A Faithful Companion

                                 Timothy’s Captain Morgan

This is our faithful companion and intrepid explorer, Morgan.  She goes where we go and she sleeps where we sleep.  She makes friends where ever we go.  She barks at bumblebee burps, flea farts and horsefly hiccups.  She barks when  the neighbors have company and she barks when she thinks they have company.  She hates Mudpie, Guinea hens, and other dogs on her property.  She thinks that the little birds in the feeders are there for her to protect.  She loves kids and will play with anyone, especially if they throw something that looks like a ball or frisbee.  When she tires of playing she simply refuses to bring back what was thrown for her, often hiding it. She barks at people when they come to visit, and if you come in twenty times a day, she will bark at you all twenty times.  She never barks at the people that come in our house when we are not there.  We always tell people to beware that she is in the house, but she really doesn’t mind having visitors while we are gone.  Apparently, she is a watch dog that will watch while everything is stolen, except for her dishes and her toys, particularly her moosie, which she adores.

   Morgan is a bit overweight.  She weighs nearly twice the normal weight of a border collie, but she is on a diet now.  She goes to her dish and moves the diet food to one side and checks to see if Tim has put any gravy in the bottom, and if he hasn’t, she sighs and eats the diet food for mature dogs.  She runs to the kitchen when she hears a plate being scraped into the compost, knowing that mashed potatoes (with gravy) might be going in there. 

  Morgan is mortally afraid of ferret sneezes.  She cowers next to anyone that will protect her from the sound of Flirt sneezing, and should he sneeze in the night, she lands all four feet on top of my head.  She is not afraid of Flirt, just his sneezes.  She is also afraid of thunder, lightening, power outages, and power coming back on.  She is terrified of the furnace ducts, and when having to pass one she gives it a wide berth.  The one in the hall is passed by pressing against the far wall.  She is afraid of the words bath, tub, tubby, bathtub, and shampoo.  She will not willingly enter the bathroom unless one of us is in there when the ferret sneezes.  We now refer to her having a shower when that time comes, thus preventing us from having to drag her out from under a table.  Morgan loves to swim, but is so much against bathing that she won’t go in the lake if we tell her to go get her bath, and we have to hide the doggy shampoo until she gets wet.  Then we call her out of the water, and put it on her.  Once she discovers our deception, she again refuses to go back in the water until the shampoo is once more hidden.

  Also known as Million Dollar Morgan, she once ate the loaner car that our dealer gave us to use while ours was being serviced.  Apparently Morgie did not like the substitute vehicle and gnawed the door panel to the tune of a thousand dollars of damage in about five minutes.  The people at our insurance agency are still laughing about Tim coming in to tell them that our dog ate a car.  But they stopped laughing long enough to cover the damage, and remind him of it each year when we renew our coverage. 

  Morgan also knows how to spell.  Should anyone be foolish enought to spell the words “keys” or “cat”, she goes crazy wondering where those things are.  The cat, Mudpie, she wants to chase off and the keys means that she will be going for a ride.  She will steal the keys and take them to the mat in front of the door, growling and shaking them savagely, giving them up only if she is going  in the car.

  We love our Morgie and her antics and we hope to have her with us for many more years to come.

6 March 2010:  Our darling Morgan was laid to rest today, under the apple tree in the back yard.  We will miss her so much.  She was a very important part of our lives and she will never be replaced.  But,  even to remove the grief that we feel with her passing, we would not have missed a moment of the experience of having her in our lives, and she will ever remain in our hearts.

Cathy

  Cathy reminds me of a rein orchid.  This orchid blooms in late summer.  It is a delicate little flower that grows in the shadows of the wet woods and in bogs.  The flower has a lovely scent, and it seems to attract plenty of bees and dragonflies to ensure pollination. Cathy grows best in the shadow of her little family, quietly providing for them despite any obstacle.

Chez

Chez reminds me of a bunchberry blossom.  The pale white flowers grow in masses on the floor of the forest.  Hundreds of them bloom together in the spring, creating a carpet of white amid the ferns and bracken, always looking cool and fresh, and then, producing bunches of brilliant red berries to brighten the dying summer.  Chez was a middle child, sometimes overlooked.  But she grew to be a brilliant red berry that cannot be overlooked. 

Bub

  Sturdy and strong, the dandelion reminds me of my brother.  No matter how many times it is knocked down, it always comes back.  Dandelion seeds seem to be blown away on the breeze, but they manage to find a place to grow and bloom, like he has in his little family.  It’s many petals are like the many facets of his personality, tough and determined, gentle, kind and funny.  A perfect compliment to his chosen blossom, Daisy.

Thea

  Thea is like the lady-slipper.  The lady-slipper is an orchid that is rarely seen.  It grows in the woods where it’s pale color is often not even noticed when passing by.  But a close look reveals it’s rare beauty.  The lady-slipper struggles to survive and if plucked by a careless hand, might never bloom  again.  Thea has struggled and prevailed to bloom, a delicate flower with an indomitable spirit.  May she never suffer a careless hand.

Nicole

Nicole is our wild rose.  She is a beautiful flower that seems soft and fragile, with a wonderful scent.  But like the wild rose, Nicole is not as fragile as she seems, but strong and willful, growing her own way.  She won’t be restricted to the garden path and she will prick with hidden thorns, anyone that tries to confine her there.

Precious Time

    They grow up so fast.  We need to enjoy them while they will still allow us to.  Soon they will reach a stage in life that sees more important things to do than play with the grandparents.  They will see their friends more important, they will be embarrassed by the kisses and they will roll their eyes at us when we forget that they are getting older. They will soon want to  shorten their visits and leave long before we’re ready for them to go.  The small things that we do now will be old and boring and the lure of their friends will be more attractive. 

   I hope they remember spending nights with Gramma and Papa.  I hope they remember the days at the campground and the New Year’s Eves that they spent with us.  The Christmas dinners and the Sunday dinners, the car rides and the walks.  I hope they remember good things about us and tell their own children about our adventures.  I hope they learned something  from us that will pass down generations.  It is good to think that, although we won’t see them, we will have descendants a hundred years from now, and one of them might speak our name because they heard a story passed down about Gramma and Papa.  All because two little girls came into our lives.