Good Dog, Joe Fred

During 2011 I lost my dog, Joe Fred.  Joe Fred was 14 and the best dog I ever had.  A chocolate lab that weighed about 90 pounds with an even temper.  He only barked at the deer in the pasture and an occasional stranger. Occasionally, he would corner a rabbit or squirrel.  I don't know how he ever moved fast enough to catch them.  Must have caught them asleep in the yard.  He could jump the fence, but would only do it if you were on the other side and he felt left out.  He would ride mainly in the bed of the truck,  But, if it was raining, he rode in the cab while my wife rode in the back.

When Joe Fred was still a pup, we had just bought a beach cabin on Bolivar Peninsula.  The cabin was a "fixer upper" and was in a state of remodeling.  We had no air conditioning and left the windows and doors open at night.  That first summer a "red tide " had caused a massive saltwater catfish kill and they were all over the beach.  I awoke one morning with Joe Fred licking my face.  I instantly detected a very foul odor.  I looked on the floor and Joe Fred had brought me one of those rotting catfish.  As the years went by we spent a lot of time at the beach.  He was my constant companion. If I tried to fish in the surf, he would swim out to where I was standing. 

Joe Fred and his litter mate and sister, Reno. 

A good dog is hard to replace.

 

Scars Are Tattoos With Better Stories

Last week one of my co-workers got a new tattoo.  It was her second tattoo.  The first one she got about nine months earlier.  The interesting thing was she was 49 years old before she got the first one and the second came a week after her 50th birthday.  She told me that once she got the first one, she just had to get another one.  I have heard many people say, that once you get one, you immediately want another one.  Her boyfriend isn't too thrilled and she plans to hide them from her Mother.

My office mate has several tattoos.  The last one was designed to honored a friend that passed away at an early age.  It included images that celebrated their special relationship. 

 

Dragon

Some of the tattoos have specific meaning and some just like the design. 

Half of the tattoos are on women and half on men.  Most are not visible unless you ask to see them
As for myself, I have no tattoos, just scars.  Once while sitting in my chair while wearing shorts,
my daughter looked at my knees and said, "Dad, if you had one more scar, we could play tic tac toe.

Scars from five surgeries.  Two football, two from being clumsy and one from a knee replacement