[speaker001:] Do you have any?
[speaker002:] Sure. I have a Springer Spaniel, and her name is Thumper. She's about seven or eight years old. I got her for Christmas from my family, and, uh, back when we lived in Nebraska. I like to hunt, and, uh, so, I thought that if I had a good hunting dog like Thumper that, boy, I could just go out and get all kinds of game [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Did it work? [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, except we live in Plano, Texas now
[speaker001:] No, right.
[speaker002:] so [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] I, um, I had a, for many years I had a dog that was part Springer Spaniel. I just love them. Her name was Molly, but she isn't alive any more [inhaling]. We had her for, um, fifteen years, I think, my family did, and just loved her. She was the greatest, greatest, um, went through two generations of children in my family and was always very gentle.
[speaker002:] Do you have a pet now?
[speaker001:] Yeah, I have a cat now. He just turned seven, also, [LAUGHTER] and he's, I, um, got him in Arizona
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] and, when I used to live there, and he is huge. He is eighteen pounds.
[speaker002:] What kind of cat is it?
[speaker001:] Just, um, I got him, he was, um, he was born in the wild, like in a, in a shed
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and had never been in a building when I got him. So he, and he's, he, he must be part, cross part with some kind of desert animal, because he's very long and lanky, but he's a very tame spoiled house cat, you know, now that I've had him for seven years.
[speaker002:] Being born outside, you didn't have any problems house training him?
[speaker001:] No, no
[speaker002:] That's good.
[speaker001:] he's, yeah, he's great, and uh, he's, uh, he's really spoiled, though [LAUGHTER]. So, but he's really big, so, lots of times he, it, he seems to get in fights, and when he was younger I think he started them, and now, I think he barely makes it. I think he gets beat up even though he's big, because he's
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] pretty much overweight, and
[speaker002:] And older [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] comes home with a few scratches now and then,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] yeah.
[speaker002:] Well, we went to a cat show at the Plano Center here in town, and, uh, we thought that, we have a cat now, but we thought, Well, if we ever get another cat, you know, we'd want something kind of unique, so, we kind of looked around, and they had everything from hairless cats to Siamese cats and Persian cats and we sort of fell in love with the, uh, Maine Coon cats.
[speaker001:] Oh, I've seen them. I
[speaker002:] They're huge.
[speaker001:] yeah, [LAUGHTER] I have seen them. They, um, weren't they, they were actually, I can't remember, they were used to be used on ships and in, for, for mousers
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] you know, so they're very nautical, too [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I'll be darned. I didn't know that.
[speaker001:] Yeah, I just, uh, I think I'm, I think I'm being accurate in the, in the area of folklore, but I'm not sure.
[speaker002:] Well that's interesting.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] We kind of like, well, my family didn't necessarily like, like them as much as I did, but the Manx, is that the one that doesn't have a tail
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] it sort of has a bob tail. I kind of like that, too, but.
[speaker001:] Yeah. I'd love to go to a cat show. I'm real, a real cat lover. I'd have a lot more cats if my boyfriend would let u-, let me [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] He doesn't really like mine, let alone another one.
[speaker002:] Well, I'll tell you an interesting story about how I got my dog, and then I suppose our five minutes will be up.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Okay.
[speaker002:] I work for a university, and I went to, uh, Omaha, Nebraska to recruit students, and I had some time off in the afternoon, so I went to a, a pet shop, and I saw these little Springer Spaniels
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] and so I decided, well, you know, this would really be a nice dog to have, so, when I got back home to Carney, Nebraska, I told my wife about it, and I said, You know, this is just a, I, I, I can just hear the dog crying for me now [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] I know what you mean.
[speaker002:] And Christmas is coming up, hint, hint, and so, I had to go back the next week, as well as a bunch of other people from the university, and one of the people, uh, that we went with, uh, they were friends of ours, and so, we got to Omaha, and I decided I'd take my friend over and show him the dog, and so I got over there, and she said, Oh, that's too bad, the dog has already been sold. And I didn't realize it, but this guy had somehow worked it out so that he got there a little bit earlier, bought the dog, and she was in the back room, and so that night we had a reception for some of the, uh, potential high school students or college students, and, and, uh, he had the dog the whole time in his room, and, and I had no idea. And so we headed back to Carney that night, and the dog rode in the car and we stopped along the way and had a bite to eat and they left the dog in the car, and I guess while we were inside eating, Thumper just tore the heck out of the inside [LAUGHTER] of the car, and, uh, finally we made it back to, uh, to Carney and,