Dog

 Animals were always apart of our family. Starting in 1951 we always had Beagles in our house. Whether the dog was a male or female their name was always LuLu. Front time to time, I mentioned there were other breeds in the home but Beagles were our go to dog. One more thing for Nan to clean up after.

One time she was visiting Abigails' home, she decided to take their female dog Stella out for a walk. They lived in a rural part of a southern state surrounded by a heavily wooded area. Stella was 150 pounds of solid Husky. She was calm and playful in the home, shedding hair with every step she took. The leash was on and the storm door was open. As Nan proceeded to push open the screen door Stella saw a squirrel. Nan had the leash in one hand and the door in the other hand. Stella took off running, ignoring the 125 pound lady flying behind her. Nan literally flew out the door with hands and feet in the air like a jet plane. She forgot to let go as Stella took a 25 foot hop toward the squirrel. Ten feet later Nan let go of the leash. She had leaves and twigs in her mouth, a torn shirt, holes in the knees of her pants and her shoes were no where to be found. Everyone came running out to help Nan to her feet. Stella was halfway to Florida.

 Nan always took pride as a babysitter of her grand and great grand children. A secret eye in the back of her head proved you could not pull one over on Nan. One night after giving six of her great grandchildren a bath, each wrapped in their own towels, She proceeded to dry everyone's hair, the girls obviously took longer. When the bathroom door opened she realized she only had 5 heads to count. There was a missing child. They all rushed out of the bathroom trying to see who would be the first one to put on their pajamas. Nan started searching and she found the missing child. He hid behind the dining room curtains so as not to be detected what he had done. Their dog Oscar was 140 pound, 4 foot tall, with jet black hair but not that night. The children started screaming when they saw a Abominable Snow Dog running toward them. Her great grand sone had taken baby powder from the changing table and covered the dog and himself in powder. The children were screaming in delight. Paw steps and foot steps were in every corner of the house. Nan sat down and tried brushing the powder out of the dog's thick coat, There was a light coating of soft white powder around the house. Nan laughed and every one went to bed with a funny story to tell.

I had torn my ACL in a skiing accident. My husband was going to be out of town for two weeks. Nan decided to come and help me after surgery. I was on crutches, needed help getting to and from therapy three times a week and Nan was totally committed to my recovery. We had a 120 pound female Rottweiler  her name was Beverly and a 70 pound male Golden Retriever his name was Mickey. Nan did not have to walk them she just had to feed them. What happens when you feed dogs they do one thing- they SHIT. Someone has to clean it up. After a few days Nan asked me if we could feed them less and I said NO. Beverly was 5 and use to her hefty meals, Mickey was 4 would eat quickly or else Beverly would eat her food too. Doing exercises, getting in and of the shower, climbing in and out of the water bed were all time consuming chores for Nan and myself. Nan asked me if we could hire someone to clean up the DOG SHIT?  

There is a limit to what a mother is willing to do.