Critters

Since I can remember, I've always had some sort of pet. No . . . not my brothers . . . but usually a four-legged critter that can cuddle with you or play with you and share life's daily adventures.

There is something about a pet.

It may be the unconditional love. It may be the fact that they somehow know when you need the most attention. When you want to be lazy, and that pooch wants nothing but to play ball, they win and alleviate couch-potato-itis! The way the kitties will, for no apparent reason, just race around a room, up a chair, across a table, and then stop, on a dime, tail twitching . . . to see what happens next. Or perhaps when you're talking to a dog, like he's your best friend, and he cocks his head completely sideways as though baffled by how you've let this alleged problem bother you at all. How a horse will nudge you when you need a little nudging. Perhaps that bird that snuggles - as best a bird can snuggle - when you just need a little quiet reinforcement.

They want nothing in return except a little food, some petting, and a little love right back. They are truly a gift!

I've had big dogs, like Sir Dark Star (really, that was his name) a humongous Newfoundland who actually carried me by the ass-end of my snowsuit while playing a game of hide and seek with my brothers from my hiding spot to the front door. It's was his inherent nature to save me. Chaddam was a huge Saint Bernard. King was the brother to my grandmother's Kong ~ a pair of German Shepherd's who were just stunning. (We might have had Kong and she had King - can't remember!) Apparently, via pictures, we also had a collie. We also had Charlie, a stray we took in who stayed with us for eons and then kind of vanished one day. Charlie was a beagle mix. One of the smartest critters we ever owned.

And then, we wanted a cat . . . so someone chased down a wild cat and we domesticated it. I believe the first cat was Smokey. Well, Smokey begot us Klingon, Sylvester, and a slew of other cats. We had bunnies, chicks, birds, and we tried to collect frogs. (Ew!) Some evil weasel or something ate our bunnies, one of our lovely cats got to our chicks. Thank God we were only bird watching as the folks that left them for us neglected to tell us that the parrots knew how to not only open their own cages, but the cages of the other birds as well. THAT was fun. The whole frog thing . . . we caught as many as we could and put them in an old tub in the back yard. We covered the tub with an old screen door. We literally had hundreds if not a thousand frogs in there and then . . . we dumped the whole thing over to experience the mass exodus of hopping hilarity! We were kinda different back then. We also managed to kill a turtle. It was a very cool turtle. We all wanted to feed it . . . and apparently we did. Turtles, as it turns out, are not real smart. If people feed them, they just keep eating. I'm pretty sure we fed it to death.

Now . . . on my own . . . I've had the distinct pleasure of Floyd, a Scottish Terrier, and Maximus, a black lab. The joys of critter ownership is rivaled by exactly NOTHING! There is just something about a life depending on you, and you, literally depending back on it. It's a beautiful bond that adds so very much to your existence.

Today, I am thankful for the myriad of critters I have been blessed with.