T.D. invites Helen to a waterpark, but she can't go because she promised to help Grandpa Bernie clean out his garage. T.D. actually thinks this sounds fun, so Helen invites him to tag along too. When they arrive (along with Martha and Skits), T.D. is impressed by Bernie's large assortment of odds and ends. Bernie says that he'd clean the garage himself, but isn't energetic enough, and the kids can keep whatever they want except the car.
Martha and Skits want to help too, but they just get in the way, so Bernie suggests they visit Candy, the dog next door, warning them that she's a bit sluggish in her old age. Candy shows Martha and Skits around the yard and lets them have her toys since she has too many muscle cramps to enjoy them anymore. Then, she claims that as a puppy, she was hit by a ball from space that "bit" her. The dogs decide to dig to see if Candy buried the ball, but she's too cramped up to join in.
While Martha and Skits dig and try to unearth the ball, Helen and T.D. sort through Bernie's junk, while T.D. also searches through Bernie's jar of keys for the car keys. Martha and Skits then decide they need help, so they enlist the help of Rinty, Burt, Francois, and John, while the kids continue to tidy up with Grandpa Bernie.
Then, Candy wonders if she buried the ball in Grandma Lucille and Grandpa Bernie's yard, so the dogs all head there. Once the garage is clean, Helen asks her dogs why they're so dirty. Martha explains what's happening, then Candy finally remembers where she put the ball: in the car. And it's attached to a keychain that has the car key, so Martha realises that the ball didn't really bite; the key must have poked Candy's mouth. Candy claims that before it hit her, she heard a voice saying, "Watch out, trout", so Bernie realises that the keychain must have gotten hooked on his fishing line before a fishing trip.
After everyone cleans up the holes that the dogs dug, Bernie gives Helen, T.D., and Candy a lift to the dump so T.D. can drop off his things.
This episode provides examples of
- Animate Inanimate Object: Subverted. Candy thinks a ball bit her, but really it was attached to a keychain and the key poked her mouth.
- Collector of the Strange: Bernie is revealed to collect random junk, much like T.D.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Bernie claims typewriters are for sending "text messages" and old-fashioned phones are the same as cell phones, T.D. thinks people kept them in their pockets.
- Continuity Nod: T.D. brings up his collection at the dump, which he established in "T.D. the Pack Rat".
- Dramatic Irony: After Martha and Skits dig up a shoe, Helen finds a matching shoe and wonders where the other one is.
- Edible Theme Naming: The stiff old dog is named Candy.
- Flashback:
- When Bernie explains about his car, we see when he got it.
- One scene takes place when Candy got hit by a ball as a puppy.
- Then, we see how the ball got flung through the air — it got hooked on a fishing line.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: T.D. thinks cleaning out a garage sounds like fun.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Martha reveals that Pops, who's a friend of her and Skits's, is elderly.
- Lampshade Wearing: When he tries to help clean the garage, he ends up with a lampshade on his head.
- Noodle Incident: T.D. is revealed to save his old banana peels, hoping to get a "tremendous laugh" some day.
- Old Dog: Candy is an old, run-down dog.
- Running Gag: T.D. keeps wanting to keep Bernie's stuff.
- Seeking the Intangible: Discussed when Martha hears that Grandpa Bernie doesn't have his "vigour" and wonders if he's searched for it among his stuff.
- Spoof Aesop: After realising that he accidentally hooked his keychain, Bernie jokes that the "moral" is never fish in your yard.
- What Are Records?:
- Helen doesn't recognise a record. Bernie messes with her by claiming he invented them and they're "giant, black CD's".
- She also doesn't recognise a typewriter or an old-fashioned phone.
- Who's on First?: When Bernie suggests the dogs go and "see Candy", Martha says, "What's the point of just looking at candy?", to which Bernie clarifies Candy is a dog.
