The Gift that Keeps on Giving...

This is sort of a flash back post. I regularly give my daughters trouble about not allowing their children to have pets (I know, not you, Sally). It got me to thinking about my own childhood and what great sports my parents were about animals. I mean, we had a great number of animals pass through our lives - no cats, though, for some reason my dad just would not have cats around. So I thought I would travel through my pet memories...
The very first dog we got was a Cocker Spaniel named Dumpy. I was five years old and dad brought her home from work in a box. When she practically flew out of that box I think I nearly fainted from shock. Actually, we named her Dumpling (think that was the parents idea) but I could never remember it and I christened her Dumpy. Kind of sounds like one of the Seven Dwarfs doesn't it? We had her until she was about 14 years old.

We had a number dogs become members of our family - there's not enough room to post pictures of them all. Here my sister, Debbie, poses with Cinder, a Dalmatian we had for years. She was a beautiful dog with a yen for freedom and a real need for obedience school. She often would escape the back yard, elude us for hours by running the neighborhood, keeping just out of our reach. It drove my mom nuts!


We got quite a few special pets at Easter time. Yes, we were those people who would purchase the blue, green, and purple chicks and ducks, keep them for awhile, then donate our grown and not so cute poultry to a local farm. One year we even got geese - it's not too obvious from the picture, is it? :D They were a fun pet, until we left for the weekend and came home to find two geese, drowned in their water tub! What?! Yes, these geese drowned!
Then, of course, my favorite pet, a horse named Honey. I was a member of the "horse fanatics." I read every horse book I could get my hands on. I knew my life would be complete if I just had a horse. I don't think my daughters agree that she was a real "horse." But to me, ponies counted. I realize that she looks really burdened in this picture. What she lacked in height, she made up for in spirit. She took me many a mile! If I feel like humiliating myself more, in July I will post a picture of me and Honey when we were in the Yukon Rodeo Parade. My outfit was quite stunning! And one of the best things about Honey was that when we got her....

she had a baby named Barney! We used to have to chase Honey down to catch her, but Barney did his own chasing. He loved everyone, he loved to be petted, loved to be fed, loved to follow right on your heels, and love to take a nip out of your bombosahaha if you weren't paying enough attention! I just don't want my grandchildren to miss out on the great memories that pets can add to your life! So, come on girls, do I have to start giving puppies as birthday presents? You know, Sam's is in a week and a half...