I recently read a wonderful little snippet in the Sunday New York Times. Some hotels have acquired new members of their staff. A handful of establishments around the U.S. have decided man's best friend might really be just that, and dogs are showing up at hotels as temporary companions to travelers and greeters at the door. Guests may even take the dogs for a walk. Some hotels even have puppies from local shelters that can be walked -- and even adopted.

When my brother's children were little, my brother had what he thought was a brilliant idea: Leave the little munchkins at home with a babysitter and rent some lookalikes when you got to where you were going. His contention was that if relatives lived a long way off, they did not see the children often and would not know the difference.

The temporary pet idea sounds wonderful, no strings attached, and you know your new friend will be left in good hands. No one has complained at any of the hotels about allergies or about being frightened by any of the pets so far, so it must be working.

So look for a pet-friendly hotel in your area of travel and get your boots ready for walking.

Pirates have been made out to be dashing, charming, glamorous rogues by books and movies. In reality -- darn, there is that word again -- they are mean, treacherous and downright dangerous.

Pirate-fishing is now surfacing in our lexicon. This unregulated fishing costs our law-abiding fishermen millions of dollars around the world. Illegal fishermen use all sorts of destructive means to catch their prey. Disregarding habitats is one.

It is going to be nigh impossible to regulate this activity because you can't brand the species and corral them like cattle. When you go to a fish market, you should ask where their fish is from and if it was caught legally. That should make some people take notice and start an interesting conversation, and, you will find out how fresh your supper is.

An intriguing fact is that almost all of the rice grown in the Sacramento Valley in California is used in the making of most sushi rolls around the U.S. Sushi is one use for fish that has grown by leaps and bounds in popularity in our country.

So you see how important fish and the harvesting of fish are becoming to us all. Could you ever have imagined you would enjoy eating raw fish slathered with horseradish? Reminds me of the first time someone suggested putting sour cream on a baked potato.