Christmas Dinner For Our Dogs!

Merry Christmas, Everyone! This morning when John arrived at 9:30—we went to work in the kitchen—preparing our dogs Christmas Dinner! We used 22 pounds of ground turkey, 26 pounds of mixed vegetables (corn, lima beans, green beans, carrots and peas), 1/2 gallon of olive oil, 6 dozen eggs, 2 pounds of cheddar cheese, 6 large sacks of cornbread stuffing, and 1 quart of minced garlic!

Halfway into our cooking project, Kinky showed up! We discussed the ranch, as he played armchair chef, while drinking coffee, and puffing away on his cigar. When Tony and John were nearly done preparing our dog’s holiday dinner, Kinky took off to get his sister, Marcie, and told us that he would be right back, and for us to go ahead and start without him. So, we did.

The buckets were so heavy—John found my pink bucket, and only filled it halfway full, so I could carry it. Then we made a game plan on who was going to feed which dogs. After it was decided, we took off in different directions to feed the dogs their home cooked dinner.

I first fed Ruth Buzzi & Chuck, Maggie & Opie, Wolf & Cookie, Clifford Antone & Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farm, and the two newly dumped dogs—that I haven’t named yet. Then I took off to feed Richard Pryor and Grandma.

Pryor, couldn’t wait for me to shovel two hearty scoops into his feed dish and began chowing down his dinner immediately. Grandma was sleeping, so I called her name and she didn’t respond. She is at least 14 years old, so I raised my voice and called her name, again. Still no response. I walked up to her and realized she had died!

I was sick. Before leaving the pen, I said a few prayers for Grandma, and I told her that she had been a great dog, and then I left the pen. Once outside the pen, I hollered, “Tony! John! Tony! John!”

“What?” Tony hollered, from a pen far away.

“Grandma’s dead!”

I was so sad. I then continued to feed, Mo Bandy & Mandy, Bridgett Bardot & Blackie, Pretty Mama, Jack Kennedy & Betty White, and in the last pen I fed—Dear Abby, Bocepheus and Bunny.

I heard the sound of Kermit, and then saw John and Tony pulling up to Pryor’s and Grandma’s pen, so I went over to talk to them about Grandma.

“I just hate that Grandma died,” I said to Tony and John. “Poor thing.”

The guys started laughing. “Grandma’s not dead,” Tony said.

“What?” I asked. “She was dead a minute ago. She wasn’t breathing!”

“Nance,” John said. “Lately, she has been hard to wake up, and I have to rub her back a few times before she will wake up. The first time she did this—I thought she was dead, too.”

I looked over at Grandma, who was standing up on all fours—eating as fast as she could swallow. I was so relieved and glad that she hadn’t died. “This makes my day. I was feeling so bad about her dying, and us having to have a funeral today.”

“When I heard you holler, ‘Grandma’s dead,” John said. “I was feeling sorry that Grandma’s last meal had been plain old dog food—instead of today’s holiday dinner. I was thinking, ‘if she had just held on one more day, her last meal would have been this.”

After, the three of us had finished feeding the rest of the dogs, Tony and John started cleaning the pens, and I went back to the trailer to wash pans—and start cooking our Christmas dinner.

Thirty minutes later, Kinky showed up at the trailer with Marcie. “Did we miss it?” He asked.

“I’m afraid so,” I said. “Y’all want some coffee?”

Kinky and his sister stayed, and drank coffee for about twenty minutes, and then they went back over to the Lodge.

At 12:30, John, Tony and I sat down and ate a pretty good Christmas dinner, but before we started to eat, I said, “Y’all, I want to say a little prayer, before we start.”

The guys solemnly set their forks down. And then I said, “God, thank you for not taking Grandma, today. Amen.”

After finishing our almost delicious meal, we visited for awhile and then John went home. Later in the afternoon, Kinky called to talk to me about Stuart. He was concerned about Stuart’s safety over at the Lodge, because of Mr. Magoo. I told him that I would take a few pictures of him, and post them on this blog tonight, hoping that someone out there, would want to adopt him or know of someone who was wanting an older Pomeranian. So, earlier this evening I went over to the Lodge and snapped a few pictures of the little guy with Kinky.

Stuart is a great little dog, middle aged, and needing someone to share his life with. If you can help him— please give me a call.

Please note: I will be out of pocket tomorrow, because later in the morning, John and I have to drive up to Junction to rescue two dogs, because their owner passed away. So if you can help with Stuart—please leave a message and I will call you back later in the day.