For the first weekend of Springtime 2020, we spotlight Little Olive Little in this edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap.
The humans involved are some longtime friends of readlarrypowell.com, Sandy and Walter Stallings. I met both of them when we all worked at The Dallas Morning News starting way back in the 1970s. They now live in Bandera and, as you can see from the photos, their current companions are critters. Their kids have grown up.
Sandy, the former copy clerk, has the sense of humor that gave us the caption for the photo of Little Olive Little in the pot on the fence. "I'LL HAVE TO REPOT HER," Sandy wisecracked. Walt has the sense of humor that allowed us to post that photo of the crack security unit -- the family dogs -- guarding their favorite guy. I'm sure they're in a state of "alert."
[LARRY FYI: Sandy, Walt and I go so far back, as people say, that when my kids were little and we came upon some unwanted kittens, we managed to unload, er, give one to Sandy.]
What sort of critters does she have today? "Seven dogs and four cats. And a cussing parrot, three horses and a chicken."
That's the parrot Elvis who, Sandy swears, Walt accidentally taught a word that, in polite company, can best be described as an "unfortunate expression" from a bird.
[Sandy and Walt also have grown-up kids, Katie, who's a mom, and Meg. And there are grandkids, too: Charlie, 8; Jay, 5; and Bradley 3.]
So, here's the story of Little Olive Little. Sandy says, "Olive was apparently dropped by her negligent mama (or fell from under the hood of a car), under a bridge in San Antonio. Katie and I literally ran OVER her. Walt was following, so I jumped out at a light and saved her. We took her to have her euthanized, as she had an obvious head injury, but she was fine."
And now Little Olive Little is at home relaxing in a flower pot.
Now, about that photo of Walt with the dogs. He's no short guy. Sandy caught the tall fellow on the couch with the gang. As she explained, "You'll love this -- it's a terrible picture, bu it made me laugh (very quietly)."
[LARRY ASIDE: Walt, who I met when he was an editing intern from UTA, was a top editor for many, many years -- he's earned every nap he can get. That's the couple caught on camera.]
Sandy gave us the IDs on the dogs you can see with Walt. "Tippy is on the back of the couch. Rudy is under Walt’s arm. Casey is the baby—little tan fella, and Huey is white. Mac is the old man of the house. He’s pushing 15. ... Casey is the newest addition. After he had emergency surgery in January, he’s worth about $1,200 a pound!"
We'll close with the tabletop photo.
"This is Rudy," Sandy says, "He's sleeping on my 10-foot picnic table." She says the table has usually been occupied by grandkids, but business interests have taken Katie and family to another state. And Sandy really "misses my babies," she says.
Rudy apparently likes a little elbow room when he's a sleeping dog.
And, FYI, Sandy works for a veterinarian. She's always got a connection in the animal world. Not that unwanted dogs and cats ever show up unannounced at vet's office!
[SEND US PHOTOS of your slumbering dogs and cats and their life stories, too. We'll proudly post the pictures and their stories in our long-running weekend feature Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. You'll be inspiring people to think about adopting a household companion and you'll be inspiring the world's insomniacs to believe that they, too, can get some peaceful sleep if they can just figure out a way to balance a flower pot on a fence rail and cram their bodies into it. Balance -- insomniacs seek comforting balance.]
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