At different points in life, you have probably had one or more pets of different breeds, colors, sizes, and ages. Of all the pets that have been a blessing along life’s journey, there is more than likely one which stands out above all the rest. THE one may be cutesy-wootsie, bullmaster, Miss Priss, goofball, scruff mutt or any of hundreds of possible descriptors. But, the fact remains he\she was (is) YOUR pet, your friend, your companion.
My husband (Jim) and I have been fortunate to have had many pets from gerbils to dogs to cats each with their own unique personalities and of course, tales of laughter and woe. The gerbils by far left their mark many times over, especially when middle daughter felt sad for the male and female to be in separate cages. “But, Mommy, I only let them play together a few minutes!”
Then, there was Dock, the short-haired tabby that was rescued from old seadogs along the dock of the bay. ‘Fishbait’, I don’t think so! As a tiny kitten he fit in the palm of one hand and was brought home in hubby’s shirt pocket. One of his best Kodak moments was the time he shared his supper time with the mouse. Yep, there they were eating out of the same bowl glancing over at each other between bites. Naturally, it was a missed Kodak moment because the camera is never close by when you need it.
The raccoons were never really pets but did enjoy visiting the back porch and absolutely loved the dry cat food. The thing is the cat food was kept in a Rubbermaid storage bench. Here they were these two hungry rascals just at dusk – one would lift open the bench seat and hold it while the other got his fill. Then, they would trade places gorging on the tasty morsels as though they had not eaten in a week. You would think once they realized they were not alone away they would run. Nope, not these two! They looked up as though they knew it was time to go and one behind the other slowly meandered off the porch, down the steps disappearing into the twilight.
There are dozens of stories with Chief (the labrador) and Prince (the dalmatian) being the only dogs that graced our premises. Dogs are just great for kids, especially our son. These two, however, were nothing but just kids themselves. Prince was always the instigator with Chief nipping at his heels. The telephone call to the animal control was the clincher. Seems a call was received from a boat owner that could not get on his boat because of the dogs. The funny part is the phone call. “Sir, what seems to be the problem?” asked the dispatcher. The owner replied, “I need to get on my boat. There are two dogs – one is onboard guarding the boat while the other jumps in and swims!” It was about this same time we called in trying to locate our dogs who were missing.
Needless to say, today we have two cats, Foxie and Boots. Both were rescued under different circumstances. Foxie is a dilute calico and Boots is a grey long hair. You hardly see one without the other, especially during play time. They think the field mouse in the back yard is their play thing. They don’t hurt it, just scamper around chasing it through the yard until it gets tired. Then, they mosey off and let it go its own way.
As I said in the beginning, there is always that one pet that pulls at your heartstrings and has you wrapped around its paws. For us, it is Our Foxie. . .
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