"Magee"

More memory lane material: my best friend in highschool had a legendary (in our mind) critter for a pet: Magee was an Old English Sheepdog that became an icon to our circle. Magee was always there, just... there. Never really did much of anything, just maintained this huge, hairy presence.  Truly one of the more amusing animals to ever shuffle the earth.

Everyone should be so lucky as to have such a reassuring constant in their lives: somewhere in the background, maybe on the lawn or under the table, he was a hundred pounds of faithful, furry fellowship. He would even ever so slightly lean up against you, and shifted furniture out of his way with as much casual indifference as he did laying down.

Aside from always being there, Magee's other notable trait was a curious attempt at a bark. It never seemed to really quite raise to the level of a true bark, more like a Cowardly Lion whuff.

Like so many things from that time and place in life, not really sure just exactly what it was that endeared Magee to us, and why it inspired homage in a cartoon strip. Lets just say if you have trouble getting the strip, you wouldn't have gotten Magee.

"The dog has got more fun out of Man than Man has got out of the dog, for the clearly demonstrable reason that Man is the more laughable of the two animals." – James Thurber