At one time, I fancied myself to be a poet (I was the only one who did). I tried to write a poem about my dog, Lulu. It began, "Which muscle connects the tail to the wagger?" That was as far as I was able to get with it. After 25 years of trying to come up with the 2nd line, I have decided that the beginning and the end are the same. I'm turning it loose.
I was practically raised by the first dog I loved - Cindy. She was my guardian as I wandered the countryside as a little boy in Baxter, Harlan County, Kentucky. Actually, it was Gatun, Kentucky - a whistle stop on the L&N Railroad line. Places.com lists Gatun as a populated place in Harlan County, Kentucky. Good days! Yep, I'm a real hillbilly.
My daddy started the Poke Salad (Salet) Festival in Harlan; I was 12. It's still going 54 years later. So am I. My college roommate and friend, Wendell Ogrosky (eventually the Dean of Students at several colleges and universities and Vice-Chancellor at others) used to 'clog' at the Poke Salad Festival; that was before I ever knew him. Wendell used to introduce himself as being from a town so small that they didn't have a town drunk; they had to take turns. He hailed from Jeff, Kentucky, a 'suburb' of Hazard in Perry County.
I wonder if Bo, the First dog, is actually named for our president Barack Obama. Socks, the First Cat under President Clinton, was named so because of the white coloring on his paws that made him look as though he was wearing socks. Socks was also the First Cat in Arkansas when Clinton was Governor there. Lulu was named for an opera. I don't remember how Cindy got her name.
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Ah yes, this brings back great memories of all my canine comrades over the years. There's something about having a big slobbery oaf at my side that makes me feel truly human. By the way that oaf's name would be Zoey, she is a great chocolate labrador. 10,000 stories can be recollected about her, and another 10,000 more lost to mass memory.
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