Peggy & Fiji

I am having some trouble with my e-mail. Mom will get it fixed pretty soon. Be patient.

As you can see our pineapples are coming right along. We hope at least one will be ripe before my human sister has to go home.

The following is the first installment of the dogs my Mom has owned and loved.

My lifelong love of dogs started as soon as I was able to distinguish that a dog was not a toy, not a thing, not exactly human but an integral member of a family.

Peggy, a Boston Terrier belonged to my grandparents. However, as far as Peggy and I were concerned, she was my dog. As a toddler, she was just the right size. As I got a little bigger, Peggy became the object of my obsession with dolls. I treated her like a rag doll,. picking her up at any angle and putting her in my doll carriage.

I moved back with my mother’s parents, who had no pets. During the time I was with them Peggy died. I’m glad I was too young to realize the loss of a pet. I only knew that when I went back to my fraternal grandparents, Peggy had been replaced with an English Bulldog named Fiji.

Fiji did not have a mean bone in his body. He filled the loss of Peggy with no problem. He was a little larger in a doll carriage but willing to suffer the indignities of being dressed like a baby. He was so gentle, even with the two kittens that had joined the family. I was allowed to name them and thus they became known “Snow White” and “Prince”.

Fiji had a basket woven bed with soft padding and an open front for ease in getting his bulky body inside. The kittens loved his bed and could usually be found sleeping in it while Fiji slept beside it, patiently waiting his turn.

I was allowed to take him out on a leash. We lived on a side street that ended at a dirt road two houses away. There was never any traffic and Fiji had no intention of going anywhere too far from home. He would just waddle along for a short walk. He was not into long walks or exercise of any kind. Perhaps that’s why he liked my doll carriage.

At this age I was back and forth between grandparents and for some reason did not question the whereabouts of Fiji. Perhaps I thought he was like me, going from time to time to live elsewhere.

My quote for the day by Mary Kay Ash.

"If you think you can, you can.And if you think you can't, you're right."