November 20, 2004
Saturday Question of the Day
Every Saturday I'll try to come up with some "out there" question that just makes you stop and think about something not so important. Think of it as a mini vacation. If you have any ideas drop me a line and we'll throw it in here. Who knows, it might be fun.
OK - Here goes:
Tell me about your favorite pet.
I've had a few over the years. Some cats, 2 before the divorce and many since, and a couple dogs. But hands down, my favoritest pet was my puppy Love. Yep. Love.
It was the spring of '72. Mama and Daddy decided I could have a puppy. What made them decide on a Boston Terrier I'll never know. I had never seen one in my life.
We went to the breeder and she took us downstairs to look at the newest batch of babies. There they were. All these tiny little black and white bundles of energy, all fighting for my attention. Except for one. She sat way in the back of the bunch and just looked at me with her head tilted to the side. She had one brown eye and one blue eye. Her markings were all wrong (so they said) and come to find out she was the runt of the litter. And I wanted HER.
She was the sweetest thing. On the drive home Daddy asked what I wanted to name her. I realized this was a very serious responsibility. Afterall, a name is forever. It gives people their first impression of you. I held her, and snuggled into that little neck and announced her name was LOVE. Tammi's Little Love.
Daddy kept asking if I was sure. I was positive. I remember hearing him mutter to Mama, "just great...now I gotta go out to the yard and yell Love, Here Love. What will the neighbors think?" and then laugh.
Here she is when we first brought her home
Love and I were inseperable. The timing was perfect because we got her on Memorial Day weekend so I only had a week of school left. I couldn't get home fast enough. I took her to youth group with me, I took her to Girl Scouts - she even became our mascot. She was just the kindest puppy ever.
And I adored her. She was mine. The first thing that ever belonged to me. Loved me the most. Listened to me. I was responsible for everything about her and took that responsibility very seriously. And so did she. She was very easy to train, and just soaked up every bit of attention.
Like everyone else, she mourned when Daddy died. Spent all her time going from one of us to the other to snuggle and give love. Then she'd go stand by the back door, as if waiting for him to come home. The night before he died she settled herself in his suitcase and wasn't about to get out. Daddy had to spend a little extra time with her just to make her feel better.
Love lived a good long life. We adopted her when I was nine and had to put her to sleep when I was 19. She never gave us any trouble, never made a mess, never chewed anything. It seemed like she was extra good. Just so grateful that we loved her, gave her a home. No pet I've had since has been near the sweetheart that she was.
She wasn't the prettiest of dogs. But she was mine. And she loved me.
So tell me about you're favorite pet.
While we had many dogs, one definitely was my favorite. We had a big white Chow named Mitzi (short for Mitzipoochie). One of the coolest dogs to ever walk the earth.
Chows are known to be mean, and have an attitude. Mitzie obviously never figured that out. She was always following us around with what looked like a big smile on her face. It was funny as hell ... she really looked as if she were grinning. The more you talked to her, the faster her curled tail would wag, and the larger the grin became.
She used to love thunderstorms. It would be raining, thunder and lightning all through the sky, and she would be standing in the yard just looking around, tail wagging. A happy dog.
Can't really tell too much more, keyboard is blurry.
Posted by: That 1 Guy at November 20, 2004 01:12 PMI find myself unable to answer this.
I currently own EvilDevilCats and one tends to stand out.
She loves to argue with me.
But. . . my dog from long ago, has a special place in my heart also.
She was a Sheltie, and I miss her dreadfully.
(my ex had her put to sleep instead of letting me have her when we split up)
But. . . when I get to missing her, the main EDC aka Ugly does something stupid, and well. . .
Wow, Tammi, I've been blessed with so many wonderful pets all my life, picking one seems almost unfair. But here's a recent one that stands out:
Chinook - a purebred Alaskan Malamute I bought as a puppy. Full grown, he was a 100 lb. wolf-lookin' thing that just absolutely loved every human being he ever met, including my infant son who came along a year after him. He'd let a six-month-old crawl all over him, pull his ears, fall asleep on him (Chinook would NOT come when called if that baby was asleep on him - would NOT disturb a sleeping baby). A big, happy-go-lucky goofball is what he was. Never barked, not even when greeting strangers. He always gave a friendly wolf howl, with his huge bushy tail wagging at full mast.
Life circumstances caused me to have to sell my 5-acre place where I lived and move to the city, so I had to sell Chinook. He went to a lovely 500-acre farm with two adorable little girls that fell in love with him on sight; I know he misses me, but I also know he's happy where he is, too. I called the new owners two weeks after they took him to a new home. The woman of the house informed me that Chinook had some kind of internal clock and knew when the girls' schoolbus was due to arrive. He gets up from the porch, ambles down a 1/4 mile driveway, arriving at the road just in time to greet the girls and escort them back to the farmhouse. Did my heart good to hear all that.
Posted by: Jeff at November 21, 2004 02:35 AM