Reminiscing about beloved pets through the years
I started the day reminiscing about Ol’ Bullet and the passel of pets we’ve loved through the years. Everybody has a story and I am sure a favorite pet, so you can relate to what I’ve got to say. The first pet that I remember was a Border Collie named Blacky that eventually got run over and I am sure others that have faded into the twilight.
Stella had a dog named Tippy and a pet skunk that she got rid of when we started dating. I often teased her saying, “You traded a skunk for me!” There’s a lot of things said about pets and some are worth noting.
Winston Churchill was known to say, “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
We did raise pigs, but they were not pets, though I have known folks that had a pet pig. Actually, most of our pets were dogs that had names like Bullet, Blacky, Lady, Spook, Rover, Rango, Freckles, and one named Kruechef that tried to out run a hay mow and a registered Collie that we drove to Marlin to buy the only dog I ever bought, and we owned him less than 4 months when he ate a batch of strychnine that a farmer had put out to control coyotes and that scamp died! His name was so long that we just called him “Dawg.” He looked like a lion and our 4 year-old Jimmy undertook an extensive training program complete with chair and whip. He was untrainable! The dog, not Jimmy!
Then there were a couple of Boston Terriers named Sparkle that did not have sense enough to come in out of the rain! After that, came a Irish Setter/Labrador mix that was a gold dust color that we called Dusty. Jimmy was a bit older, but he picked this puppy because, “He likes me so!” Then there was the dog that would run away to find a new home and stayed until he could run away from them. Later, there was Frances’s dog Charlie and his successor Shiner, they were both favorites for all the family.
Along the way there were quite a few cats, but they were barn cats with non-descript names. We were in Georgia when Frances picked out a kitten and I was sure it was a male until she had kittens. Then there was one simply named Mama Cat. Later there was a couple of yellow cats named Tiger and my memory sort of fades at that point until last August, when a Mama cat had a litter of kittens near the back door. We named the mama Augusta and called her Gussie and the two kittens that survived, one orange that we named Fire and one black that we named Smoke.
Their story is modern, extensive, and altogether another story of its own. And there were horses, Jack Rabbit and Ol’ Bald and a donkey we called Pedro. Stella’s Dad had a parakeet named DeDe Bird and we had a racoon named Jelly. I would say that was a smorgasboard of pets! I have checked to see what other folks have had to say about their pets, and here are their comments. Emily Dickinson said, “Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.”
And Jonathon Scott Payne quotes, “Indeed, there is nothing on this earth more peaceful than a sleeping, purring cat.” Then, “No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does,” opines Christopher Morle. “If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way,” remarks Mark Twain. According to Alexis Flora Hope, “Kittens are angels with whiskers.”
Someone said, “Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” And John Wayne said about horses, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” But my Mom said it best, when she simply said, “God knew what the world needed when He created pets!”
Ol’ Bullet
Well, there was a passel of us kids,
When that oi’ dog came,
We had wore out boots an’ cowboy lids.
An’ give that ol’ dog a name.
We called him Bullet, an he wagged his tail,
Then we fed him a bit,
An’ that made him our dog without fail,
You know Mom will through a fit!
Aww please Mom, he’ll be no trouble at all
‘Cuz he shore does like us,
He’ll be a big help with the stock this fall,
An’ never cause a fuss.
Once it was claimed that he chased the chickens,
But he was herdin’ ‘em to the pen,
On the trail where he raised the dickens,
Found a rattler ‘round the bend.
Yessir, he looked out for us young’uns,
In every predictament,
Warn’t to fond of us totin’ our guns,
We believed him heaven sent!
Bullet sprang into action to protect us
When Pap yanked off his belt,
To straighten us out after a fuss,
Discipline was heard, not felt!
Now that’s how Ol’ Bullet found a home,
Became a friend to each one,
Then one night, he decided to roam,
An’ a mystery was spun.
Because he was gone about a week,
Though we looked high an’ low,
Still, the outlook was purty bleak,
Seems he left long ago!
A scratch at the door brought us from our sleep,
To find that our dog was back,
With yips an’ shouts, we piled in a heap,
Like pigs in a towsack!
It was a mystery where that ol’ dog went,
An’ it went on for years,
Why, it was always a great event,
When suddenly he reappears!
It seems God matched us with that old dog,
To help us face the world,
And it was a fitting epilogue,
As God’s love was unfurled!
We each thanked the Lord for that great friend,
He raised us ‘til we were grown,
It was tough when his life reached its end,
Best friend we’ve ever known!
© Ol’ Jim Cathey
God Bless the love of a pet and God Bless America!
God Bless those old Hands that train the Buttons and God Bless America!
God Bless each of you and God Bless America!