Sherry's Response
Oh my goodness!! How could you forget!! We would "slave" and cook him
a good lunch every day -- fried shrimp, steak, chicken, fish with some kind
of vegetable or rice on that dang hot plate -- storing the food in those dang
ice chests -- a challenge in itself!! And he would lay on the bed or half
sit on the bed reading his book -- and
gobble down his food -- never looked at us -- NEVER once did he say,
"JD and Sherry this is really good". If we were lucky -- he might belch to
let us know he had finished with the meal. I remember you and I were talking
-- gripping because he never acknowledged that we had 
cooked
for him, and I think I said, (one of us said it) "Dang -- he would not
even know if we gave him dog food" -- and so we did. I remember us mixing
sandwich spread and I maybe think pickles and onion in it. We made a BIG sandwich
-- and he gobbled it down. And I don't think he would have ever known it was
dog food if the Alpo had not had vegetables in it -- it was some kind of stew.
Of course you and I were both grinning like "Cheshire cats" -- fully
knowing he'd stop and realize he was eating dog food. But NOOOOOO -- he just
ate the whole dang thing -- and said it was good when we began falling out
laughing and making a fuss. (See -- I don't remember him saying it was good
until we were giggling and he had seen the vegetables in it and guessed it
was the dog food). I'm sure he would have eaten the second one if we had not
been sooo grossed out and had made the 2nd sandwich for him!! I do remember
he figured it out before he had finished eating it -- and what really got
me was he finished the dang thing knowing it was dog food!! What a Jody??!!
I can not look at Alpo dog food that I don't think of that dang sandwich and
him eating it!! Now does that "refresh" your memory.
My favorite: This was probably within the first 6 months
(definitely during the first year) he'd opened the shop -- and did not have
a "pot to pee in" -- money was tight. Do you remember that old lady that was
going to Europe for a month and left her dang cat with us for boarding. And
she also brought in a case of red salmon because "her
baby would only eat red salmon". As soon as Mrs. Ya Ya leaves the office --
we ask him, "Jody, are you going to feed that cat this salmon?" And he said,
"hell no -- the cat will eat Puss- n'-boots, and we'll eat the salmon" --
and we did. Salmon salad, salmon loaf, salmon croquets, salmon, salmon, salmon.
After the first 24 hours -- the cat began to love the Puss - n'-boots cat
food -- and by the time Mrs. Ya Ya returned -- he had actually gained a little
weight -- and I'm sure we had also!! Ha!! We never told her how much we really
enjoyed the salmon!!
And
now for my final favorite and Doogle's favorite: Two "limp wrist" men brought
a young female
cat to be spayed early one morning. Jody did and said his normal things to
them to reassure them
everything would be fine -- and he'd take good care of it. He told them the
cat would be groggy but ready to pick up in the afternoon after work. At the
same time -- Saint had to bring "Bad" in for rabies observation because he
had killed another cat. So -- we had the little cat that had been spayed in
a cage, and we had "Bad" in the wire free standing -- open top kennel. In
the early afternoon, either we heard a noise or I went into check the critters
-- and to my HORROR -- Bad was out of the kennel -- had torn off the cats
door -- and eaten the head of the cat off -- completely gone! Blood was every
where -- and Bad was very pleased with himself. I was frantic and asked Jody
what in the hell he intended to tell the clients??!!!! In his usual manner
-- he just grinned and said, "I'm going to tell them the cat died of a cerebral
hemorrhage -- man". And with a somber straight face -- that is exactly what
he told them when they returned to pick up their cat. Now -- the flip side
of this -- Jody had a few choice words for Saint when Saint came out that
evening. After all was said and done -- we all had a good laugh about it.
And then there is the story of "Officer" the pet javalina
hog -- And, then there is the cobra he had to force feed -- And then there
was the drunk and the baby skunk story -- and then there was the baby lion
Loco wanted Jody to put a muzzle on!!
~ Sherry Mansell ~