TERRE HAUTE —
Ed and I were old enough to know better, but we got our laughs in a rather cruel way. We caused Lady, the family collie, a lot of chagrin by dressing her up in “people clothes.”
It was bad enough to put her in a pair of Dad’s shorts, but when we tied our tennis shoes onto her rear feet and laughed like maniacs as she clumped away from us, we had crossed the line. She didn’t nip us, but maybe she should have.
I revisited that event which so shamed Lady after reading the other day that American pet owners are predicted to spend more than $3 million to tog out their furry companions for Halloween. You can do it cut-rate and buy a ready-made costume, or you can be creative and do it yourself. I was impressed by the ingenuity of one pet owner who outfitted her Doberman with a sort of take-off on a sandwich board sign. It fit rather like a saddle across the dog’s back, and on both sides of the dog was a giant dog biscuit. Clearly the dog would rather have been somewhere else.
Owners of smaller dogs tend to go for cute, something like bunny ears maybe?
It doesn’t stop with dogs. Cats can be costumed, too. I don’t know about your cat, but our cat, “Sour Puss,” would have slashed us deep and often if we had come at her with bunny ears.
I can’t imagine doing up a hamster or a ferret and can’t guess what you’d do with a pet snake. Maybe a small bell tied to its tail would convince it that it was a rattlesnake?
Our dogs were strictly dogs. One cold winter we decided that Huckleberry needed a dog sweater for those long, cold, after-supper walks. We found one in a baby blue which we thought was perfect for our male dog. Huck didn’t think so. Maybe he was more macho than we thought. We always thought the neighbor’s dog made a cutting remark and Huck sailed into the only dog fight of his career with us. He came out of it with his sweater in tatters and a satisfied smirk.
We no longer have a dog, but we do have four granddogs. I checked with our sons and neither plans to tog them out for Halloween. Diedre has very short hair and loves her sweater, but that hardly counts.
As for Popeye, he is heavily insulated with blubber and looks funny even without a costume. Indy is too old to put up with any of that nonsense, and Rose, usually highly cooperative, won’t even be asked to provide laughs this Halloween.
All four of our granddogs will do any trick-or-treat capers as the dogs they are. I hope they collect a dog bone or two. I’ll send any money I might have been tempted to spend on a costume to the Humane Shelter.
Liz Ciancone is a retired Tribune-Star reporter. Her columns have appeared in this page for more than 20 years. Send e-mail to opinion@tribstar.com.
Opinion Columns
LIZ CIANCONE: No pet costumes for this Halloween
- Opinion Columns
-
-
Mark Bennett: High-profile mural connects historical dots from city to river
At 96 feet wide and 2 stories tall, the power, impact and value of the Wabash will be evident.
-
RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
Someone wrote or said a few years ago a statement that would define the word “Hoosier.” According to this urban legend, a Hoosier is somebody dribbling a basketball around the Indy 500 while eating a fried, morel mushroom. It did not define me, at the time.
-
RONN MOTT: Israel’s Air Force
Recently the Israeli Air Force bombed and rocketed a convoy leaving Syria going to Lebanon with rockets that were going to be used to attack Israel. It did not get there. It was destroyed.
-
RONN MOTT: Media merry-go-round
Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That isn’t a unique phrase to this writer or to this era in time. But, when it comes to the musical chairs of broadcasting, it certainly applies.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Courts see a different appearance than cops
Have you ever noticed the transformation between the arrest of an accused lawbreaker and the first appearance in court?
-
MARK BENNETT: Life at face value: Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable daily challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research.
(Unless, of course, your mother is a scientific researcher. If so, carry a No. 2 pencil and take good notes.) -
SUSAN DUNCAN: Advice to the kids on Mother’s Day
Just so you know, now settled firmly into middle age, I think of “kids” as anyone in their 30s and younger. I also accept that many of my elders view me as an upstart whippersnapper, though snapping even my fingers nowadays can be a chore.
-
FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
Last year, the people of Indiana entrusted the Republican Party with some of their most precious possessions.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Raccoons II’
In the Algonquin Indian language, raccoon means “working with hands.” They are really cute little fellows until they injure a child, or a pet, or leave feces around where you certainly do not want it.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘NRA Convention’
At the recent NRA Convention in Houston, Texas, where the right-wing political hot air almost lifted the convention's building off its foundation, the NRA trotted out the forever yours political dame of the right wing, Sarah Palin. Sarah did not disappoint.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Heritage gone’
The last high school I attended was being torn down just a few days ago. I didn't learn about it until I saw classmate Dick Mills on television and a display he had put together about State football championships in the middle 1930's. I began elementary school with Dick Mills. That was Matthew South Elementary School on South Sixth Street in Clinton, Indiana. After seeing Dick on TV, it dawned on me that all schools I had attended in Clinton have been torn down.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: We always want more than we need
Washington seems more preoccupied with the unemployment rate than they are about the constant stalemate. Still with thousands out of work and the unemployment rate hovering somewhere between 7 percent and 9 percent, it does deserve more than a passing nod.
-
MARK BENNETT: Should I stay or should I go?
Some have their Bill Clinton-era Cavalier packed (with the trunk bungee-ed shut), apartment cleaned (except for the fridge), and iPhone GPS locked onto the fastest route out of Terre Haute. Others are staying — until they find a better job, or because they’re starting a career here, or because this town feels like home. In each case, a new stage of life begins today.
-
College Class of '13 gets a little extra advice
Local college grads will hear commencement speakers offer life and career advice this month. We’re offering them an extra dose here from folks who’ve found success in various vocations and regions of the nation. Many have Terre Haute roots.
-
RONN MOTT: Things that go bump in the night
I live in a very old house. There are all kinds of noises that occur, especially at night, or so it seems. Aside from the various creaks and pops from old wooden floors and walls when the furnace heats up and sends warm air into the rooms, we, my wife and I, have heard other noises.
-
RONN MOTT: Around the dial
At lunch the other day with Terry Tevlin (First Financial Bank), I bumped into Dale Mahurin. I hadn’t talked to Dale in a long time and inquired about his wife, Julie Henricks.
Julie has returned to the radio microphone doing a weekend gig on Mix FM. For fans of Julie’s show on WTWO-TV, don’t worry, she’s not leaving … just multi-tasking. Welcome back to the radio airwaves, Julie! -
ANDREA NEAL: Newspaper journalists still make a difference
A recent survey ranked newspaper reporter as the worst career of 2013, just below meter reader and lumberjack, but you wouldn’t guess it from the stories told by journalists who gathered in Bloomington to see six of their own inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
-
RONN MOTT: George Jones
I got to Nashville in the early ’70s, hired by John Patton, who had been a DJ for WBOW earlier in his career. Then, he was managing WMAK in Nashville and I was promised a top sales list and received the yellow pages (many a promise like this has happened to people in this business). I also did sports commentary for the morning man and would ultimately do a season of play-by-play and a short TV schedule for Tennessee State.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Old age is in email of the beholder
My Best Friend isn’t much for writing letters, so email has opened a new world for him. He can dash off a few words to a high school friend or his college roommate — now living in Florida and Washington State,
-
MARK BENNETT: Spirited response to a rising river
The power within the Wabash revealed itself last week.
-
FLASHPOINT: Time has arrived for overhaul of TV news
Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes gave an address in 1992 in which he claimed television news was too superficial and too focused on visuals.
-
RONN MOTT: Remembering Pat Summerall
I don’t remember how I first became aware of Pat Summerall, but the first time I heard him was on a New York radio station (WCBS, I think). He was doing the sports for the morning man and exchanging some opinions about sports and such with him.
-
RONN MOTT: What I don’t know
I was watching a segment on the History Channel the other night while I waited for the end of “The Big Bang Theory” and a show I had seen before. It was “Sex in History.” And the two segments I watched were about Ben Franklin and Howard Hughes.
-
RONN MOTT: You, me, and the Muslim world
I don’t know how to do this. I’m a fairly intelligent human being, but the events of the past week in Boston have turned me emotionally inside out. It’s more than the people who died, it’s more than the people who were injured … some permanently,
-
LIZ CIANCONE: A memory test from the oldtime radio days
For some reason, I seem to be the go-to source for all sorts of obscure information out at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
-
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
-
RONN MOTT: China
The recent blustering by North Korea and their weaponry, which now includes ICBMs, has pulled into full attention America’s involvement with China.
-
RONN MOTT: The country is not the NRA
It’s the United States of America, not the United States of the National Rifle Association. But hey, if that’s your poison, maybe it will change.
-
RONN MOTT: Observations of spring
I turned on the TV last week, got focused on a wrestling match and a basketball game broke out. My goodness, what a rough game with bodies strewn all over the floor. If you were going to contest a shot, you would have to hit him hard, and the rules must have changed because I didn’t recognize any of the foul calls.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Friskey no doubt was in favor of gun control
I once owned a gun. Actually, it was Dad’s gun and I was allowed to use it. He bought an air gun which shot BB’s to protect our home — in a way.
- More Opinion Columns Headlines
-
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Raw: Tornadoes Spotted in Kansas
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Obama Exhorts Good Deeds by Morehouse Graduates
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Music Therapy Bonds Parents and Preemies
Winning Powerball Ticket Sold in Florida
Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Today in History for May 19th
Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel
Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony
Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash
Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder
Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner
Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion
Beyonce Is Pregnant!
SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch
See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion
Woman tricked into taking abortion pill
Emma Watson Goes Pantless
IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes
Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety
Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos
Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths
