The last time I diagrammed the Morem household animal menagerie, Buster, the 13-year-old lemon beagle, had died and The Lovely Sharita and I had concerns that our 13-year-old pug, Bailey, was going to die of a broken heart with the passing of her lifelong boy-toy.

As a New Year’s resolution, I’d like to be more like how my dog thinks I am. Of course that bar is so incredibly high, I can’t imagine making the effort. Therefore, as odd as it sounds, a more reasonable resolution would call for being more like Betty Branch.

Those of you who have followed this space with any regularity know there are a couple of topics that I revisit from time to time. One of those is cancer — specifically pediatric neuroblastoma.

It’s becoming such a common occurrence that we could leave a standing headline in place here: “Another employee(s) assaulted at Atascadero State Hospital.”

To say Lionel Johnston is a supporter of planting native oaks on the Central Coast would be an understatement. Devotee? Maybe. Fanatic? Warmer. Zealot? Indeed.

As with most of these essays, the germ of this one sprouted from an email from a friend. Diana Duncan, president of SLO Volunteers For Animals, wanted to know if I was interested in doing a column on a service cat.

Eight young men between the ages of 15 and 18 linked arms and intoned: “Truly, in the flow of human development, our community is a river and we who call ourselves people of humanity are standing deep in its water. And with amazing grace, we are beginning to recognize the ancient flow of human wisdom, as well as the indelible marks of human development.”

The desecrated grave markers in San Luis Cemetery are back on their plinths. As yet, though, the boneheads who must have thought it cute to knock over the monuments haven’t been found. They had no idea who they were messin' with.

On the eve of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — the original timing for Armistice Day, now known as Veterans Day — I offer a column that I wrote a couple of years ago that’s obviously near and dear to my heart. I beg your forbearance.

Marilyn Monroe once said that the three men with whom she’d most like to be stranded on a desert island were Joe DiMaggio (no surprise), Albert Einstein (surprise!) and Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg — yes, the same Vandenberg whose name graces the Air Force base in Lompoc.