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(Editor’s Note: If you have a pet you’d love to see featured in Old Mission Gazette, contact our pets writer Paula Kelley, [email protected], or me, [email protected], and I will pass your info along to Paula. Read on for her notes about Harwell, Sparky and Cloud. -jb)
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Hello, Old Mission!
After spending last week moving snow around, I finally had a chance to catch up with friends Tom and Maria to chat about their pets.
Harwell, a debonair creature who always struts around in her tuxedo, was adopted from Cherryland Humane Society and is a robust 12 years old. Named after legendary Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, she likes nothing better than to spend her time catching mice. Nothing starts off the morning better than stumbling across the remains of some unfortunate critter in the house. Harwell really earns her keep when she is allowed outside. Voles, mice, and other ground creatures are all fair game. She is not allowed to hunt birds, though, and is known in the family as “Two Bell Harwell” because she has bells on her collar to frighten off the birds.
Sparky, a calico cat, came home from AC Paw and is a 4-year-old goofball and very vocal, according to Maria. Named after former Tiger’s manager Sparky Anderson, she was brought into the family to be a companion to Harwell after the death of Harwell’s best buddy Jack, a Staffordshire Terrier. Unfortunately, Harwell is just now warming up to Sparky. Sparky prefers to spend her days in the basement relaxing on her chair and is quite the fraidy cat when allowed outside. Both cats are only permitted in the yard under supervision and must have their harnesses on. They also enjoy playing in their screened cat tent outside.
Cloud is a Great Pyrenees, and this big, cuddly beast weighs in at 110 pounds. Known as “Pyres,” this breed was historically used as guard dogs to keep bears and wolves away, and they are intensely loyal to their pack or family. Tom says that Cloud is petrified of slippery floors, won’t go up steps, and loves nothing better than to hang around outside in the snow. Most of the time, Cloud does not want to come inside and Maria resorts to laying a trail of treats across the yard to the back door in order to lure her in.
During the summer, Cloud has the bad habit of digging huge holes in the yard to stay cool, which then fill up with rain and snow and create an awful mess. Maria had a Pyre when she was a child, but this is Tom’s first adventure with one, and he was unprepared for the massive quantities of drool – sometimes spraying the walls 6 or 7 feet up when she shakes off inside! Tom also said the shedding is quite bad and their Roomba gets a daily workout zipping around the house. I’ve included the puppy picture of Cloud that Tom sent me because I think it is adorable.
Read more about the Great Pyrenees breed of dogs here.
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SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette
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