Drury,

I think John's response to your column is very good. It may have been years since he was teaching writing at the U. of Utah, but it's clear that he can still ride that bike if he has to.

Let me mix metaphors and stand up in the rumble seat to add one other response: John is right; you do take a long time to get to the answer of this person who asked you about parrot food. You should have put that answer much closer to the beginning of the piece.

But it's clear to me that your audience isn't just that person. This column is read by a larger secondary audience of pet owners; as such, one purpose of your column is to educate this wider, more general secondary audience. So I would advise you not to cut the interesting information about the nutritional needs of horses and dogs (and hey! what about cats!?), but you should place this information after you have answered the question that your primary audience has asked.

OK, nuff said. I'm going back to sleep in the rumble seat. Carry on, John.