Good morning, fine folks.
Thanks for joining us again on The County Line. It’s always a pleasure to be included in your morning routine. Hopefully the weekend did you some good, you’re well-rested and refreshed, and you’re ready to tackle another week head-on. Sorry for that reminder, but it is indeed Monday (all day long). You know we can’t let a regular day pass around here without finding some cause for celebration, however, and I will not let you down.
Without further ado, happy National Get Out of the Doghouse Day. For those of you unmarried, unaffiliated, unemployed, or who have no—or just exceedingly accepting—friends, this one won’t apply to you. For the rest of us, we know the doghouse—we’ve been there before and we’ll be there again.
According to the author of the internet (or at least one of them), if you are “’in the doghouse,’ you have fallen out of favor with someone.” Typically, this means a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend, but the doghouse is big and accommodating and you might find yourself inside it because you aggravated a colleague, parent, sibling, teammate, coach, business partner, neighbor, teacher, or buddy. The possibilities are endless, but no matter how you get there, you stay until the other person cools off and things get back to normal.
It should be noted that “the doghouse” can take many forms. If your wife has put you in the doghouse, you might sleep on the couch for a few nights. If you’re in the doghouse with your group of friends, you might find yourself alone in your living room on a Saturday night while all your pals are out doing something fun. If you’re in the doghouse with your boss, you might find that this particular doghouse means more work or worse hours.
This writer has plenty of experience in the doghouse. Not to brag, but I’ve disappointed a lot of people over the past three-plus decades. I have made more than one person mad. I’ve dropped the ball a time or two and even taken the blame before when other people messed up. Some of these letdowns have been my own failures; others have definitely not been my fault, but that part doesn’t matter. Getting put in the doghouse is something that is oftentimes out of our control, left to the whim or mood of some other person. Sometimes I’ve gotten by with actions that should have landed me in the doghouse but didn’t, while other times I was just going about life, living like a saint, and the next thing I know—boom!—I’m in Snoopy’s crib.
Therefore I say we embrace this day and show it the respect and reverence it deserves. We should all observe this fake holiday with the same seriousness we show for Thanksgiving, the same dedication we have to Halloween, the same excitement we harbor for New Year’s Eve. This is a day where we can all be “let off the hook”—as long as we’re reciprocal. If we’re going to let this happen, we’ve got to open the gate for those we’ve kept in the doghouse, forgiving slights and misunderstandings and mistakes. If we can do this, we’ll all feel better about ourselves and we’ll all have stronger, less dramatic relationships. I’m in if ya’ll are.
We don’t have a doghouse-themed Quote of the Day today, so instead we’ll share an example of how to quickly find yourself sleepin’ with the hounds. This QOTD comes from the late, great Mitch Hedberg:
“I don’t have a girlfriend. I just know a girl who would get really mad if she heard me say that.”
What a gem—I miss Mitch Hedberg.
Now for the day’s forecast, courtesy of the intern:
Rain today—plenty of rain.
That’s all we’ve got for now. We appreciate you spending a few minutes relishing some nonsense. Check back with us at The County Line throughout the day for more content we think you’ll like (or information you need to know), always from local voices.
