The Southsider Voice
Visit us at these places!
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Sports
    • Car Nutz
    • Stilley Goes Trackside
    • Southside Deaths
    • Personal Recollections
    • Reminiscing
  • About the Voice
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Classifieds

Stuart's Pet Connection

2/22/2017

0 Comments

 

​Southside Animal Shelter, 
​These furry friends need new homes!

Editor’s note: Stuart, the therapy dog of Southsider Voice columnist Fred Shonk and his wife, Lyn, is back at the keyboard. This time he’s writing about his fondness for routines and the growing popularity of euchre. 

My human dad and I have fun visiting people at hospitals, nursing homes and schools. On occasion I hear him telling someone that I am a smart dog and that I really like routine. 

He thinks I enjoy routine, yet I don’t think he ever considers how many things he does the exact same way every day. His morning routine was the same every day while he worked for Beech Grove Schools. A loud noise would wake him (and me) up early five days a week. He showered, shaved and got dressed. He fixed me the same breakfast every morning (he still does), and he returned home at about the same time so we could do what we did together. 

We do special stuff on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is exciting when he grabs my leash off the wall and pulls a wet wipe out of the box. I know we are getting ready to go visit my friends at Manor Care Health Services or Madison Health Care Center. We always follow the same path along the hallways and always stop at the activity and therapy rooms. Once in a while we stop into one of those places on a different day and that sort of confuses me. 

Several times I have heard Dad telling Mom that if he stops into one of those facilities and I’m not with him, he has to explain to everyone where I am. 

A couple of days later we visit Central Elementary and South Grove Intermediate Schools in Beech Grove. That is routine except when school is not in session. I really enjoy those students reading to me at the library. 

We also go to stores. One of my favorite places is Lowe’s on Emerson Avenue. My good friend Amy Graves works there.  We also visit with the staff at Beech Grove Village Apartments. It is fun to hang out with Pam and Heather.

All of us at the Shonk household like routines, so it’s natural that I get confused when something happens out of the ordinary. I’ll give you an example. My parents used to have friends over for the evening. They set up a few tables and at some point all the folks – four to a table – sat down. 

I just found a soft easy chair or couch to relax on and watch. The adults had little flat things in their hands, which they threw on the table while asking, “What’s trump? What’s trump.” I enjoyed those parties, and the adults seemed like they did too. 

They haven’t had any of those parties for a long time. Maybe they go to other places to do whatever they did here. Whatever the case, I think the game that they played is really growing in popularity.  

When Dad turns on the morning news each morning while drinking his coffee, the people on TV seem to be playing the same game that my parents and their friends played at our house. Some mornings I hear as many as 10 or 15 people asking about “Trump.”
​
But I don’t pay much attention to the morning news because I’m too busy thinking about taking my first nap of the day.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Arts & Entertainment
    Lead Story
    Sports: 500
    Sports: Basketball
    Sports: Track

    RSS Feed

 DROP OFF: The Toy Drop 6025 Madison Ave., Suite D
Indianapolis, IN  46227  |  317-781-0023
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 17187, Indianapolis, IN 46217

ads@southsidervoice.com | news@southsidervoice.com
Website by IndyTeleData, Inc.