Memory Monday

The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic.

Henry Ward Beecher, 

     As I mentioned in my last Memory Monday,  there were several women in my rooming house with children, waiting out their time to get their "six weeks" residency in order to get a divorce.  And these children loved my Dagmar!

This looks so much like Dagmar...sweetest puppy in the world!

So some afternoons, when I didn't have to work and the weather was nice, with their mothers' permission, I would pile five or six kids in my car along with Dagmar. And off we would go to a nearby park.  It was fun for the kids, and a great relief to their moms, and Dagmar got a good working out!  Can you imagine today anyone letting their kids get in a car with a perfect stranger and a huge German Shepherd???

     And I had mentioned earlier Dick worked evenings at a Shakey's Pizza Parlor...bartending and making pizza.  Most  of the guys who worked there were from the base and around our age.  When I wasn't working, I spent a lot of time just hanging out there. Very frequently one of the guys would make a "mistake" on a pizza order, so they would just have to remake it!  I got a lot of "mistaken" pizza in those days!

Lake Tahoe, Nevada

     One of the guys who worked there had a girlfriend from Reno.   Her parents owned a cabin on Lake Tahoe so one weekend a bunch of us went up there. Of course, Dagmar had to go too!  If you haven't been to Tahoe, you are really missing something!  It is a crater lake....the clearest water I have ever seen.  You can see to the bottom quite a ways out....I don't know how many feet down, but a looong ways!  Dagmar seemed to be a bit afraid of the water and would just run up and down the shore and bark at it!  But one time, she looked up and saw me pretty far out in a large inner tube.  She forgot she didn't like water and came paddling  out to where I was.  When she got to me, she stopped swimming, then realized she couldn't stand and she panicked!  She tried to climb in the inner tube with me which wasn't going to work so I grabbed her by her ruff and paddled back to shore, dragging her along!  I didn't go out there again....she about drowned both of us!

      Meanwhile, back at the rooming house, I got home kind of late that evening and Dick just walked me to the door and went back to the base.  It was probably around 1:30-2:00 AM; I unlocked my door and realized there is someone asleep in the other bed.  Apparently my landlord had rented out the other half which was certainly in his rights. I quietly got ready for bed and got in.  Dagmar was not allowed on the furniture so she slept on the floor by my bed.  Suddenly she heard this male voice as did I!  My new roommate had a guy with her!  Well, Dagmar stood up, hackles raised and lets out one tremendous bark!  The couple in the bed both jumped up; I grabbed Dagmar by the collar; the guy grabbed his clothes and shoes and bolted for the door! The girl was too inebriated to really know what was going on so she just went back to sleep.

     I lay there the rest of the night making plans.  I am not staying there any longer and plan to leave permanently at first light!  The next morning, I go to the landlord and tell him I am not staying any longer; he is heartbroken (remember, he loves Dagmar)  and he kind of likes me, too.  I think he thought I brought a bit of sanity to his abode!  After I explain to him why I am leaving, he marches up stairs; wakes my little drunk roommate and tells her she has to leave and not come back!  I did feel a little sorry that she got kicked out, but was not sorry to loose her!