Wednesday Hodge Podge

Welcome to The Wednesday Hodgepodge hosted by Joyce.

1. The Hodgepodge lands on National Dog Day this year (August 26th). Do you own a dog? Did you have a dog when you were growing up, or maybe some other kind of pet? Would you say you're more of a dog person or a cat person? Neither is okay too : )
I suppose you’d have to say I was a cat girl. I grew up with cats, as a little girl. I had a beautiful white kitten that I named Snowball. She definitely made an impression on me to love white kiddies, even though she died before she grew to maturity. I always thought foul play was involved! We had mean teenagers who lived behind us!
Then my first boyfriend was Barry when I was 15.  He gave me my favorite kiddie...another gorgeous white kitten...a male we named Sean Connery, because it was 1965 and we loved going to the Bond movies. My family loved Sean, and he lived with us for 7 wonderful years, but once I went to college and my parents moved to the country,  Sean decided he loved walking on the wild side and so he took to the hills.  We.d see him ever so often and saw his progeny for years after.   Many generations of white country cats turned up for several years!

2. Last time you felt 'dog tired'?   I’ve been dog tired enough to know that I will do anything not to get dog tired again.  I used to get so dog tired on our one field trips for my fourth graders.  The stress, the long walking, the hot, sun pouring down on us, the responsibility, all would pile up on me. During those later years of teaching. What I had so looked forward to in my younger years, suddenly became a drudgery after I turned 50! 
I remember going on a trip to Williamsburg with my girlfriend teacher friends.  After touring the beautiful restorations, then we hide ourselves over to the Waccamaw Potteries and then the outlet stores.  Now dragging back to our hotel, I was probably as tired as I have ever been. My feet hurt up to my ears.  My sweet friend, Becky, offered to massage my feet after my shower, and I know that is what saved my life! 

3. It's said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. When did you last prove this idiom true or prove it wrong?
I really cannot think of a definitive response to this one!

4. A favorite book, television show, or movie featuring a dog. Why did you love it?I have to agree with our host, Joyce.  We both chose Where the Red Fern Grows.  My students knew I read the book to them, but usually toward the end of the year to ease the agony of this long, long days. They knew the premise of the book and often begged me to read it as early as February.  It was all I could do to postpone the treat, it was such a great treat to me, as well.  Why, you ask? There are so many coming of age moments throughout the story....learning responsibility,  making judgments of what is truly important, experiencing  joy  to the life altering experience of life and death.  And all this in a very different culture from that of  our students.. in a different time, and  socio-economic climate.   My ten year olds really hung on every word.  



5. Last time you had reason to (literally or figuratively) exclaim 'hot diggity dog'?

With all our dreams of going as planned and paid for to Ireland in July with our daughter’s family going down the drain because of co-vid, and the slim chance of getting to ever see our grand children in person this year, 
I think I may have exclaimed “hot- dignity” on the phone in July when they said they were planning a couple of week vacation to split between us and Joshua’s parents.  And it really was a diggity- dog visit.  

6.  Insert your own random thought here.I am afraid that the quarantine has beat me.  We finally were given the choice of face to face prayer meeting, but only after half a dozen meetings, tonight I am opting for the zoom meeting.  Feeling too lazy to go out.  Oh, my, I've got it bad!