[speaker001:] Okay, well, do you have a pet?
[speaker002:] I have two cats.
[speaker001:] Two cats, you're lucky.
[speaker002:] And do, and, oh, and two fish.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Your two fish.
[speaker002:] And what do you have?
[speaker001:] Well, my husband, you know, how, sometimes when you marry someone that you get along on everything except one major thing.
[speaker002:] Oh, no.
[speaker001:] My husband is a hunter, fisherman, outdoorsman, Marlboro type person who had to have a sporting dog. So we have a black Labrador.
[speaker002:] Ooh.
[speaker001:] Beautiful, gorgeous black Labrador, but to me, he belongs up in the field, you know, in the
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] ranch, in the farm and,
[speaker002:] Does he sleep in your house?
[speaker001:] Well, because we finally negotiated that I was losing my mind, uh, he sleeps in the laundry room and then he goes out for the day. But this, this is a beautiful dog and he is wonderful with our little girls and he is, he's, comes from a purebred line and there's nothing you could say bad about him, except that I was more of a cat or a small dog person
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] that you could sit in the chair and cuddle.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And this is huge. You know, course, when he runs around the yard, he just digs, he doesn't know that he's tearing up things, but he does.
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] And the worst part that I had with him, he's, he's three now
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] was when he was, uh, about eight months old and I did not know what to expect from a dog having not had one, and I left him in the kitchen with the little baby gates up while I was gone for about an hour. And I came home and he had ripped my wallpaper off my wall.
[speaker002:] Oh, my word.
[speaker001:] And it was in the floor and I just about lost it and I called and I said, come home and get your dog. And so, he said, well, puppies just chew when they're nervous and I, well, I wish you had told me
[speaker002:] Oh, dear.
[speaker001:] you know, and it was about eight months later, he ate a piece of the linoleum. He kept picking at it and I didn't kn-, the, the tile in the kitchen and picked a hole in it [lipsmack]. So the last thing he did was, when I had sat out a whole lot of begonias in the backyard, and he dug them all up and brought them to the porch. And I told my husband, I said, you know, it's either me or the dog, and he looked at me like, well, you know [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Good-bye [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] He loves this dog and every night when he comes home from work, he hugs it and talks to him and he's a good dog, so it's one of those things I'm just having to get used to and that's why I laughed when they called with the topic. I thought, oh, boy, do I have a pet [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [Sigh].
[speaker001:] But, I, I grew up with cats and I'm very comfortable,
[speaker002:] I love my cats.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I had one cat for eighteen years. I got her when I lived in Hawaii.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] Before I even got married I had my cat.
[speaker001:] She's old.
[speaker002:] Well, she, I
[speaker001:] Isn't she?
[speaker002:] had to have her put to sleep last
[speaker001:] Oh, I started to say
[speaker002:] June.
[speaker001:] then you broke your heart.
[speaker002:] Oh, it was awful, it was just awful.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] But, and she just sat there on my lap, you know.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] She just, just waited and,
[speaker001:] Bless your heart.
[speaker002:] Oh, it was awful.
[speaker001:] That makes me feel so bad.
[speaker002:] But her hair, but the bad thing was, though, she would pee in my husband's shoes.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Oh, no [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] You know, and she just liked his shoes and he'd have these dress sh-,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] hundred dollar shoes.
[speaker001:] Oh, no [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Oh, it was just bad.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And my closet and it was, oh, something.
[speaker001:] Oh, that's awful, I never heard of that before.
[speaker002:] Oh, it was terrible. And once she did it, you know, then she would, I mean, she wouldn't, if our shoes sat side by side, she would pee in my husband's shoes.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] She must have known he didn't like her or something.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Or the smell or something.
[speaker002:] Oh, anyway, I, I, and I would shut, I would bar the closet doors,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] and would car-, vac-, uh, clean the carpets and
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] oh, dear, it was just awful.
[speaker001:] Well, d-, now, does
[speaker002:] That was very funny.
[speaker001:] your cat sleep in the house? They are, they are house cats.
[speaker002:] I, uh, well, I have two cats right now.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, of course.
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah, good.
[speaker002:] They sleep with my kids. My kids, my, my fourteen year old son has an extra pillow on his bed
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] just for the cat.
[speaker001:] But the cat doesn't destruct does it? See, it doesn't do anything.
[speaker002:] Oh, no, I
[speaker001:] See.
[speaker002:] I'm not going to have a dog. We've had two dogs and, uh, they both got ran over.
[speaker001:] Oh, no.
[speaker002:] After we had them for several years, just nice little outside dogs but
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] were just my kids' friends, they would go jog-, they would go with me when I would go running and
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] and the last one got hit, uh, as she was following my, one of my sons across the road to the school.
[speaker001:] Oh, no.
[speaker002:] It was awful. It was just,
[speaker001:] Oh, that is.
[speaker002:] And it just, it's too heartbreaking but they do dig up and they just, they just wreck things and I'm not a
[speaker001:] They do wreck things.
[speaker002:] dog person.
[speaker001:] Well, I'm not either.
[speaker002:] Ooh.
[speaker001:] [Throat clearing] I'm not either and it's just been,
[speaker002:] I wouldn't want a Lab. It sounds beautiful,
[speaker001:] [Cough].
[speaker002:] but,
[speaker001:] He's beautiful but it's just one of those concessions,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] I just had to make, but I kind of ignore him. Now today's the first cold we've had in Texas and it's really cold and drizzly and it's freezing
[speaker002:] Um.
[speaker001:] and people are doing their fires and I brought him in because he's just a wet mess out there and he's in the laundry room with this little carpet square and he's just huddled up like, if you'll be nice to me, I won't make [LAUGHTER] any trouble, you know.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] And then my daughters both have hamsters.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] And I, I,
[speaker002:] And how old are your girls? [Beep].
[speaker001:] They're eleven and eight and I
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah.
[speaker001:] gave in at Christmas and they have, they keep their cages real clean. It always smells of cedar and they just sleep and eat bits of apple and carrots and,
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] [Pause] I think they're cutting us off.
[speaker002:] No, that's
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] somebody's trying to cut in on my line and I don't want to answer.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] I'll just wait.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] No, I've, I've got incoming calls and I don't know why, -body's calling.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] I, I hate to cut it off, I think
[speaker001:] I understand.
[speaker002:] they would cut us off, so we'll just wait.
[speaker001:] Okay, well
[speaker002:] Whoever it is will call back.
[speaker001:] they'll cut us off pretty soon.
[speaker002:] Well, it's somebody calling for my kids, you know, jeez.
[speaker001:] Yeah, I know.
[speaker002:] Actually, it's my son, I know it is.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] My older boy. He never likes to come home from school. Anyway that's what we have, and I have, I've tried to start a fish tank
[speaker001:] How does,
[speaker002:] and I keep
[speaker001:] In the salt water?
[speaker002:] losing all my fish.
[speaker001:] Salt water or,
[speaker002:] No
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] just regular water.