My new pets

I will admit that I am not an animal person.  At best, I tolerate them.  It is a condition with which  I was born.  My mother placed a baby, Easter chick in my crib and I screamed, cried and tried to climb out the other side.  We did later have a pet chicken, Penny, who lived in the house for a brief period of time before becoming Sunday dinner for a neighbor's dog.

My family evidently had a pet dog and cat at some point.  There is a photo of my sister and I with a dog and a cat in the foreground.  Since I was not in a tree or standing on furniture, I must have liked them to some degree.  In my teens we had a Dachshund named Tiny whom I loved dearly.  I cried for hours when he was killed by neighboring dogs.

Our last cats -- Earl and Annie

Jerry and I had a couple of Cocker Spaniels who lived outside on our farm when the girls were children.  We also had a horse for awhile.  I helped take care of them but didn't really care that much about them.  We did, however, have lots of cats.  Somehow cats are more to my liking.  Maybe it is because they are independent and don't seem to care whether I pet them or not.  Our cats all lived out of the basement and came and went as they pleased.  Just the way I liked it.

When we moved to Nashville in 2003, we moved Annie, our calico, with us.  We cut her a door in the side garage door and she seemed to be adjusting.  She would sit on the deck railing sunning herself and keeping an eye out for birds.  Then one day I came home to see a neighborhood dog carrying her limp body away.  I jumped out of the car and chased the dog, screaming for it to release my sweet Annie.  It dropped her in order to jump a fence and get away.  A kind neighbor came out and comforted me back to my house.  Her husband, a funeral director, retrieved Annie for Jerry to bury in our backyard.  So much for the leash law.  That is why I don't like dogs.

We have been pet-less ever since and I like it that way.  That is until now.  We are now the proud owners of three goldfish who swim furiously around our new pond in the back yard.  My parents had a pond with goldfish and koi who would come up and eat out of my mom's hand.  I am going to train mine to do that.  I check on my fish numerous times a day.  I think I am getting attached.  See, I like animals.  My brother says a person doesn't really know how to love unless they love a dog.  Hogwash!  I care deeply for my two grand-dogs, Duke and Ace.  I adore my sister's four terriers.  But I reserve my genuine love for human beings, thank you very much.