For those who can't follow Frank's esoteric email:
A ventriloquist cowboy walks into town and he sees this shepherd sitting on the side of the road with his dog, horse, and sheep. The cowboy walks up to the shepherd and says, "Hey, that's a cool dog. Mind if I speak to him?"
The shepherd looks up at the cowboy and says, "Dog doesn't talk."
But the cowboy turns to the dog anyway and he says, "Hey dog. How's it going?"
The dog answers (via the cowboys ventriloquism), "Doin' all right. Thanks for asking."
"Is this your owner?" the cowboy asks.
"Yep."
"Well, how's he treating you?"
The dog answers, "Real good. He walks me, he feeds me great food, he takes me to the lake to play."
The shepherd is amazed at this point, and then the cowboy asks if he can talk to his horse.
Again the shepherd says, "Horse doesn't talk."
But the cowboy turns to the horse and says, "Hey horse. How's it going?"
The horse replies, "I 'm doing good."
"Is this your owner?" asks the cowboy.
"Sure is," answers the horse.
"Well how's he treating you?"
"Pretty good. He rides me regularly, he brushes me down, and keeps me in a nice warm hut with all the hay and straw I'd ever want."
The shepherd is totally amazed now, so when the cowboy turns to the sheep, the shepherd looks worried.
The cowboy asks, "Mind if I talk to your sheep?"
To which the shepherd replies . . .
[Over to you, Frank]