Pets

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Starting the day way too early in the dark with the usual routine decided to take an early ride after coffee. It was cool and still spitting rain the leftovers from last night but not too bad as I strapped on the only pony available since the other is at the vets and noticed the quiet. The birds had just started their wake-up calls as I started the normal journey. Rows of dark houses and still cars lined were my silent sentries. No motion. No noise. This is the time when the creatures can feel free to find yesterdays leftovers and start their day. So the pace is a little slower than normal like I’m tiptoeing around.

After 10 miles and drying off I’m still a little weary so I lay down before the only show that I schedule around comes on. It must have been a short nap because I woke exactly as the program started. So for the next hour I lay in bed and listened. Today’s theme was about pets.

Unusual stories as always including parents replacing you with a dog or making videos for cats or trying to take your frustration out on an armadillo were enjoyed.

So after a trip to the grocery for burnt chicken wings for lunch and enough beer to watch a NASCAR race (what is with that, I don’t even drive?) and waiting for the sunshine to break through, I think about the pets in my life.

I don’t remember pets being a big deal in my childhood. Our family had a big boxer dog when we moved to Richmond. I think he was my father’s dog and my brother said he came with us from Keswick. All I remember about “Ike” was my dad picking ticks off him in the summer sitting on a wooden stool and dropping them into a cup of alcohol or him sitting in the middle of the busy intersections in front of my house with cars weaving around him. Ike was big enough to scare the mailman or intimidate my bully so I think he slept out on the back porch before it was enclosed. As I recalled he wandered off since we didn’t have a fence or at least that was my explanation at the time.

I think I asked for pets at some time, even though I don’t remember any of my friends having any. I got a plastic bowl with some turtles from Murphy’s but they turned green and died. Got a hamster from a friend who the next day had babies, then ate them and then died. I asked about another dog but only got a stuffed one for Christmas, so I forgot about having animals in my life.

Then I met girls.

There must be some training for girls along with keeping a guy waiting, having to go home too early and learning how to smell so great that guy’s drool, that they must have a cat. Don’t know what the strategy is, but girls have to have cats.  And guys have to have girls, ergo, they learn to accept “Fluffy” and “Cricket” and “Kiwi” and “Mister Bangle”.

So when I realized living with a girl meant living with a critter, I accepted it, fleas and all.

And I have had them all.

No, not girls…. Pets!

Some pets like fish or lizards are not real cuddly and some pets like a wild squirrels living in the bathroom do not really fit the description of a “pet” but there they are. Free range rabbits and ferrets and a half a dozen felines have filled this house with fur, bugs, litter, smells, deconstruction and all the necessary toys that come along with these fur balls. Scheduled trips to the store for supplies and repairs to shred or worse materials become the normal compromise for living with a girl.

Some of them were surrogate children, some were apologies, and many just heard the grub was good here and moved in. One after another did not outlive our family until the heart attack.

The puppy I never received as a child was requested to my rescue animal source and a sweet blond husky/retriever mix was presented to my front door. After the first couple of critters and the obsession for taking care of animals I agreed to my own realization of where I stood on the food chain, I could always rationalize releasing more control to the furry critters, but this one had a realistic medical excuse.  

The doctors said,” Exercise” and I thought that would never happen without an irresistible reason, so a puppy became part of our family and she required daily walks.

Now most of my days were spent away at work so I only had an hour or two to deal with the daily changes to my home environment to cope before sleep. Some seemed to adjust to me while others didn’t. One even thought I was her mother and would suckle on my arm until I bled. This was my adjustment to the critter crewe only to provide happiness which was my goal. I gave control or better said, family time to another to spend her time with the creatures who made her happy.

And I accepted this was the way it was and adjusted to it until Buffy. She was named after the vampire slayer that was the favorite on the tube at the time and was the puppy I never had. Though I lost control of her early on being only a passing fancy, she brought a special feeling in her eyes. Dogs are small horses and horses ride your spirit.

So this pup grew up with the wonderment of other critters always polite and thankful for a pet or a pillow or a hug. Even the walks brought out conversations with others like new-formed friends and the nightly visits to Murray were soft ventures into relaxation and joy of seeing two friends meet every night.

But all things come to an end. The kittens were easy to pass onto neighbor’s daughters and Codey enjoyed his freedom, but Buffy was a different matter.

For weeks I confined myself in the matters of the day and avoided what was about to come.

I guess these were my children I had not reared but adopted through the years and had learned the names given and provided the food and shelter to make their lives as pleasant as possible, yet there is a special feeling for a dog.

I now understand the picture of my father and Ike sitting on the porch together. A bond no man can have with another person or animal except this special friend.

I’m still bonded to provide for the yard critters that come visit me everyday and seem to enjoy the treats but they do not enter the house.

That is where pets become family.