Reply #1: Most strangely, a dear friend of mine is most ashamed to be a distant

[stellanoir]

cousin of *'s (through the Walker clan). This friend has never met him, but the two stories she tells of that branch of the family is that they belonged to a country club in Connecticut where all the members are considered to be "junior members" until they hit their mid-fifties because it generally took that long for their trust funds to be activated.

The other story is that during the holiday seasons the family would assemble for the annual Christmas photo op.
The shot was always backdropped by a live manger scene. One year, during WWII, sheep were in short supply. So they had to glue cotton balls onto the golden retrievers. . .?

It always struck me as quite the image. I've always wondered whether they had to shave them afterwards. . .the poor pooches. Peta was not then in existance.

Yeah. . . perhaps their ingenuity has dwindled over the generations through inbreeding.

Who'd have thunk it possible . . .?