April 1865.

HELLO ALL!!

When I first came home 
with

 Chellie Girl

 I was greeted by
many new family members
waiting for me

RIGHT AT THE FRONT DOOR!!

At the door was my Papa
holding my sister April 1865,
a cream colored tiger cat in one arm,
and my brother Stoney Wall in the other.
Kira, my brother collie was sitting
in the doorway next to them.

THEY WERE ALL JUST

WAITING FOR ME!

IT WAS
SWEETER THAN BEE POLLEN!

After all of the excitement of everyone first seeing each other
the folks took all of the animal family away
and put them in another room.

ONE BY ONE

they were brought out
so everyone could be introduced
and
 that I could

TAKE A SNIFF.

It is really interesting what you learn from

sniffing.

Dogs have rather large
olfactory sniffers,
much larger than people so
this was an

ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT THING

for all of the

CANINE MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY.

When I first sniffed Mama at the airport
I knew right away that she LOVED orange jelly candies.
Mama never offered me any over the years,
though I

WATCHED AND DROOLED

every single time that she ate one.
She said it was because all the sugar was bad for dogs.
She also said that all that sugar was bad for people.
Just one of those things I guess. 

For Papa right away
I could smell deck furniture
and cigar smoke.

So I

KNEW

that he

LOVED
sitting on the deck smoking a cigar. 

Many times, he has invited me to join him on the deck at night.
In the summer when the moon is waxing full;
the fireflies are twinkling in the back yard, and
the white birches are waving on the woodland edge...
it is a wonderful time for both of us.

For Stoney Wall,

THE SMELL OF RUBBER WAS EVERYWHERE!

He loved gnawing on his rubber chewy bone.

That was his delight!!

He just could not stop himself as he
chewed up more, and more rubber doggie bones,

DIGGING OUT THAT
GOLDEN SQUEAKER TREASURE
WITHIN. 

This was his own special kind of LOVE.

As for my brother Kira
You could smell  "FROSTY PAWS"
on him a mile away.
Frosty Paws is ice cream for dogs in case you did not know.

He could

WOOF DOWN A FROSTY PAW

in two minutes flat.

I saw him

MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT WITH MY PAWS

DEVOUR

an ice cream cup of it

ONE LICK AT A TIME!!

He loved them soooooo much!!

However, when I was introduced to April,
she was a totally new smell for me.

I could not get

ANYTHING

from her.

It was like she was this exotic thing from another planet.
She was about the size of Stoney Wall
and
was a color I had never seen before.
She had the oddest lines on her body,
a long tail like me but short hair.

And she smelled like,

TO BE HONEST,

I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE.


When Mama brought me through the door

THAT VERY FIRST DAY

I thought,

OKAY FOLKS I AM UP FOR A NEW THING TODAY.

But when they brought April 1865
out for a SNIFF
and her
introduction

I IMMEDIATELY
RAN AWAY 
AND
HID OUT
IN THE
KITTY HOUSE.

As you can see I was so tiny then.
How do you like my picture?

Now April
was named by our Papa.
Before April,
Kira was named by Mama
for Star Trek characters.
His full name is Kira Blue Aquiel.
Bro Stoney
was named by Papa
for Stonewall Jackson, from the Civil War.

THEN CAME APRIL.

Everyone who knows Papa knows that he

LOVES TALKING ABOUT THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

THE WAY SOME PEOPLE LOVE EATING CHOCOLATE.

So ... after naming the family's very first kitty, April 1865,
well let's just say he was not encouraged to name any more pets.
For anyone who does not know,
April 1865
is the month and the year
the American Civil War ended.

Now April,
I learned early on,

HAD NO INTEREST IN ME.

Actually,
she had no interest in anyone in the family.
She was definitely a

HANDS OFF

kind of kitty.

She had

    NEVER EVEN SEEN A DOG

before moving to our

LITTLE BLUE HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY.

Which probably explains some of her

NO CUDDLY KITTY BEHAVIORS 

toward
 the canine members of the family.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

NEVER SEEING A DOG BEFORE?

LIKE,

HOW IS THAT

EVEN RIGHT?

For me, I was ALWAYS amazed at her.
She could curl her body

RIGHT INTO A BALL!

Did you see her picture at the beginning?
VERY COOL!!

For me being a dachshund (hot dog),
that was something I certainly had never done.
My body 

WILL NOT BEND THAT WAY!

So seeing her curled up tight,
her stripes vibrating as her breath moved them up and down,
it was well

FASCINATING!

After that first day
I spent as much time as possible

 hiding out in April's Kitty House.

I LOVED IT!

I thought it was there

JUST FOR ME.


BUT AS YOU CAN SEE

Sister April was less than happy
with my moving in.

In this picture you can see her

SPACE CADET STARING EYE THING

that she did when life was
NOT GOING HER WAY.

IT WAS AS IF SHE
WAS WILLING ME
TO
GET OUT OF HER HOUSE!


It was like

COME ON NOW!
AREN'T YOU GOING TO GET THIS GUY

OUTTA HERE?

APPARENTLY NOT BECAUSE

I stayed in that Kitty House

FOR A VERY LONG TIME
as it was

 JUST MY SIZE.

Just like in the story of Goldilocks.

Anyway
I think that Mama and Papa
were old softies
and
just could not force
little baby Dharma
to
MOVE OUT!
Ha Ha, Lucky me!

---

As for bro Stoney,
he was always trying to get her attention.
But,

AS YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE

she is giving him her

BEST
BENGAL TIGER
LOOK
AND
GROWL

as she attempts to devour his leg.


April remained a

HANDS OFF KITTY

in our family.

She never did warm up to any of us.

Ah well,
like Grumpy the old grandfather used to say:

"YOU DO THE BEST YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE".

Good advice from the old Yankee.

We certainly learned to live together
I should say

AS HARMONIOUSLY AS WAS POSSIBLE.

Hope you enjoyed the story.

Dharma Hugs!!
Dharma Dharma

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