A Dirt Road, A Dog, A sixty-Six Pickup and One Big Ugly Bird!

This is a picture of my Nikki, She came into my life in the spring of 1995, she gave me 14 years of loyalty and unconditional love. Nikki passed away March 11, 2009 of kidney Failure. I will miss her dearly, there are times still when I catch myself forgetting she is not still with me. I wrote the following story some years back during healthier times, I am sharing it with all of you in her memory....




A Texas Dirt Road, A Dog, A Sixty-Six Pickup and one Big Ugly bird, By Janie Bradley

It was a late summer afternoon. My husband was sitting in the living room of our tiny cabin that we affectionately refer to as our “hovel in the woods”. It sits right off a quiet dirt road, surrounded by neighboring homes that for the most part harbor no neighbors, except for the occasional weekend or holiday.

I am not sure if the air conditioner was broke or we were attempting to keep our electric bill from reaching new heights, but this particular afternoon our front door was open and we had a pretty good view of the dirt road and our front yard through our screen door.

We noticed our dog “Nikki” getting up from one of her favorite cool spots in the yard and walking to the middle of the dirt road. Her ears were up, her head was tilted at an angle. The next instant her nostrils flared as she smelled the air and immediately the hair on her back stood up. A low growl could be heard coming from her direction, her teeth began to show as she stood completely still, looking down the dirt road.

My husband, overwhelmed by curiosity, moved to one of our front windows for a better view. He saw an emu, larger then life squaring off for what look liked an old west gun fight.
This big ugly bird was something our dog had never laid eyes on, or nose to, before.

It was all my husband could do to keep from hysterically laughing as our Nikki once again cocked her head at an inquisitive angle. Realizing that her fierce stance, her mean growl and all of her usual tricks were not in any way working to intimidate this odd creature, who appeared to be getting closer at an alarming rate of speed. With the Emus at the nips of her heels or in this case paws, she appeared to be a streak of white and brown spots, bellowing all the way, as she slid to safety beneath our old sixty-six Ford.

The emu, steadfast in its task to reach a very frightened and trembling dog, stuck her ostrich like neck beneath the pick- up in vain attempts to reach our sufficiently embarrassed Nikki. The big ugly bird quickly tiring of its pursuit meandered back the way it had come.

There are times even now when I’ll notice our Nikki looking down that same dirt road and I am sure she’s thinking about a big ugly bird. Then there are other times, like today, finding her all stretched out in one of her new favorite spots under that old sixty-six…

Nikki now rests under two newly planted and recently ever blooming Gardenia bushes, it is now my favorite place in the yard.