Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Hound Of The Baskervilles


This post from Wolverhampton Daily Photo in the West Midlands, United Kingdom, reminded me of my father. He spent most of his working life as a letter carrier, up to retirement. It was good exercise, and he liked the work. Dad is not the sort of person who lies (he never even learned the social value of a white lie), but he is prone to exaggeration. So growing up we were used to hearing stories of near miss encounters with vicious, bloodthirsty dogs; I would ask in reply if they were ten feet long, six feet high, breathing fire, barking so loud they could be heard kilometres away. He would say "I nearly lost my leg today to a killer beast", and one of us would ask if the dog had smashed through the brick wall of the house just to get to him. I don't think he's ever read Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound Of The Baskervilles, but the way he described such dogs he would encounter on his route would remind one of the canine adversary confronting Sherlock Holmes.

For a nice counterbalance to Dad's stories of canine horror most foul, I prefer my cousin's dog Buddy. We wouldn't see him tearing around an English moor terrorizing a Baskerville to death, would we?

Though it's always the nice, sweet, cute ones you have to watch. 


39 comments:

  1. Lovely story/memory, and cute dog pic!


    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  2. awwwww Buddy, what a little booboo sweetie.
    I could see him running around the moors bring happiness and love to everyone.
    All the mail men are always looking at The Square Ones very carefully till they meet them. They always ask about them.
    Love your Dads stories.

    cheers, parsnip

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  4. This dog has the face of a good person. I had one that lived with us for 16 years, unusual thing in a German Shepherd. (Before wrote in spanish).

    Tomás.

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  5. Great story about your father, William, and well written too. I could always see those horror moments happen ... ;-)
    The dog on your photo must be a real cuty, I think.

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  6. Lovely dog, feels very comfortable on the couch.

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  7. in our family your Dad would be said to be "a real character" ... now that is a real fun story. stories are the best. ( :

    i like when stories are told over and over for so many years that they keep getting more ideas and thoughts added in there just for fun. great times.

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  8. Buddy wiukd not be much of a threat to anyone, but yiur dad would have created a good story, William.

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  9. Yeah - how right you are; watch out for those cute-looking things, for they conceal tongues of fire and other unpleasant things. I don't wish to be rude - but is that dog real?

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  10. Yep, they all have teeth and a mind of their own. hee hee!

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  11. I love the portrait of your dad, I have a similar attitude towards some dogs...

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  12. Yep, somehow I don't think this "hound" would nail the part. :-)

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  13. I think Buddy may lick you to death.
    Jane x

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  14. What an adorable pooch!

    I think you should write more posts about your dad's adventures in delivering the mail!

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  15. @Cloudia: the cuteness helps him get treats.

    @Parsnip: now that he could do!

    @Tomas: we had dogs when I was growing up, but more in the way of cats.

    @Jan: oh, Buddy is adorable.

    @Marianne: yes, he's allowed up there. so it's his!

    @Beth: and given that he had so many dog stories, it's easy to draw one out.

    @Beatrice: he might be a threat to a dog biscuit.

    @Mike: very real and very furry!

    @Deb: they certainly do!

    @VP: one of my sisters had a dog... the two of them had a mutual loathing.

    @Revrunner: he would need a lot of training!

    @Jane and Chris: that's quite likely!

    @Norma: Buddy's too cute!

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  16. I love this story about your dad's exploits with the canine world. And Buddy is a real cutie!

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  17. Our son-in-law is a postman but he drives a truck in the wilds of Colorado! My father was once bitten by a dog when he went to visit someone and he never liked dogs after that.

    I love dogs. This is a little dreamboat!

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  18. He's a cute one but perhaps a wolf in sheep's clothing? You can't tell by looking. A fun story!

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  19. Very cute, seems quiet, but who knows?
    After the stories of your father... :-)

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  20. Good build up to a good photo of a very mellow dog.

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  21. a very cute counter to your father's tales/tails of woe!

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  22. @Jackie: my dad and dogs... like oil and water!

    @Sharon: aside from the dogs, it was a job he liked.

    @Lowell: one of our dogs would growl at him if he came home and hugged my mother. He'd growl back, "I live here!"

    @Judy: I expect Buddy gets up to all kinds of mischief.

    @Karl: we can never quite tell!

    @Red: yes, he's quite mellow!

    @Tex: many a tale of woe too!

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  23. He looks like a sweet fellow. He might bark, but only because he wants a pet from the mail carrier.

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  24. He surely can't be anything else than just sweet.. :)

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  25. I can see him nearly licking someone to death!

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  26. He's a cutie! No threat to the mailman.

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  27. Such a cutie and very interesting about your Dad and his stories of the dogs he encountered. My mom and dad were born in Wolverhampton.

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  28. @Halcyon: he's a sucker for attention!

    @Marleen: he's a cutie pie.

    @Whisk: hah!

    @Cheryl: yes, he would do that!

    @RedPat: certainly not!

    @Denise: that's a small world!

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  29. Nothing warms the heart more than a cute (non-fire-breathing) dog or kitty.

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  30. We always said that Mama "improved" on her stories. It sounds like your father did the same thing. Hugs to the doggie.

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  31. what a wonderful memory, and cute pooch!

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  32. He reminds me of our Benny, who is one of those cute ones that you have to watch. He gets little fits sometimes and growls and snaps.

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  33. Buddy is adorable! I must admit I've had some bad experiences with dogs while living in Africa.. but I still love them.

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  34. @Birdman: several movies, in fact.

    @Kay: that is true.

    @Mari: that was pretty much the case.

    @Randy: and he knows it.

    @Tanya: very cute!

    @Linda: I can see that.

    @Grace: I've rarely had bad experiences with dogs.

    @Peter: quite friendly!

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