First, I want to apologize to readers who feel I don’t offer enough advice in my columns. The reason for that and I’m sure you’ll understand when you read this, is because the last guy I gave advice to actually took it.

My brother-in-law, Gary, has a bad back. So bad, in fact, that he needed surgery — a dorsal laminectomy of four of his vertebrae. Why his surgeon agreed to this, I don’t know but he let Gary keep the removed pieces of bone. Gary casually phoned me shortly afterward — his wife would probably say under the influence of his pain medication — and asked how best to clean the shreds of meat from the bone. Although I can’t claim to have been under the influence of anything, I am guilty of my response: “Boil them!”

Weeks went by and Bonnie and I were attending the Midwest Veterinary Conference in Columbus. Gary and his wife, Cindy, Bonnie’s sister and a registered veterinary technician, live not far from there, so we stayed at their house for the weekend.

On Saturday, Cindy went with us to the conference. Upon returning to their home that evening, the comforting smell of chicken soup greeted us from the kitchen. But, Gary wasn’t making supper. And, he wasn’t cooking chicken, either. Sadly, chicken soup has lost much of its appeal.