I Called Her Disney (part 2)

A few months later I had to move again. There was not alot of property but I built a large pen out of my whole back yard. I actually witnessed my 17 year old nephew pick up a telephone pole during that process. A quite impressive show of strength - but I digress. The pen was for Disney and Max and Skye. Max and Skye were my white german shepherds. I had allowed Disney and Skye free run of the farm but Max could not be trusted to run loose. He did get along well with Disney and Skye though - they were his private harem.

One day I came home from work and as soon as I saw Disney in the pen I knew something was wrong. Apparently while I was gone there had been a fight and Max and Skye tore her up pretty badly. I brought Disney in and nursed her back to health. This took several weeks as she had some rather serious wounds. Fortunately she didn't have the strength to tear the house up and she rather enjoyed the company of my yorkie and my maltese and my chinese crested.

I couldn't put Disney back out with Max and Skye again and I couldn't leave her in the house so I built her a large dog house and I had to chain her to it. I let her loose to run as often as I could. Unfortunately this led to another problem. SHE KEPT EATING HER DOGHOUSES! Almost as fast as I could build a new one she would chew it up so I was constantly in the process of building new houses for her. One day a branch fell off a tree and I watched her devour it. Her appetite for destruction led to someone calling the pound on me. Me! I have rescued more dogs and animals than most people can comprehend and here was the local dog catcher knocking on my door, checking on Disney.

I took him out to see her and I explained the situation to him. He observed the doghouse that she was tied to. At this point obviously unfit for habitation. He was also happy to observe that I had another house over halfway finished for her to go to. (it had been about a week since I tied her to the first house) Unfortunately neither house was quite ready for her to live in. Then he asked me, "why do you think she keeps doing this?"

My reply was, "I don't know. I've asked her a thousand times. Why don't you ask her and see what she tells you." I pointed out that boredom was the most likely culprit and I told him her history. I told him if he really thought she was abused then to go ahead and take her because I was doing the best I could with her. I pointed out that he would probably have to kill her because nobody else on earth was going to take care of her like I did. He left her alone with my assurrances that I would finish the doghouse immediately which was my intention anyway.

One thing I did learn in rebuilding all these houses is that she liked a window in the back of the house. If she had a window in the back and a door in the front she was able to see all around and the houses would last twice as long. (about a month) Go figure.

Then I got sick. I had to find all my animals homes. First my Uncle Jimmy took Disney. He gave her back after 2 weeks. She was tearing out the insulation and heating vents under his house. Then I gave her to Sis. Sis knew she was Disney's last hope. She couldn't tolerate her either but she found her a home up the head of a hollow with a family that had kids. The last I heard Disney was still there.

I Called her "Disney" (part 1)

I named her that because every day was like a Disney movie with her.

She was a black lab mix and the neighbors got her when she was around 6 weeks old. They promptly tied her to the fence and forgot about her. My other neighbors wanted to call the pound but I begged them not to. I told them I would find her a home because the pound would just kill her. They probably had 20 more just like her.

The neighbors fed and watered her. She struggled to get out of the hot sun by crawling under an abandoned car at the end of the six foot chain that was much too short for her. I couldn't find her a home. Then Daddy died. The last thing I did when I was moving was to go over and unhook her from her chain and load her into my van. I took her to my 35 acres that I was going to turn into a dog farm.

Of course she adored me. I gave her freedom and love. It didn't take long to learn that the 35 acres was not big enough to hold her. Even though she had free run she was tearing up everything in sight. She was bringing me neighbors possessions that I had no way of knowing who they belonged to or even of finding out where they came from.

Every day when I went to work she would follow me. The first half mile was a dirt road and then I had to cross a creek (no bridge). Then the road turned to pavement. At this point I would speed up and run off and leave her and she would turn and go back home - or roam the hills as the mood suited her.

One day there was a snow storm. She followed me out as she always did, only when I got to the main road I couldn't speed up because it was too icy. She followed me for about two miles. I was afraid to stop because of the road conditions so I kept going. When I got home that night she wasn't there. It took two days for the weather to settle enough for me to go look for her. I went to the last spot I had seen her and there were two old men talking beside the road. I asked if they had seen her. "Sure have," they replied. "She's over across the creek."

I looked across the creek and it was too icy for me to drove over there so I got out of my van and I yelled, "DISNEY!" I heard a crashing, thundering noise coming down the hill behind me. Disney was barking like mad and racing through the brush like it wasn't even there to get to me. She was thrilled that I had found her and we went home and resumed her hectic life.

The next time it snowed I kept her in the house when I went to work. There are not words to describe the scene of destruction that I came home to. I opened the door and she was sitting in the middle of a pile of debris (formerly my beloved possessions) a foot high, looking at me as if to say, "welcome home." I was so upset I had to close the door. I put her outside and I didn't look back in that room for 3 days. I knew I would kill her if I did.

feed time

This is a picture of my greyhound puppies at feed time. They are probably around 6 months old in this picture.

pictured are me, Levi (brindle in back),pamalama, preety, droid, baby greyhound and three spots. Saddlebags and paro are cut out of the picture.

I wish the cat was in the background. There was a stray cat living in the trailer when we moved in. I made it a home with food outside the fence but that was not good enough. Everytime we we would feed the pups the cat would eat first. All the greyhounds would surround him and when he was finished eating he would slink toward the fence. All of a sudden, with an undetectable signal, he would shoot over the fence with the dogs in hot pursuit. This went on every day and they never did catch him. I give him credit for training my pups to race. They did VERY well.

100 acres

This is a picture of Baby Greyhound (front) and her mother Queenie standing in the 2 acre field that I built for them. You can see the house off in the distance. I was probably happier on my 100 acres than any where I ever lived.

I lost it because of my thieving ex and my mom. I was hiding from my ex husband and my mom came to visit me. She couldn't stand the thought of me living in such a shack (it was deplorable but I had every intention of fixing it up) so she told my exhusbands nephew where I was. He promptly called my ex and he was back in WV before the week was out.

Unfortunately he loved me so much he had to kill me so once again I had to move. (sigh) My mom got her wish and did a very good job of destroying my future with the dogs.

THE GREATEST DOG TO EVER LIVE

This is Chuckles, my little, red husky. Bobby found her in a brown paper bag when she was probably around 5 weeks old. She was the smartest dog I ever had and probably the most beautiful.

After taking her to the vet when we found her, we located the owner. Fortunately I had known her since grade school and she let me keep Chuckles. We had her until her 8th. birthday when we had to put her to sleep because of problems with hip displasia and blindness. (she could not adjust to her blindness, it was making her a nervous wreck.) She is buried behind my ex in-laws house.

She brought me much joy and I still miss her.

I was so proud of this badge

It is my niece, Becca. She gave me this badge and I wore it for months. I loved it because she cared enough to give it to me. Her mom was furious because she gave it to me instead of to her. I offered to give it back but she told me to go ahead and keep it because "obviously she wants you to have it."

Here's what happened the time I drove naked

I was on my beloved 100 acres one day and I decided to go to my car to get my duffle bag. Well I was already naked because I was going to take a shower and it didn't matter because I was in the middle of 100 acres by myself. When I got in my car I decided to move it to a more advantageous spot to leave. I figured why move it later when I can move it now. The easiest way to turn it around was to drive it down the hill and turn around beside the main road. So that is what I did.

Unfortunately for me the car got stuck in the mud. Here I was sitting beside the main road with my car stuck in the mud and I was buck naked. It was 3:00 pm and school buses were going by and all the traffic that goes with them. There were no clothes in the car or blankets or cover of any kind. It was hot that day and I sat there with the heat building up inside of the car because I didn't want to roll down the windows because somebody would see me.

Finally I saw my chance. There was a break in traffic. I threw open the door and started running for the woods. I couldn't run up the road because you could see to the top of the hill from the road. I had to hit the woods. Right when I hit the woods a car rounded the curve. I don't know if it saw me but I do know that running up a mountain in bare feet(and body) is not a fun thing. The ground was full of rocks and briars and all sorts of painful things to hurt my tender skin.

I learned my lesson. I never drove my car naked again!

Just Curious

I can remember "the gang"

In high school I ran around with a group of 13 girls. We were collectively known as "The Gang". Among ourselves we were the "Slut Club". We were the "Slut Club" because that is the exact opposite of what we actually were. We were the biggest group of bookworm, high achievers to probably grace the halls of Logan High School. None of us ever skipped a day of school and rarely did we get in any kind of trouble. You know, just average kids.

Can I remember their names?

1. Pam - me- greyhound trainer

2. Sami - corporate attorney

3. Suzanne - ballet dancer/massage therapist

4. Bella - nurse

5. Delana - teacher, married her high school sweetheart whom she fell in love with in biology class when he wouldn't stop writing on her arm.

6. Cindy - mother, home schooling her kids, singer, very religious

7. Mary Ruth - I don't know

8. Gina - I don't know

9. Gina - I don't know (yes, there were 2 Gina's)

10. Liz - teacher (she hated me)

11.Kristie - married while still in high school, pregnant, we were all so shocked by this.

We all attended her hastily planned marriage. When it came time to catch the bouquet Sami and I were hiding in the back of the crowd completely horrified that we were being forced to participate in such a barbaric custom. We weren't even paying attention when all of a sudden - FWACK!!! - the bouquet hit Sami solidly in her ample bustline. Then it fell to the floor. Sami and I just looked at each other and then at the bouquet thinking "what are we going to do now?" We decided to present it to Kristie to keep as a memento of her wedding. I guarantee you that Kristie treasured her bouquet much more than Sami would have. She would have thrown it away as soon as she got home.

12. Andy (short for Andrea) - works in hospital

13. Yvea - wannabe actress - last I heard she landed a doctor.

Amazingly enough alot of people form high school still recognize me even though I have gained over 100 pounds. The hair is basically the same - maybe that's it.

The Little Red Toyota

I was a car dealer's daughter. That means that I had an endless variety of vehicles to drive in high school. They weren't really given to me, it is just that my dad would sell what I was driving and give me something else to drive until he sold that car too. The exception was the little red toyota corolla.

My friends and I would carpool everywhere together in that car. Sometimes there would be so many of us that they would be piggyback on each others lap just to fit. We looked like the opening to "The 70's Show" most of the time. Everyday on the way home from school we would pool our money for gas (gas was 78 cents a gallon back then) and I would drop everybody off while doing whatever "necessary" errands we had on the way. We went to the movies and skating and shopping and all the places that teenage girls need to go.

When I graduated my dad gave me the car officially. This surprised me because I thought the car was already mine. I was still happy. I used the car to go back and forth to Ohio State, burning up the highways everywhere I went. (the thing handled like a racecar!) When I came home for the summer my intention was to transfer to Marshall University in the fall. That didn't happen.

My dad kicked me out during a huge family blowout and took the car back. He returned it a few days later. A couple of months later, I got in trouble for driving the getaway car in a robbery. My parents took the car back again. Then I was married a year later. They gave me the same little red toyota back for a wedding present. That car actually saved them a fortune in money for presents for me.

I loved that car. Bobby and I drove it until it rusted apart. The engine was still good, so I sold it to somebody that actually used it to race on a dirt track. Back then the body of a toyota would disintegrate long before the engine went out. I remember one day I was driving along and my hood flew up and hit my windshield. Fortunately I managed to stop the car without wrecking. I went to the front of the car to see what had happened. The hood latch was actually still latched. All around it though the metal had corroded so the hood had separated from the latch.

I saw a car just like it in the early 90's on a trip to Florida one time. My car was worth much more than it was, but I was so tempted to get that driver to pull over and trade me even on the spot. I think it would have been worth it.

"It builds character"

All of my nieces and nephews learned the meaning of that phrase from me. I am a wonderful aunt and without fail they used to run to me and tell me the woes of being a child of their respective parents. As they would whine to me about their complete list of injustices commited by mom or dad or both they would look to me for support and ask "why, do I have to suffer so much?" - or some such variation of the question.

My reply without fail was always, "it builds character." I said it so often that the kids would usually answer their own question with sing/song sarcasm "I know, it builds character."

Now that they are older I intend to ask them how they feel about all the character building their parents engaged in. I bet it gets a laugh.

My 13th. Anniversary Picture

This is a picture of Bobby and I on our 13th. anniversary. I left him just a few months later on Friday the 13th. I never gave any particular significance to the number before then. This is the first time I have seen the picture since then. (1995)