Pets

The barn was our playground on a rainy day.  We would walk across the beams of the barn and dare the other to walk faster or jump from one mow to the next anything to be braver than the other.  Swing on the ropes in the barn, or just lay in the hay and chat or tell stories.  It was the perfect place to hunt for baby kittens.  We always had a bunch of cats and Daddy always fed them in the barn, they were not allowed in the house.  Once in a while we would carry a kitten to the house to show Mother especially if it were a  yellow kitten, but cats and dogs didn't belong in the house, not with a warm barn for them to live in.

Laddie

The first dog that I remember was a collie named Laddie. Mother and Daddy had him when I was born.  He was a good cow dog!  When it was time to get the cows in the barn to be milked, Daddy would tell Laddie, "Go get the cows, Laddie." and he would go to where ever the cows were and bring them to the barn.  Whenever Daddy was outside, you would find Laddie.  He was very protective of Jerry and me when we were outside, but as he got older he got to be hard of hearing. One winter night after dark, Jerry was going to go into the barn.  Laddie was laying in front of the barn door and Jerry tried to get by him, but couldn't get past him, so he nudged him a little.  The nudge must have frightened him, so he jumped at Jerry and bit him.  The decision was made that it was time to have Laddie put down.  Daddy called the Dr. Lynch the next day and he came to the farm and took care of the task at hand.  We kids were told to stay inside that day, although we knew what was going to happen.

I don't remember what dog we had after Laddie, we always had a dog, some good and some not so good.  I remember Dock, a beautiful black curly haired dog that was a good coon dog.  Then there was Socks, but all he did was chase deer.  Ted Compton told us that he shot him.  Daddy was very fond of Dalmatians.  One summer Burdette Fuller gave a Dalmatian to Jerry.  He was named Corky. Corky just didn't want to stay at our house and would travel back up the road to the Fuller farm.  One time when Jerry went up to bring him home, Burdette told Jerry, he had already given him 14 dogs, how many more did he want?!

Kathy and King

On the day before school started, Corky got hit by a car in front of our house, yes he was going back to Fuller's.  We were all heart broken, so Mother and Daddy decided they would pick Jerry and me up after school the next day and we would go to Elmira, NY and look for a new dog.  I remember it well, as it was my first day to attend school in Wellsboro.  I was in the ninth grade 1955. We went to all of the kennels and finally to the dog pond and they had a beautiful dalmatian that had been dropped off due to a divorce. King was his name.  We was the dog for us!  He rode all the way home with his chin resting on the front seat beside of my Mother!!  He was the first dog to have an inside home.  He certainly was a well loved dog by the whole family.

After King, Daddy had another Dalmatian, Angel and if I remember right, she was stolen from Daddy's truck, this was after I was maried.  His next Dalmatian was Queenie and he and Jerry had a beagle, Snoopy, that they hunted with.  Daddy always liked having a dog around to follow after him.  In fact he loved any type of animal, but that is another story.

Malinda

I had a favorite cat when I was young and her name was Malinda.  She was a beautiful mixture of tiger and white.You will note from the picture that her feet look a little different.  She was a seven toed cat, which made her a little different.   I would sneak her into the house from time to time usually when Mother wasn't around.  Daddy on the other hand would sit at the barn while he was waiting on a milker and the cats would sit on his shoulder and he would be petting them.  He would squirt milk into their mouths!!