By Dody Denman

Joyfully we ANNOUNCE an addition to our family – Moxy

Mike and I have adopted a rescue 3 year old Terrier mix and it has been momentous!  It was quite a process that began with me.  I have spent my life raising and loving children.  I began at age nine caring for my new born brother when my mother had to be hospitalized for an emergency surgery.  I became a mother at nineteen and a grandmother at forty and would not change any of that.

The only problem is that in this season of my life, those I love are older and really busy with their life.  I would not change that either…but something needed to change.  I found myself, for the first time in my life, feeling lonely.  I began thinking of getting a dog. There was a serious problem though.  When Mike and I discussed marriage there were several things we said were non-negotiable with one of them being having pets.  Six years later my feelings had changed, but I had to respect Mike.

One night while keeping my granddaughter Emma and grandson Cole, I mentioned I was “sort of thinking about perhaps wanting to consider assessing the possibility of maybe reflecting on the option of owning” a dog.  They were so excited…telling me where to look online and literally making me look at hundreds of choices of adoptable dogs.  Emma made me promise to ask “Gampa” if “we” could get a dog.  The next night was a busy night.  The following day was really difficult for Mike and he came home needing to vent.  For one reason or another it was several days before I broached the subject.  Meanwhile, Emma was calling every night anxious for an answer.  When I explained to Mike my reasons, he agreed that it was a good time for us to have a pet.  Emma and I breathed a sigh of relief and the planning began.

Back to the internet…   Once again I was viewing hundreds of dogs.  I found a few I thought were possibilities, but they would be adopted already or not ready for adoption or other reasons they were not meant to be mine.  Then I saw a picture of Brad Pitt.  He was rescued by Shaggy Dog Rescue and I loved him.  However, the name had to go asap!

Mr. Pitt, became Moxy by combining the names of two dogs I have loved most, Roxie and Molly.  Moxy is black and white with a large white heart on his black forehead.  The first day was great.   Meeting Mike outside with his “son”, it was instant love and within a few short days we were family.

Moxy went on his first adventure a few days ago when we spent the week-end at Bette and Doug’s.  The pool was heated and Bette and I were in it!  Moxy was curious, but not really interested in the water touching him.  Bette continued to coax him in the pool to no avail.  Moxy was sitting on the sideline and had no interest in being in the water.  The day passed.  Mike and Bette were on the deck talking over old times.  Doug was sleeping in his chair.  I decided to lie down and read.

After a few minutes I heard whimpering at my door.  I chose to ignore Moxy in the hope that someone else would tend to him.  Not giving up so easily, he began to quietly plead and paw.  What came next had me running to the door.  Suddenly, Moxy was throwing himself at the door with a frightened pleading in his voice.  I threw the door open, scooped up a horrified animal, ran outside and demanded to know what they were doing to “my baby!”

Bette and Mike looked surprised that I knew something had happened and more surprised when I told how I knew.  I informed them, “Moxy tattled on you!”  The two had tried again to coax Moxy into the pool.  They had bribed, cajoled, teased and finally splashed…that was the deal breaker that had Moxy running to Mama for salvation…and saved he was!

A few days later, home again, I had lunch with my eldest grandson, Justin.   We had a great visit. As Justin was leaving, he stood in the open door while we finished our conversation.  Suddenly, like a rocket, Moxy was out the door.  He had been arguing with the dogs across the street and I told Justin that was where he would go.

Sure enough, Moxy went straight to the neighbor’s fence barking all the way.  Justin walked up and reached for him…the rocket was gone again!  Once more, as Moxy stopped at the corner, Justin was there and again dog gone!    Knowing this could go on all day, I reached for my car keys, feeling certain Moxy would come straight to the car.  Just as the car started I heard a blood curdling scream.  Since the scream was at the same time the engine turned on, I was uncertain of who or what I had actually heard.

My first thought was Justin had reached for Moxy and he had bit my g-son.  As the car turned the corner I saw Justin coming toward me and carrying Moxy.  Jus put the dog in the car first then he climbed in.  “What happened?” I questioned, “I was afraid he had bitten you.”  “No,” said Justin.

Here is the story…Moxy continued his exploration and about three houses down saw a cat sitting in front of a garage door.  Not being a cat fan, Moxy went on attack.  As he came closer to the cat (which never moved) aggressively barking, Cat waited patiently while Moxy came closer and then took a serious swipe at him.   Thus the blood curdling scream.  I had to drive back to take another look at this cat, who was still sitting where Moxy found him, totally unconcerned.  I had to laugh; the cat sat on his back haunches and probably outweighed my 13 pounder by 5 pounds.

That night I told Mike the story.  In his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression he began to tease Moxy.  Mike called Mox “a girlie dog” and threatened to buy him a pink “Hello Kitty” jacket with sparkles.  It was hysterical…I was in tears from laughter.  Suddenly Moxy ran from Mike, hid between me and the sofa, hung his head and sulked.  He would not look at Mike or raise his head.  “Mike, you have hurt Moxy’s feelings!  You need to apologize,” I pleaded. He did, they made nice and all is well once again.

Photo: Michael and Moxy…sunrise on the Texas beach

While with Bette, we decided that salsa would be a great way to use a fresh pineapple.  This is the end result and would be great with seafood, on chicken or with chips.

“Dishin’ with Dody”:

Dody and Bette’s Salsa

½ pineapple

1 tomato (squeeze to remove seeds)

½ jalapeno, finely diced

2 Tbs. green onions

1/3 c cucumber

½ avocado

1 Tbs. lemon or lime juice

Save juice from pineapple and put in medium bowl.  Dice everything small dice. Add to bowl.  Add salt, pepper and citrus juice to taste.  Stir until well mixed.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.