Thursday, February 19, 2009

Dear Old Dad

Reading this, written by the beautiful, tiara wearing Melisa, reminded me of a childhood memory involving Dear Old Dad.

When I was a kid, we had a dog named Bugs. He was an ugly as sin, medium sized mutt from the SPCA. Aptly named because he looked like the kind of dog that lived under a porch and had, well bugs. Not your average pet by any means. Bugs was exceptionally smart, highly protective of us kids and took his roll as protector very seriously, but never saw himself as a pet or a house dog. He had his own social life and to do list for the day, but always managed to keep tabs on the family.

He actually had his own crowd that he ran around with in a pack of sorts. I kid you not. Every morning, some neighborhood pooches would start to gather and wait across the street from our house. No owners. No leashes, but a definite agenda. Bugs would wait patiently for his moment of opportunity and the second someone opened the door for anything, he would escape. The pack would wait for Bugs and then all take off for the day to run around the neighborhood. Over the years, we figured out of few of their daily stops. A regular favorite was the back door of a local diner, where the cook would feed them some leftover scraps. The last stop of the day for Bugs would be to show up as my Dad was getting out of work and into the car. Then he would follow the car home and be in for the night.

There would often be complaints and mothers up in arms, as the pack found themselves getting into constant trouble for picking on someones pedigree dog (really, they hated a pedigree), chasing someones cat or my favorite, hunting and catching pigeons in front of small children (they really got a kick out this ~ the dogs, not the kids).

Every once in a while Bugs would get picked up by the dog catcher. Probably just so his buds could get away clean. This unnerved Dad. It was $25.00 to spring him. Dad loved Bugs, but didn't believe in putting out money that he didn't have, especially for a dog. A dog that we couldn't keep in the house no matter what amount of effort was made.

Bugs was becoming a regular in the slammer. The people at animal control were never pleasant when bond was being posted for him. Dad would have to drive a 1/2 hour, fight parking and in his mind waste another $25.00, 3 of his least favorite things to do on his day off.

One Saturday, I woke up to Dad emptying the penny bucket onto the kitchen table. I asked what he was doing as he counted it out in piles. "I'm going to spring Bugs, he was caught again". "with pennies?" I had to ask, "yup" was Dad's reply.

It wasn't that Dad didn't have cash to use, he was just aggravated. If he had to drive to the dog pound and deal with less than friendly desk workers and pay the fine, he was going to make sure that it wasn't pleasant for them either. So he counted out $25.00 in pennies (not rolled either), bagged it up and headed to pick up his dog.

He was greeted with the same level of deference and disapproval as ever. He put his bag on the counter and stated "here it is". Mr. 'I hate you and your dogs guts' said he couldn't accept it, "it's pennies". Dad informed him that it was indeed U.S. currency and that he had to accept it". He wasn't taking no for and answer. Counter dude starting counting the money. It took a while and when finished counting, looked to Dad with a nasty smirk "you're 22 cents short". Dad, having known this and having stashed that last 22 cents in his pocket, answered back "count it again". Deflated, Counter Dude said that he would just put the rest in himself.

Dad retrieved Bugs and headed home, maintaining a little spring in his step for the rest of the day.

As an aside, if you haven't *read this* yet, go do it. NukeDad has Flat WeaselMomma on the lamb and she's had to leave the country.

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20 comments:

Rhonda said...

count it again?! I love your dad. that's fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Cute story! Funny how dogs DO have thier agenda. Mine had a routine also.

Melisa Wells said...

The beginning of this story sounded suspiciously like the plot of "Lady and the Tramp". :)

Great story. Your Dad was highly creative and correct: pennies ARE U.S. currency and should be accepted. (at a fine store or something though, management also has a right to refuse service to a customer...)

This was awesome. Bailing Bugs out was way more expensive than my cheeseburger and fries. :)

Mama Smurf said...

Um...I love your dad. Thanks for the laugh!

terri said...

That's an awesome story. I can see where you get your sense of humor... from your dad!

Otter Thomas said...

That is hilarious. Your dad is great.

I remember a time when dogs roamed free, did their own thing and actually thought they wer dogs. Now days they have as many accesories and needs as a baby. I know this from experience.

Tom said...

Yours is one great dad. I aspire to that kind of resolve. Great story!

Anonymous said...

your dad was def cool! so, did the dog jailer tell the mean dog nappers to stop picking up bugs because of the pennies??

my 2 dogs also have a gang they like to run around with everyday. i think their highlights are mornings and evenings when people are coming and going to work. they sit on the side of the road waiting to "ambush" unsuspecting drivers :)

The Microblogologist said...

Did it work and have them quit picking up poor Bugs?

seashore subjects said...

LOL! Good for your father!

Michael from dadcation.com said...

That's awesome. I have two friends in my National Guard unit who did that when they found out they had to pay for some MRE's or some such at basic training. They were pissed and paid in pennies. The military didn't respond favorably.

Pam said...

that is a great story, wm :) and it's so funny the way dogs do things like that. reminds me of that movie hotel for dogs.

Bad Momma said...

That was awesome! I see where you get your twisted sense of humor and Weasel brand of justice!

Michelle said...

Oh I love it -- the simpler times, the dog pack routine and of course... the pennies. Ahhh, the counting of pennies :)

Sheila said...

So funny! Now I know why your so darn funny!!! I just LOVE your Blog...& your Dad!

Mrs4444 said...

Warm; that's a good word to describe this story. It would make a perfect movie clip. Sweet.

Anonymous said...

That was awesome. I don't think I would have the gumption to pull something like that off.

Anonymous said...

And holy moly woman - Doritos with Highland Park Scotch??????


Have you no shame?

K'man said...

I saw a twitter comment that said to the effect, "when I move back to chitown"...
Are you going somewhere?

BellaDaddy said...

AH, the memories! We were in a smiliar doghouse, only ours were cats...(no Cathouse comments inserted please) My Mom loved cats...but alas, step-dad did not....

Loved It!

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