My dog Bandit was, in the vernacular of my people, “a caution.” I imagine that this term is related to the phrase “a cautionary tale,” which means, “listen while I tell you what this person did, and then go do something, anything, except that.” And truly, dear Bandit did many things that I would not […]
Tag: pets
The further adventures of Raptor Boy
I get that chickens are close personal relatives of the dinosaurs, but what about cats? Look at this picture, and consider the curve of the spine, the counterbalancing tail, the back feet preparing to eviscerate, the glowing golden eyes, the slavering pink jaws,. . .at first glance, I thought he had gotten hold of a […]
All pets go to heaven
My niece Helen was quite young when one of her family’s beloved cats died. When her mother, my sister Laura, tried to explain what had happened, Helen became very thoughtful and said, “he must be licking butter off Jesus’ table.” What a heart-squeezingly beautiful image this comment conjures up. More recently, someone suggested to me […]
Adventures with Huey Long
I was quite grown before I learned that Huey Long was a Depression-era politician from Louisiana who was assassinated at a young age. During my formative years, “Huey Long” was an odd-looking dog who had volunteered to become a part of our family. We estimated him to be equal parts beagle, dachshund, basset hound, and […]
Adventures in pyrotechnics
Of course, it’s a fairly common occurrence for conditions to be too dry for fireworks. Here in Southeast Alaska, though, it sometimes gets too wet for fireworks. This happens when the ground is so saturated with rain that you can’t find a stable spot to put things down. In conditions like this, you might light […]
In which Dollop, the meanest cat alive, retreats to the attic
Many thanks to my sister Laura, lifelong advocate and servant to the feline tribe, for providing the raw material and the photograph for this story. I may have already written about Dollop’s general attitude towards life. His full name (A Little Slice of Pumpkin Pie with a Dollop of Whipped Cream) makes him sound all […]
The old woman and the mice
“Dibs on that mouse!” said our mother. My sisters and I were negotiating with her over a new Christmas coloring book that her sister, Aunt Kathy, had sent to us all. Said mouse was snuggled under a huge quilt, fast asleep, wearing an old-fashioned nightcap. We girls colored a lot of the pages, but we […]
The life and times of three girl dogs
For a period of about ten years, we had three medium-to-large dogs. The first of these three girls to join our family was Kushtaka (accent on the last syllable).* She was the third so-named dog in Scott’s family. I heard stories of the first and got to spend some time with the second. Koosh the […]