Since we are having the Low Cost Vaccination event this month, I thought it appropriate to write about pets. Pets have made us laugh and pets have made us cry. They’ve made us angry and driven us insane. They have filled our lives with joy and have pushed us to our wit’s end. We’ve loved and been loved and for these reasons we know they are family.

Dogs are usually referred to as “Man’s best friend”, but in reality they are not just friends they are more like family. Time and time again we have “families” come in the store to visit. Some of the best are the burly, barrel-chested , ten gallon hat wearing men (I maybe exaggerating a bit), who bring their devoted teacup Chihuahuas or French bulldogs in the store. You can’t help but smile, and know they are nothing less than family. We have also had our fair share of Heelers come visit, which are always well-behaved and you know they didn’t learn that just from hanging around other dogs.   As you might expect, we have had a few accidents and there have been some tantrums thrown, but what relative hasn’t done that on occasion?

As far as cats go, they in my opinion get a bad rap. I currently live with a moody cat and when my grandson’s come to visit their usual greeting is not “Hi, Pop” but “Where’s the cat?” So, I do have some insight into how cats might get that type of reputation.   My family has had our fair share of lovey “family” cats over the years. We had an orange striped cat named Tigger that was quite fond of cozying up to my bald head while I was stretched out in the recliner. My children also had a trio of cats during their childhood named Kitty, Kitty Witty, and Kitty Witty Bitty (KWB for short). I’m just glad there weren’t more because the names could have gotten ugly. Think about that for a moment….. Well here’s another ditty about a kitty (sorry, I couldn’t resist). If there is a male counterpart to a “crazy cat lady” my son-in-law might fit the mold. He treats their cat like the daughter he never had. He talks sweet to her, cradles her like a baby and brings her empty boxes home from the store just so she can play in them. Brace yourself, I have even seen them lounging on the couch during sporting events whisker to whisker, literally!

To bring this month’s blog to a close, I’ll end with a little story. I inherited my family home when my Mother passed away back in 2001. Instead of selling it, I kept it and decided to use it as rental property leasing it out to families. A few years ago, my renter showed up at the feed store saying she had found something in the yard that I might want. It was a piece of concrete the size of a cigar box with words barely legible written in the concrete. The inscription said, Prince, July 1951- March 1952. Boy, did that bring back memories. Prince was a puppy from a litter, our dog Birdie had. We loved that litter of puppies which included King and Queenie along with Prince. (My siblings and I may have been a little more thoughtful in naming our trio than my kids were in naming theirs.)   Anyway, we kept Prince as our own and we were all devastated when he was accidentally run over, by a man that lived down the street. We were devastated because he was family, even if for just a few short months. My Gram got a cigar box, and mixed concrete to make a tombstone on which we wrote his name and then buried him in the woods between our house and Gram’s house. Now, you might be thinking that seeing the stone made me sad or you might be thinking why did they move the stone, but really it just brought back good happy memories. I have the stone at the store in my office today and basically, it’s a paper weight but what a memorable paper weight it is!