She was brown and black – a mutt – but she was my mutt!

She was not a house dog – why I do not know – from my first memory of her –

she was on a chain in the back yard with her own dog house – full of hay and straw.

The chain was about twenty feet long so she had a wide area to run around in.

The dog house sat by the corner of the very old red barn next to the railroad tracks.

My father had at one time dug out the foundation to jack it up and put supports under it.

He had found a very old sword in the ground – still in its sheath and that was all pitted and rusted away.

We guessed it had fallen off a train and was maybe the Spanish American War or Civil War.

Penny was the only dog we had as I was growing up – funny – I do not remember her passing on.

But I do remember her always wagging her whole body when I came down to see her.

She was never loose as they said she would run and would not obey –

they were afraid she would get hit by a car on the main street in front of the house.

I never had another dog while living at home but my sister who lived next door did.

Pedro was my favorite – small – blonde – and he was a house dog.

I had dogs after that when I was on my own.

After I left and my dad passed away my mom got a very little dog named Sparky.

He was a house dog and very small.

But penny was the first dog I remembered – I liked her –

Thanks for reading Papa’s World.