us to live together — there was simply no way to avoid each other.

In those days we couldn’t just take our smart phones to our distant bedrooms and lock the rest of the family out.

During the 34 years my parents lived there the front door was never locked and friends and relatives came and went at all hours.

We had a million birthday parties and family gatherings there. Every emotion under the sun — love, anger, joy, sadness — took place there.

Many nights after dinner my sisters and parents sat packed into our tight little kitchen around a giant table, laughing and sharing stories.

Never once did we feel our home was small.

Interestingly, according to Business Insider, the only reason home sizes continued to grow after the 2008 housing collapse was that many people who had a lot of home equity, good jobs and excellent credit had the financial qualifications to meet stringent lending requirements.

By 2015, however, as younger people who lacked such credentials began buying homes, smaller homes were all they could afford.

And now, with the highest interest rates in years and a shortage of affordable homes on the market, builders are going small.

The Journal cited one builder in South Carolina who said that buyers are happily buying homes between 1,500 and 1,700 square feet.

In my opinion, they will find more happiness in their smaller homes than they ever would in a much larger one.

The modest-sized house I grew up in was a mansion by the measures that really count.

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].

There’s a lot of sad news to go around, but this Vox story really breaks my heart: animal shelters are overflowing with abandoned dogs and cats again.

A few years ago, during COVID isolation, there was a surge of people rescuing pets from shelters to fill their homes with lovable furry creatures.

It was the heyday of abandoned animals finding homes, with more animals leaving shelters than coming in.

As people went back to work, however, some people decided they didn’t have the time or desire to care for a pet and sent it back to the shelter — something they should have thought through before they disrupted the pet’s life.

But there is another force that is driving people to abandon their pets: it has got way too expensive to feed and care for them.

High inflation drove up the cost of pet food 20% year over year — for the simple reason that the ingredients to make pet food were also at record highs, as everything has been the past three years.

The inflation rate is down some in 2023, but the cost of services is not. That includes the cost of having a pet get regular checkups and care at the veterinarian, as well as the proper shots pets need annually.

CNN reports that a high percentage of the abandoned pets have serious medical issues, which can be very costly to treat.

My 2½ year old Labrador, Thurber, is healthy and fit as can be — but when he began having seizures, we discovered he suffers from epilepsy.

That required trips to more than one veterinarian, including a skilled neurologist who specializes in pets, and also some costly lab work.

Fortunately, I have a pet-insurance policy that made the roughly $800 vet bill bearable. Thurber got excellent care and the medication is working perfectly.

However, if I were struggling to feed my children and pay my mortgage and car payment, as many middle-class people are, would I have given my dog to a shelter to hopefully get it the care I could not afford?

The answer is no, never, for me — I’d take a second job or sell my truck first. I’m not kidding when I say if reincarnation was real, my dream would be to come back as my own dog!

But I feel sorry for people who are really struggling to pay their bills right now and the painful decisions they are being forced to make.

I wonder: Are we heading back to the pre-WWII era, when the only people who could enjoy pets were the well-to-do?

Today’s pet-abandonment trend illustrates well what happens in the daily lives of everyday Americans because of the reckless government policies and spending that the Wall Street Journal reports have made the cost of everything, including our ability to care for our pets, unbearable.

But if you have the means and the commitment and love in your heart, remember that wonderful pets are waiting in shelters for you to bring them home — and if you cannot adopt, your donations are always welcome.

If you are in financial straits and your pet needs basic supplies or even costly medical care, the Humane Society and other organizations may be able to offer financial assistance to help you keep your beloved pet in your home.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my pup is dropping his ball at my feet. It’s time to go outside for some exercise!

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Copyright 2023 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, which features pet advice he’s learning from his beloved Labrador, Thurber, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at [email protected].