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The Comedy Club Contest - February 2021 Entry |
Peanuts When my dad bought a Shetland Pony for me, I remember the time when he lifted me up and sat me down on Peanut's back, and handed me the reins. Much to my surprise, Peanuts began to trot down the driveway, heading straight to the grain barn. My face turned a bright red because I tried to stop Peanuts, and when I failed to do that, I didn't know what to do. If I would've known to pull back on the reins, it would've been simple. Everyone that saw this happening began to laugh, thinking that this was funny. What I didn't know was that Peanuts was a circus pony. He knew how to play dead when he was commanded to do so by an adult. As Peanuts was trotting down to the barn where the grain was kept, I was so scared that I was shaking. There was a time when my dad hired a hired hand to help out on the farm. This hired hand kept bragging to me about how well he could saddle up a horse. I got so tired of him bragging about this that I decided to challenge him by seeing who could saddle up a horse better. He was the first one to do the saddling. He put the saddle on and began to ride. As soon as he went around the loop the saddle fell off. When this happened, Peanuts turned around and let out a great big huge horse laugh. Everyone began to crack up laughing, myself included. When it was my turn to saddle up Peanuts, the saddle stayed on. I won this challenge. Lera I had another Shetland Pony named Lera. She was the gentlest pony that the kids could hang around. We could crawl under her belly without any problem; she was fine with that. One day I got brave and ran up behind her and jumped on her back. This didn't phase her a bit. Little Joe A friend of ours had a little black pony name Little Joe that we took care of for a while. It was wintertime when I had an idea of hooking up a sled to him; I was thinking that this would be a lot of fun. We were doing just fine until Little Joe came close to hitting a fence because he couldn't stop. I was lucky that day that I didn't get hurt; I did have a lot of fun. Dog Out of Nowhere The day that I left my ex-husband, who, years later had passed away, I was standing at the bus stop when I turned my head to the left and noticed that there was a little dot down the road that was getting bigger and bigger. I finally figured it out and noticed that it was a little dog that was running as fast as its little legs would let it. When it got up to me it came to a dead halt and looked me straight in the eyes as if it was asking me if I was all right. I looked at it and asked if it was all right. It gave a nod and then took off running down the road. This dog came out of nowhere; I never saw it in the neighborhood. Fiesty, the Kitten One day I noticed that a very determined little kitten wanted desperately to get into our house. It was so desperate that it had climbed up on our screen window. I called this little kitten Fiesty and Fiesty she was; the name suited her to a T. At the time my husband didn't want to have a cat, so we weren't able to keep it. It sure seemed that this kitten wanted to be a part of a family as this one did. The owner did manage to take it back. Bozo Before the age of six, when I was a little girl, we had a little black and white dog by the name of Bozo. I remember Bozo going up to the mailbox to fetch the newspaper and then bringing it back over to us. It didn't seem like we had Bozo very long. I remember Bozo getting run over by a car and killed. The driver was drunk and thought that what he had done was funny. I remember crying for a long time when that incident happened. Pepy I was six years old when our family brought Pepy home to us. Pepy was part Rat Terrier and part Chihuahua. There aren't enough words to express how special Pepy was in my life. There was a Walt Disney Movie entitled, "Pepe and the Dancing Chihuahua". I've been told many times that animals are not able to learn anything by watching television. Well, I stand to prove them wrong. Pepy was with me when I was watching this movie. In the movie, there was a young boy that played the flute. If I remember correctly, while he was playing the flute, he would say to the dog, "Dance" and then the dog would dance. I decided to twirl my fingers round and round and tell Pepy to dance. I had done this a few times and then saw Pepy begin to dance. This little act made me smile; I thought that this was as funny as it was cute. When I was thirteen years old, I babysat for our neighbor's kids. Our dog Pepy was pregnant at the time. I remember how tired I was one evening when I came home from babysitting. It wasn't long after I had hit the bed, that I heard a little tiny whimper. I pulled down the covers and saw a little baby puppy. After that, I saw two more puppies being born in my bed. I named two of the puppies, Jeannie and Bandit. I don't remember what I named the third one. It gave me a great thrill to see these little puppies. Jeannie was tan and white and Bandit was black and white with black rings around his eyes. Pepy was around me most of the time; she only left to go outside to do her business and then came right back inside. Pepy was a part of our family throughout my growing up years. Pepy was well-liked by a lot of people. SkyRocket SkyRocket was a gelding that we had out on the farm. I don't know what got into me one day, but I decided to take SkyRocket into our living room. It didn't take long before I backed him right out the back door. SkyRocket also grabbed the potato chips right out of my hands, then he shook the bag for a little bit. I thought that this incident was the funniest thing. Billy the Lamb When I was about four years old, we had a baby black lamb on the farm named Billy. Billy was the cutest black lamb that I had ever did see. He had black curly hair. I was able to feed Billy from a baby bottle. I ended up laughing at how he would suck the milk out of the bottle. Buster the Dog My boyfriend's parents had a dog named Buster. I asked his parents one time if I could take Buster out to go jogging with me. They said that there was no way that I would be able to do that with him because they had tried it and failed. I, then decided to ask Buster if he would like to go jogging with me. Buster nodded his head. I took hold of the leash and started to jog. To my surprise, Buster started to jog right along with me. I thought that this was a fun thing to do. I took a special liking to Buster because he and I enjoyed each other's company even more after that. This was funny because each person in the family that tried to jog with him was unable to do that. This, I thought, was funny. Funny, according to my definition means strange or interesting. Chu Cho When I was in therapy, one of the therapists brought in a little Pug puppy to get some training on how to be a therapy dog. The therapist named him Chu Cho. He was a little black puppy. One day I had an inkling to ask the therapist if I could go to the pet store and get a treat for Chu Cho. I got permission to do so and ever since Chu Cho was my best buddy. I had an idea that came to me about a different way of training a puppy. I said to myself, "Why don't I ask Chu Cho what trick he would like to do for me today?" I asked him if he would sit for me. I gave the motion with my hand to do that. The first few times I was unsuccessful. I took out a treat and said that if he can sit for me, I would give him the treat. He finally did a sit-down. I gave him the treat and ended up teaching him to count to five, dance, roll over, and speak. All of these tricks were done when I asked him what kind of trick would he like to do for me today. When my mom passed away, the therapist sent Chu Cho to me for some comfort. I sure laughed a lot with this little Pug and sure missed him a lot when he wasn't around the facility anymore. Apple Here's a story about another Pug named Apple, another puppy that was being trained to be a therapy dog. Apple was a tan-colored puppy. Apple was a girl pup that had a very sweet disposition. she had a calming effect on people. She loved to make her rounds each day making sure that everyone was accounted for. by looking at her, you could tell that she was a happy puppy. It was nice to see how much her character had developed during the duration of her time at the mental health facility. Scruffy Scruffy was a little Yorkshire Terrier dog that had quite the personality. I've come in contact with a lot of Yorkshire Terriers that have bonded with me immediately by licking my face for a while. With Scruffy, you never knew what he was going to do next. He belonged to my boyfriend's parents. He would take off running down the road trying to find someone to be friends with. I would give him a bath once in a while. He was very patient with me; I sure appreciated that very much. There was a time that I took care of Scruffy for a while. I found it to be fascinating when I would get Scruffy's leash out to go for a walk or a jog. He would bend his head down for me to put it on. We walked for a while and jogged a bit. I had a lot of fun with him. There have been times when he would growl at me for no apparent reason. I wasn't able to figure out why he would do that. We did have a lot of fun together. I felt bad when I had to give him up. I wasn't able to keep him in my apartment, and couldn't afford to keep him. My eyes were full of tears when I had to explain why I had to let him go. Rocky My boyfriend's parents also had a black Labrador Retriever named Rocky. Little Scruffy and Rocky lived in the same household. It was so comical about this pair because little Scruffy was the boss. As big and strong as Rocky was, he just couldn't stand up to Scruffy. Rocky was a whiner. Every time that Scruffy would pick on Rocky, Rocky would whine continually, and whine he did. He was a big baby. He liked to take turns going through the house to check on everybody to see how they were doing. He was quite the watchdog too! When Rocky barked, everyone, shuttered. It was rather funny, in a way, the way Rocky allowed Scruffy to attack him as much as he wanted. It was rather humorous how much Rocky had enjoyed his milk dog bones. My boyfriend's dad would put out seven milk dog bones on the table, and that was all that he would get. Rocky would take one at a time until they were finished. When they were gone, he would come back begging for more. One time when my boyfriend was sick, Rocky climbed upon the bed and wouldn't leave his side. This shows how much dogs care for humans. Jorge Jorge was another pet that my boyfriend's parents had. Jorge was a blend of tans, blacks, browns, and gold. He was quite an interesting cat. He had a very distinct kind of personality; he had a meow that was different than any I have ever heard of in a cat. My boyfriend's parents had him since he was a kitten. What was kind of hilarious with Jorge was that whenever my boyfriend and I would lie down next to each other, he would let out a little growl; you see, Jorge wanted all the attention. Summary Whether it was animals that were in our family, somebody else's, or just animals that appeared out of nowhere, I've had many animals in my life that I've gotten attached to. I found humor in all of the animals that I have known; they've brought a lot of joy into my life. Whenever I've had a bad day, they would always be there to cheer me up; I could always count on animals to brighten up my day. There have been times that I laughed so hard that it made me enjoy them even more. I've been around dogs that have taken to me instantly. I've felt sad for a dog many times because it was paying attention to me. When that happened, the owner would yell at them to go somewhere else; the dogs were just being friendly. I could tell by the look on their faces that they were confused; it's as if they were saying, "Mom, all I wanted to do is talk with her, why am I in trouble?" I guess the owners thought that they were causing trouble. The Moral of the Stories The moral of the stories is if you're having trouble seeing the humor in all these stories, then, probably, you should go out and get a dog or a cat. They have a way of showing their happiness by wagging their cute little tails. You can't help but melt; this little act can make you feel bubbly all over; their whole body shakes and wiggles to show how much they love you. Animals are the best therapy when you're down and out; their cute little performances are always put on, especially for your benefit. Delightful, Joyful, and Happy; are genuine emotions that animals want to bring to their owners. They are devoted to doing those special things that bring the best out of a person. Remember to treat your animals with the respect they deserve. Life without animals would be truly boring. We need to express our love to them by doing little things that will make them happy. It certainly doesn't take much to do that; they just need to be shown, love. I'll just bet that your life will be more productive by doing just that. An animal's love; is the perfect remedy for what ails you. Talk to a pet today; this will take your troubles away. 2500 Words Written by Anna Marie Carlson Sunday, February 28, 2021 |