This week, the A&E television network is regaling me with stories to make me so damn glad to be a mom. First was the documentary about mothers killing children, then one about teachers seducing students, and today’s documentary was on a kid accused of killing his mother.

I’m fairly certain that I’m not going to kill my children. If you’ve ever heard them at each other’s throats, you’d understand the qualifier. Even so, it’s still not in me since mostly they are charming, wonderful kids who are a pleasure to parent. I don’t have to worry about the teacher thing just yet since teachers tend to go for the 14 and over crowd. Also, I’m pretty much a hover mom with a solid evil eye. I don’t think my kids would kill me – at least not until they can drive themselves around town or discover the mystery of how beverages get poured into a cup. Like that will ever happen.

I could wind up an A&E investigative report, but I don’t think so. Not if my pets are any indication. They have turned out exceptionally. Boris tops the list of dogs anywhere. I’m not sure we can take credit for how wonderful he is. He may be nothing short of a gift from God. Even so, Jesse has trained Boris well. Boris minds, he is a fierce protector, and nary was there a more loving pet. He even tolerates the cat.

Sister Princess, or “Cessy”, is a solid cat. She allows the children to love her excessively. She is a fierce hunter who nabs the sewer roaches and chases the mice and lizards out of the house. Unfortunately, her predatory behavior extends to the little birdies outside. I don’t like this habit of hers, and I worried about how she would torture the hens. As this photo is my witness, I needn’t have given it a second thought.

Cessy likes to lay outside, even on the hottest of Tucson summer days. This patch of cool dirt used to be a wildflower garden. The hens have some sort of agreement with the cat, apparently, that they share. Five of our six hens are in this photo with Cessy. Big Momma, our white hen, was hanging around at my foot wondering what sort of goody I had for her. The hens are well reared too, though the Krause-Brashears have more to do with that than I do. Proof at the least that I’m an adequate foster mom. On the other hand, we only got two eggs today. Poor hot birdies. I didn’t lecture them as yesterday we got five.

And when did Arts and Entertainment turn into “Real Life. Drama.” with this cruel programming at a time when they know we are trapped inside our homes with our summer crazed kiddos? That’s corporate sustainability! They are attempting to inspire us to provide them with more salacious stories. They’ll get none here. Ours is a peaceable kingdom.