Some of you may have noticed  that many of my attempts at writing include something about the family dog or cat.  Almost every house had a dog and a cat.
I am in a different world and many things have changed, some for the good and some for the bad. Some changes I am not sure if they are good or bad. but mostly depends on the preference of the individual I suppose.
I am from a generation where we were fond of our dogs and cats. Our cats stayed at the barn and used the bathroom out at the barn or in the woods and found their drinking water at the pond or the spring.
They were valued if they were good mouse catchers, and ate mostly what they caught, and were sometimes given a bowl of milk when the cow was being milked. They never heard of a litter box or a toy mouse.
Now the cat stays inside the house...has free roam of the house including the eating table, uses a litter box and drinks water from the sink or wherever it pleases, eats its breakfast from a cat food can or the eating table ... and is treated as a child.
I am from a generation where the dog slept under the porch, and ate table scraps and whatever it could catch in the woods. It was highly prized and was often talked about as being a good stock dog, a good hunting dog, a good watch dog,  a good snake dog, or a good mole dog. Now the dog has joined the cat inside the house, sleeps on it's masters bed and is highly prized for how pretty it looks when it has it's nails all painted up.
Now let's make a deal, I will try not to roll my eyes when I see your cat eating from your eating table, or your dog jump up on your thousand dollar bed to take a nap. I will even try not to notice when you kiss them on the mouth, and tell them how much you love them. I mean after all it is your house, your animal and your business.
Now all I ask of you is that you not roll your eyes and give me that holier than thou look when you consider me some kind of animal hater. I am not, but I am from a different generation.
I will respect your right to keep them in your house if you will respect my right to live in a pet-free house and leave them outside when you come to visit me. I am pretty sot in my ways and if I ever get another dog he can find him a good bed right under my porch.
I will feed him all my left over biscuits, and when we have company come he will live like a king for a few days until the scraps are all gone. Yes, we will always make sure he has his rabies shots and take pretty good care of him and he will seem to think a whole lot of me as well.
He won't even know he is being mistreated when he crawls under the porch to sleep... Now how many people will I make mad with this article? Grin.
I can almost hear Dooley yell, “One of you girls left the back door open and that sorry cat is in the house again. Get off that table Tom and get out of here and I better not catch you in this house again.”
My book Needmore days is available at the Review office or at Prichards in Alexandria.
Remember your life will be better if you live it close to God. See you in church Sunday.