I like lists . . .

I sometimes think in lists, positing goals for the day, reviewing garden chores and the like. Out walking the ladies this morning in the foggy predawn of east Texas with a list of all the dogs that have been a part of our family . . . here are pictures of Thelma (lower left) and Blondie (on the right).

Maggie and Jiggs (some background) were a pair of hound dogs we adopted about the time I started to school - they weren't really kid-dogs, more true country hounds. We lived "out in the country" of north-central Texas with a water well and kerosene lamps. No pipes, no lines.

When we moved to town (Windthorst), a neighbor gave them a home. They were too country for town. My Shadow was a small black and brown female and she was definitely a kid-dog. She loved to go down into the storm cellar (if the cover doors were open) and sleep during the mid-day heat. In Windthorst, we had all the luxuries: running water, electricity, a store that sold practically everything, including groceries, within walking distance.

Then to a bigger town (Archer City) and I was old enough for 5th grade football. We lived beside the highway to Wichita Falls and My Shadow got a friend, a real coon hound named Snooker. In case you're not sure about the name Snooker, here's some background. Our adult male of the house played snooker at the pool hall - he was good at it.

Snooker was a great dog, a good kid-dog, but not as smart as he should have been. Now that we no longer had a storm cellar, My Shadow would find a bush or something to lie under or during cold days, the stepping stones in front of our house. On cold days, Snooker liked the middle of the black asphalt highway that ran north to Wichita Falls. We didn't have a fenced yard and didn't like to see dogs tied up. The highway was all that busy most of the time and he was pretty easy to see, but I don't think he was popular with the drivers. Every time we would find him on the highway he would get a scolding and all the dire possible consequences would be explained to him. But, he was either stubborn or just plain dumb. We had to find him a new home, away from the highway.

We moved northward to the panhandle (had to go where we could find work) just north of an even larger town (Plainview). The area we moved into was called Seth Ward (some background) and while it had an elementary school, I had to bus into Plainview for the middle school (in Plainview, we called it Junior High). Seth Ward had a great barber, a Mrs. Dean who cut hair in what must have been her "front room." Nice woman; she knew how to cut hair and she had a singer son. We adopted a new friend: Button Nose, small like my shadow but a little less laid back. Still, she was mostly a kid-dog and like to prowl the empty lots near the house.

Time to start on a different list, some Saturday morning chores to get the household moving and fed - I'll finish my dog list later.