My great grandparents had all kinds of animals on their farm, from cows to pigs, chickens, mules and possibly others. But when I moved into this house (I had not met Blake yet), I had two cats Sammy and Callie. Sammy was a Siamese cat that someone had rescued and bottle fed because his mother got ran over by a car. Sammy was so tiny I could hold him in the palm of my hand. He was a little devil that one. He had a personality like none other. He wouldn’t let anyone hold him except me and that was only when he wanted to be held. He would let my youngest niece Courtney hold him for brief periods of time when he was little, but Courtney was a cat person like me and he sensed that. To everyone else, they didn’t matter.
Sammy, as some would say, was a little mean, but I just like to think he was very special. When I was living on my own in my mid 30’s, he did his best to warn me about a man outside of my house that was trying to break in. He kept coming over to me crying and urgently running through the house. Sammy was following on the inside as the man was walking around the outside. Then Sammy ran into the front dining room crying and crying just as the man was beating on the door to get in. Ever since that night, if Sammy came to me crying, I listened. He did that a few more times when people would be outside of my house that he didn’t know. He knew they were there before I knew they were there.
Sammy even tried to tell me the day my mother had her last aneurysm that things were not good. After I moved into my great grandparent’s house, my mother was walking up and down our dirt road for exercise. As she passed by my back door and started coming closer, Sammy began howling and crying and when my mother approached the back steps, Sammy bit my leg and ran away crying. He had his moments with his temper, but he had never bit me. Looking back now, I know he sensed my mother’s death and could feel that energy.
Sammy lived until he was 17 years old. I had that sweet baby for 17 years! Now, granted, no one else thought he was sweet, and honestly he really wasn’t but I loved that cat so much. My vet told me that it was a good thing that I loved Sammy because no one else would. He lived through so much with me. He died of kidney failure and that was very hard. Partly because I had another cat named Callie that had died two years before of the same thing. Callie cat. She was a true sweetie. She loved to snuggle and sleep with me. She was a good mouser too. I never had to worry because if any mouse ever got into the house, Callie would catch them!
Callie lived to only be a little over 11 years old. It was really hard having to give her fluids and shots. She was a trooper, but she just couldn’t get any better. I got Callie when Sammy was about 3 years old. Up until then Sammy had been the “only child” so he wasn’t really happy with me when I brought her home. Both Sammy and Callie moved with me at least 6 times and never left my side.
After Callie had died but Sammy was still alive in 2012, our home was robbed. Fortunately, neither Blake nor myself were home but Sammy was. He was traumatized by the event. The thieves broke the glass of an entire French door and scattered it all over my house. When I came home and discovered what had happened, I was so scared that Sammy had gotten out of the door and ran away, but he was hiding under the bed. Sammy was acting so bizarre after the robbery that I had to take him to the vet. The vet thought perhaps that the thieves may have hurt Sammy during the robbery because he was showing signs of head trauma. But it was determined that the loud noises and people running crazy through the house just had traumatized him. That’s about the time we discovered his renal insufficiency.
While at the vet with Sammy and telling him what had happened, the vet said “You need an outside dog for protection.” Well, after being robbed and precious items being taken, but most of all, security being stripped, I was ready for any ideas. The vet just so happened to run a pet rescue and had a couple of dogs in the back. When I went back, there was a hyper dog named Spike bouncing around and barking in the kennel. I just knew that was the dog for us! When I brought Blake up there to see Spike, he said there’s no way we needed a dog like that. Then he turned to the next kennel and there was a puppy named Prim. She was backed far back in the corner and shaking. I thought to myself, that’s not a guard dog. She’s scared of her own shadow. We need a dog like Spike. But Blake reached in and took her out. She was trembling and scared. She was tiny also. She was a German Shepherd-Chow mix. The vet said, of course, someone had dumped her out. That made me sad.
We left that day without a dog because I wanted Spike and Blake wanted Prim. So we decided to think about it. After a few days and another visit for myself with Prim, we decided on her. She was a cutie but didn’t bark or make much of a sound. I wasn’t sure of how much of a guard dog she would be. Boy, was I wrong. We named her Izzy and she is the best guard dog there is! I know if a blade of grass moves or if a new ant hill is being built! She is very protective of me, especially with strangers and that makes me feel secure.
After a year of Izzy being an “only dog”, I decided that Izzy needed a brother. So, the search began. Since Blake picked out Izzy, I got to pick out our next dog. After weeks of searching and a few visits to the animal shelter, we found Spiro. This dog was a Corgi-Golden Retriever mix. He was something else! His personality is so happy and he just loves belly rubs! After we brought him home, I decided on the name Jax.
And speaking of personalities, I think that it’s just hilarious that Blake picked out Izzy and her personality is just like mine. She loves routine and functions best with structure. She’s always on high alert and lets her voice be heard. Jax, on the other hand, who I picked out, is a kind of fly by the seat of your pants dog. In other words, just like Blake! He hates routine and structure and just goes wherever the day takes him. He bounces around like a happy kangaroo and just loves life. Not that Blake is anything like a kangaroo, ha ha.
With Izzy’s rigid personality, I’m anxious to see how she will react to the new farm animals that will be living next to her. I think Jax will be happy that he can make new friends, that is, after he’s gotten over the initial shock of things! Izzy isn’t fond of making new friends but I hope she will warm up to the idea of her new baby brothers and sisters. After all, the little kunekune pigs will be here in two weeks!
We are working on finishing the pigdiminium this week so stay tuned. Yes, we are about to begin great adventures on the farm!
