A Special Tribute Part 2
When he got old enough to go on daily walks my husband got up early every morning and took off with him in his red convertible. My husband said he had found a good road that had very little traffic. This went on for some time before I realized exactly how the walks went. My husband would stop at one end of the road and let K out and drive beside him until he was tired out. He would then climb back in the car and they would proceed to a fast food restaurant drive-thru. My husband would order several sausage biscuits and as the employees came to realize they were for K they soon started giving them to him free of charge. As a matter of fact they would give him a whole bag of different kinds of biscuits, ham and cheese, sausage and egg, etc. Of course, we would only allow him one so that we could manage his weight. We were never given that courtesy, only the dog!
My son used to roller-blade and they would sometimes go through the drive-thru window, until management finally became aware of it. All the employees had great fun with it while it lasted! There was nothing that those two didn’t do together. We lived on a lake and they would go jet-skiing together, boating, and swimming. As my son would often say to me, “What is a boy without a dog?” K was his closest friend and ally.
Almost everyone that knew K loved him. He had the type of personality that made everyone feel special. We kept him in a huge fenced in yard when we put him outside, but sometimes when friends would come over they would forget to close the gate and he would make his escape. The dogcatcher patrolled our area regularly and got to know him better than I would have liked. Instead of putting him in the back with the other prisoners, K would hop up in the front seat and ride around all day with this guy until they finally reached the prison (pound). The dogcatcher said he was great company and loved to have him along for the ride. The thing is, it cost me $50.00 every time for the guy to have K’s company.
If the dogcatcher didn’t get him, the mailman surely would. Yes, they were great friends, too. The mailman rode around in one of the small UPS looking mail trucks and K would ride around with him for hours. The mailman would take him to the post office and let him go in and hang out with all the other postal workers in the mailroom. Sometimes I would get a phone call and go pick him up or the mailman would bring him back home. He knew all our neighbors and most of the town way before I did.
Every summer we would spend lots of time outdoors, usually engaging in water sports on the lake or around the pool. We invited lots of guests over on the weekends and the first thing I would do is make an announcement for everyone to keep all valuables put away safely. I would include sunglasses, wallets, shoes and booze. It never failed that at least one person never listened. I could only apologize for the eaten designer sunglasses, shoes, and the drinks left unattended that were slurped out of! Some people would realize that alcohol kills germs and so they would just drink their poison as if nothing had happened. I’ve been told that a dog’s mouth is one of the cleanest in the world.