Ravings of a Long Haired Dude

Faithful Critters

"Blogging Circle of Friends "  [E] Prompt:
Write about your favorite pet. If you don't have a favorite pet write about an unusual pet someone you know has.

I have had quite a few pets that I love very much, God rest their souls. I am petless right now. It would be hard to pick a favorite. For this prompt, I will write about two canine friends. Brothers really.

Lonnie (Lonzo) and Milburn were two dogs I had back in my wilder days. I named them after two brothers who lived near me.

I partied hard in those days. I didn't have a car at the time, so I hitchhiked nearly everywhere I went. When I left the house, the critters would follow me. I worried that they would follow me till I got a ride, but not find their way home. I tried every way to run the stubborn critters back to the house. I finally gave up. It didn't take long for me to realize that I didn't need to worry. I could walk for miles before I got a ride. When I got home, the beasts always were waiting for me. I would sometimes be off partying for days. The faithful ones welcomed my bedraggled hide home every time. Don't worry. I always left them plenty of food and water.

Lonzo liked to sing. Try to imagine a bunch of people in various states of mind singing with a hairy dog.

"Show me the way to go home"

"Aawoo woo woowoooo"

"I'm tired and I want to go to bed"

"Aaawwooo woo Woooo Wooooo!"

"I had a little drink about an hour ago"

Aaawwooo woowoo"

"And it went right to my head"*

"Aawoo wooo woooo woo!"

And so on.

Unfortunately Lonzo got poisoned. I found him in the yard one day, too late to help him. I don't know if somebody had something against me and took it out on Lonzo, or if it was random.

Milburn lived quite a while longer. He eventually went nearly blind. He almost ran off of a cliff once. It scared me very badly. During the Blizzard of 1993, he blindly ran off a bank into over six feet of snow. I had to slide down the bank into snow over my head to get the poor critter out.

I ran into some hard times and had to leave Milburn in the care of some friends. I fortunately picked good people. They took good care of my old friend until his dying day. He had the habit of running his head under my arm. I still remember him doing that the day I had to leave him. It hurt. It still does.

*I wrote this song in just because I can't remember any specific examples. He would do it to any song.