Years ago, I had a birthday party for one of the boys and hired a mobile zoo to come to the house to host a small petting zoo. The kids were incredibly excited but, as soon as the animals arrived, it began to rain and the farmer said he had to take the animals home. The kids were crest-fallen. With my wife at the store, I made the command decision (always a dangerous proposition) to tell the farmer to bring the animals into the house. Leslie arrived to see with horror goats, rabbits, sheep and other animals roving around. In the midst of all of this, I have a live national radio interview after the party. Just as the host said that I was speaking live from “my home in Alexandria Va,” I realized that a sheep was in my den as the farmer was collecting the remaining animals. Just as the interview started, the sheep began to bleat. After the interview, one of the engineers asked (on “behalf of many listeners” what a sheep was doing in my home. I explained it was a petting zoo for the kids only to have the engineer say “Riiight.”)
As W.C. Fields said, “Never work with animals or children.”
