Murphy the Dog

(This post is not hobby related but it is such a funny story I thought I would share it here)

Up the country, my grandparents had a beagle named Murphy. He was a fun-loving dog. He could also be vindictive. For instance:

My brother and I had toy bazookas that shot a hollow little projectile. They did not do any damage or have much impact. We decided to use the dog for target practice, seeing as the hollow projectiles would not hurt him. The spring-loaded toys could hit a dog-sized target at about ten feet. Murphy did not like our bazookas. After an afternoon of being bazooka-ed, he had enough.

The dog slept in the garage in warm weather. There was a cool spot in there that he favored. Keep in mind that most homes were not air conditioned in those days. My grandmother even made a dog bed for him there. We left out bazookas in the garage with other toys. Next morning, the bazookas were ruined. The dog had ripped apart the cardboard tubes. Nothing else in the garage was disturbed. When we complained, we got in trouble for annoying the dog.

Another time, my cousins came up the country. Patty was about five years older than me, Jimmy was seven years older. They were throwing a football around. Being that much older than me, they were not going to include me in anything. Murphy was out there running loose. He wanted to play, too.

One of the cousins threw the ball and it hit the ground. Murphy pounced on it and got the end in his mouth. The football was half his size. They started yelling and chased him. Murphy outran the two of them and made a beeline for the woods. Patty and Jimmy lost him. It was as if that little dog struck a blow for both os us, because it amused me that they were so upset. The beagle made a fool of them. As far as I am concerned, Patty and jimmy deserved it. Irish justice!

Several years later, I was up in the woods in back of the house. I noticed something in a slight dip in the ground. Coming closer, there was something with a slightly oval shape, too regular to be natural. On closer inspection it turned out to be an utterly deflated, rotten, moldy football. The nearest houses were a quarter mile away, so there was only one way it got there. Murphy’s revenge!

Murphy was a great dog!