Good morning my friends. I was reading in my little book of facts early this morning in search of something to write about when I came across this interesting morsel of enlightenment. Vickie and I have been, what one would call, “Dog People,” ever since Gigi came into our lives. Well, I just read a fact that was sort of hard to believe and I hope you, “Cat people,” will take no offense…dogs are mentioned fourteen times in the Bible and cats are not mentioned even once. If you know what that tidbit of information means that will make our lives a little better, I wish someone would share it with me. We lived in the country when I was a young and just about always had a dog. Mama was pretty persnickety about some things and having a dog in the house was just one of them. Evidently our dogs were not very smart and living beside the busy Statesville Highway seemed to be hazardous to our dog’s health and a testament to their lack of intelligence. They often liked to run out onto the highway for some reason and most of them discovered pretty soon that they were no match for the cars and trucks that came whizzing down the road. Well, Daddy finally found us a little dog that was supposed to have some smarts, but sadly, she looked like a sawed-off version of Lassie. Lassie was a beautiful Collie who had her own syndicated television show and rarely looked like she ever needed a bath. She lived with June Lockhart and her little boy Timmy on a farm way out in the country. Timmy did a lot of dumb stuff growing up and poor Lassie had to save his little butt on more than one occasion. Lassie had whining down to perfection and could do it when something was wrong and she had to get somebody’s attention to little Timmy’s plight. Pretty soon, Lassie would be seen leading a rescue party right to the very spot where Timmy had fallen down a well or a mineshaft. Timmy evidently was not the brightest bulb in the chandelier and played in a lot of dangerous places. Anyway, I wished our little sawed-off version of Lassie would be smart like Lassie was, but that didn’t happen. To make matters worse, Mama named that poor, hapless dog, “Snooks,” after some character she had heard on the radio. What boy in his right mind would go around and brag about his dog named “Snooks” in front of his friends. Their dogs were named Mac, Spike, Prince, or King and regal names of which to be proud and here I was stuck with a dog named “Snooks.” Now, I thought “Snooks” was the dumbest dog ever made, but to give her credit, she never ran out onto Statesville Highway and she would always come when I called her. Daddy built her a little house and she lived outside for her entire life. “Snooks” would faithfully follow Daddy down the little dusty road to Grandma’s house every day and follow us kids around like we were somebody. “Snooks” was a loyal dog that loved us unconditionally and never required much care. I ended up loving that old dog until she finally died of old age. You see, it doesn’t make much difference what one’s name is, the main thing is to love and to be loved in return. That’s just one thing that “Snooks” taught me growing up. I had one of those names that nobody had heard of, either, and I knew just how she felt. I was always embarrassed by my real name, so my neighbor started calling me “Cotton” because of the color of my hair. I didn’t like being called that very much, either, but when I got to high school and the girls thought that “Cotton” was cute, I just let it slide…thankfully, they didn’t call me polyester. And, you know what; I eventually discovered what old “Snooks’ knew all along. A name is just a name, but it’s one’s character that counts and “Snooks” had character and never once took offense when somebody called her name...as far as she knew, they were calling her for supper and that was of the utmost importance. After giving it much thought, I can’t imagine what my life would have been growing up without the love of a dog “Snooks.” I hope your day will be a good one and if you have the privilege of being around a dog; give it a friendly pat and offer your face for a free lick. Gigi was known far and wide for her affectionate kisses and I wouldn’t mind having one right now. God Bless!!
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:39:46 +0000
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