PETS

Growing up in Richland we would have kittens/cats now and then. I don't remember any in particular, but Judy and Lynette said they remember names like Happy (who gave birth to Snip, Snap, and Snurr--names taken from a favorite book at the time), Crackers, and Salt, and Pepper.

Lynette with Happy

A cat (maybe Crackers?) at our Richland house

We had a dog once whose name was Tuf. He was part Boston Terrier and not very big. Judy remembers receiving him for her Christmas gift one year. The name came from a math game we played (and it was a tough game especially when playing with the math-smart people in our family.) I remember one traumatic experience--not sure how it happened but I was with Tuffy (I think most of us called him that) in the field across the main road from our street. I don't know if I was taking him for a walk or what, but I couldn't catch him and I was chasing him and calling his name but he wouldn't come and I cried and cried because I didn't know what to do. In my memory I remember going home crying to Mom and she said not to worry. I don't know what happened after that but the dog appeared at home later.

When I was about 14 or 15 we had two kittens that we named Starsky and Hutch after two police detectives in a popular TV show.  Starsky & Hutch  One character had dark hair (my favorite of the two) and the other was blond, so you are right if you guessed that one of the kittens was black and the other was--not blond--but lighter colored, like an orange color. Sadly Starsky didn't survive, but Hutch lived a very long time. They had other siblings with names like Bruno and Cinnamon, all born to a mommy cat named Nephi. Obviously we originally thought she was a boy. Some tried to call her Nephiette after that but it didn't stick.

(above) Great-grandpa Giberson with Hutch. (below) Hutch in his delicate older years.

My lasting memory of Hutch, though, is when I was home from my first year at BYU and working everyday. In the morning, (before my alarm would go off, of course) Hutch would come and scratch at my bedroom window (right above my bed) until I was forced to go to the front door to let him in the house. There was no way to sleep through that scratching, scratching, scratching and the insistent meowing, meowing, meowing...