Bush's bright side of the home front

This is not our family. Or any other.

LAURA: Another Saturday with only a few things to do.

GEORGE: I thought there was nothing to do.

LAURA: I did mention the lawn needed mowing one more time.

GEORGE: Looks OK for the winter to me.

LAURA: You recall Bobby next door broke our garage window with a fly ball.

GEORGE: That leaves us with 15 unbroken windows, or is it 150?

LAURA: You were going to put a new washer in my bathtub faucet.

GEORGE: Glad to know all the other faucets are not dripping.

LAURA: I think we should bring the ficus indoors before the frost. Maybe that nice mailman would help.

GEORGE: My weather report is that there will be no frost this year. I don't want to feel I have to tip somebody.

LAURA: Our outdoor light has slipped down again so all it shines on is a patch of grass.

GEORGE: Plenty of security around in this neighborhood.

LAURA: The last power outage canceled all the memory numbers you nicely put on the phone.

GEORGE: There's such a thing as dialing.

LAURA: Every time I turn on my word processor I get this fax template that I never use. How do I - ?

GEORGE: I'm really, really sorry about that.

LAURA: This is the third day in a row our newspaper hasn't been delivered. I called them but...

GEORGE: Golly, I didn't notice that.

LAURA: I guess that's why I love you, George, you never let anything bother you.

GEORGE: And I love you because you see all that needs to be done but don't make a big deal of it. Bring 'em on!

• Roderick Nordell is a former Monitor staff editor.