Our kids had always wanted a dog but their dad continued to say "no". One day I guess they caught him in a moment of weakness because he finally gave in and said "Ask your mom." Well, I grew up with dogs so the answer was then a rousing "YES!" Daran got our dog (an Australian Shepherd) from his friend Jeremy Smith and brought him home. He and Daralyn decided to name our new hound Kadaphee. It took the younger kids at least a month to learn the dogs name.
"Doff" was a treasured member of the family for many years, I'm thinking at least 13 or 14. I wanted his picture to hang in the front hall along with our other five children, but Wayne wouldn't go for that one!
In April of 2001 old age got the best of our Kadaphee and he passed away quite suddenly. About a year before we had got another dog, Bhoutros, from Jeff's friend Mike Penrod. The main reason for this new member in our family, I found out, was that Wayne was afraid Doff was getting old and going to die (the dog had been having seizures and was on Phenobarbital - the pill was given wrapped up in a piece of bread) and dad was afraid that Jeff would take his death hard and, therefore, agreed to another hound. A second large moment of weakness on Wayne's part. (Truth be known, he was as attached to these dogs as much as the rest of us.)
The morning Doff died Bhoutros circled his lifeless body in the garage and whined and whimpered. It was so sad because the two dogs were so close and literally slept curled up by each other. Well, we had to have a funeral for Kadaphee so the next afternoon Wayne and Jeff proceeded to dig a hole up by some trees behind our house. Then Kadaphee's afghan that he loved so much was placed in the hole, followed by the dog's body. Then came the part that had Kelly and I in tears. Wayne proceeded to shovel the dirt back in the hole. Well, Bhoutros set about howling like you can't believe. It was enough to tear out my heart! He kept this up and I finally said to Wayne, "I can't have Bhoutros up at Kadaphee's grave howling and crying. I've got to go and get him another dog!" Well, Wayne looked up and said, "Maybe if you wouldn't stand on Bhoutros' tail, he wouldn't howl." It seems that I was standing on his tail, and sure enough when I got off of it the howling ceased.
This was another moment mom has never lived down and will probably appear in the "roast of mom" that is commonly referred to as a Life Sketch.
PS - Our children have always named our pets, so blame them for the strange names of political leaders. We have also had cats named Bush, Lincoln, and a hampster named Gorbachoff (spelling???)
