MY SPECIAL FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS

Finding old photos while unpacking is like an unexpected gift ... time to stop and enjoy the memories ... I'm going to post some photos of our 'extended family' ...

When we lived in Grants Pass, Oregon, we worked on weekends at a place called Tigerville .. it's now reinvented itself as 'Out of Africa' in Arizona. My favorite of the big cats was this Siberian female called Brendal ... a magnificent 600 pound big cat .. She would respond to my 'big cat hello'. Isn't she beautiful?


These are two of our feline friends ... Fluffy on the left (Rich named her) and Dusty (my name) .. Both were adopted from the local humane society. Fluffy lived to be 23 years old and Dusty died of fibrosis when she was about 10 years old ... we had her for seven years. She had been surrendered for unknown reasons, after being declawed and she had a short, kinked tail .. but what a character she was!

Martini was our first German Shepherd .. she and her littermates were orphaned at 4 weeks of age when their owner tossed salmon scraps away and the pups' mother got out of her pen and ate it. When we went in the pen, we decided to let the pups choose who wanted to come home with us. Martini came and sat by my feet after the others went and laid down after checking us out. She was so tiny when we brought her home at 5 weeks of age but grew up quickly.
Here she is at maturity. She was easily house-trained and obedience-trained .. in fact, she was trained to use her own 'bathroom' we created for her on our property. She lived to be 14 years old.
I had an article printed in Dog Fancy about the 'bathroom' .. with instructions on how to create one and how to train dogs to use it.



Gypsy was our second German Shepherd ... Martini had both knees operated on and became a couch potato so we thought a pup would get her moving again. It did! Martini enjoyed playing with Gypsy until Gypsy outgrew her, then it was a different ballgame .. but Gypsy respected her big sister right up to the time of her death. Gypsy was such a special gift that we never adopted another dog after she passed on.


Here's a great photo of Martini and Gypsy with the little lady who ruled the house ... Calico. She was a 'drop off' near our house when she was about 18 months old .. she made herself at home in our carport loft and eventually became a house cat. She was the same age as Martini so when Gypsy showed up as an 8-week old rambunctious pup, it was Calico who taught her the lesson she never forgot ... Don't mess with the lady of the house!

This is dear little Calico .. with a face like that, I don't understand how anyone could just throw her away like they did. She was Miss Personality! We took her in, had her spayed, vaccinated, etc. and she was our chicken protector. I'd find her lying in the hypericum keeping tabs on our half dozen chickens after I let them out in the morning. Nothing ever bothered them with Calico there as sentry!





One of my favorite photos of our 'extended family' is this one of Martini and Calico. They were lying on the deck outside the living room one day, both fast asleep, so I grabbed my camera and went out quietly so as not to disturb them. Of course, when I got near them, they both woke up but I told Martini to "stay", and I snapped the picture. See what I mean about Calico ruling the roost?