Living-Deliberately.com

What happened to our plan? We were going to save up and get a really great dog, a dog we’ve wanted for years, perfectly selected for our family. And I was going to get a hefty, big strong cat and give him a cool, bigger-than-he-was name.

Instead we are adopted by the ragged and ugly. Red Fox woke us with barking at midnight….ugly old Red Fox, who picked his own name and could be called nothing else. If one came upon his decapitated head lying the grass, one could not tell if he was a fox or a dog. It takes that obnoxious chow coat and spiral tail to identify him as canine. He has taken to sleeping on our front porch mat and has even begun to associate more with us than with the ugly dog who called herself “Fly”. She is black with white boots on her front paws and eyes that are teeny tiny. They used to be buds but Fly belongs to someone who actually claims her but will not treat her mange.

Red Fox was barking at a different dog trotting down the street. Even in the middle of the night it was clear he was telling that dog, “Stay Away. This is our house. We’re all Grahams.”

David and I groaned into our pillows. We’ve been claimed by an ugly dog; we are too soft-hearted to turn him away, especially just on looks.

And so there is this motley crew of ugly pets at our house. They picked their own weird names and would have no others. None would win any beauty contest or would make you want to reach down and scratch their ears…until they turn those eyes on you and something inside gives in.

Red Fox, Missy, Baby Grey, Sam, and the Orange-and-Whites. Apparently here to stay.

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