INTRODUCTION
Lorelie and I brought Tricia home in September of 1964. She was the first of 9 Golden Retriever SPIRITLIFTERS in the Olson family. Golden Retrievers were a relatively unknown breed then but the loving qualities and the beautiful conformation that endeared her to us would soon make the breed known for being the perfect companion dog.
Within Tricia’s first year, she became a welcomed presence in our extended family’s and friends’ homes. When Lorelie and I flew to Virginia for a vacation with Dave and Betty Olson’s family, Tricia also had a vacation with Grandpa and Grandma Olson in the Skagit Valley. The following is the letter Tricia with Grandpa’s help sent to us in Virginia.
TRICIA DICTATES A LETTER
Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Olson Lutheran Parsonage Springfield, Virginia August 6, 1965
Beloved Master and Mistress,
I know that you love me and have worried that I might not be eating and sleeping well, because I would miss you so much. So I have decided to dictate this letter to Grandpa Olson to put your minds at rest.
Now don’t get the idea I am forgetting you, but to tell you the truth, I am having a dog’s ball! Suppose I fill you in, right from the start!
WEDNESDAY
That was the day you left me here, remember? Well, Grandpa took me out on the church parking lot and let me do some retrieving for him. I must have pleased him, the way I obeyed his commands because he bragged about me something scandalous. Then what do you suppose he did? He went and got my floating dummy and when he put on his hiking boots I knew something was up. I let him know I knew it too. Well, we started up the hill into the woods and I thought we were never going to get wherever he had in mind to go, but he let me do all the sniffing and charging around I wanted to, and I almost went out of my mind with all those woodsy smells, after being cooped up in the stuffy city so long. We saw a beautiful doe with twin fawns but I was heeling at the time and so I just stayed by Grandpa and pricked up my ears. Grandpa told me what they were.
After a long time, we came around a bend and there right in front of my eyes was Everett Lake. Then it began to dawn on me what Grandpa had in mind. He commanded me to sit and I sat. Then he commanded me to stay and I stayed. Then he wound up and threw a burlap dummy far out in the lake and told me to fetch it. But Boss, you remember how you tricked me into going into that cold Skagit River the last time we came up here? Well, I remembered how cold it was and how the fast water took me away from the shore. You yelled and yelled at me and I barely made it back to shore. So, I was kind of skitterish about going in the water. I ran up and own the bank and up to Grandpa and whined and whined. I think Grandpa understood because he picked up a little stick and threw that in the water, just a teensy way, and encouraged me to fetch it. I stuck my paws in and before I knew it, there I was, bringing the stick in for Grandpa.
It was such fun that I didn’t even wait to go through all that silly business about sitting and staying. I just gave Grandpa the stick and turned around and KERPLUNK I went charging out in the lake after that dummy. I climbed out and laid it right down at Grandpa’s feet, sat and and wagged my tail like mad and said,”Let’s do it again!” I think I wore Grandpa out and kind of irritated him him too because every time I brought in the dummy to him I had to shake myself. Grandpa got soaked to the skin. But he just laughed. Finally he said,”Now this is enough for today. I have work to do.” So he stowed the dummy in his pack sack and we took off down the hill. Being all wet like I was, it was a lot of fun to roll in the weeds. Both Grandpa and I were real tired when we got home because we had hiked three miles. I had a few burrs in my tail but Grandpa took them out. I will be missing a few gold curls when you get home but you should feel the muscles I am building!
I just gave Grandma a fit. She was right outside the study door squirting water with the hose on her begonias and you know what the sight of a squirting hose does to me. It seems that Grandma didn’t appreciate my wild antics, since I was in her begonia bed. She really told me off and then Grandpa got real stern but he understood so he took the hose from Grandma and pointed toward the lawn and let me go as crazy as I wanted to. Now I am all wet but it feels awful good because it is hot today.
To get back to Wednesday, Grandpa took me out for the kind of walk all dogs should take before they go to bed. I was real careful about not desecrating church property, not even the parking lot. Grandpa told me there were some people who don’t go to church nearby and I thought that would be the proper place. When we came in, he put me on a rug special for me to sleep on, in what he calls his “hole.” You know the place where he keeps his guns and fishing tackle. I think he wanted to give me some atmosphere before I come back this fall and go hunting ducks with him. You are going to let me do that, aren’t you Boss? After all, that is what has been bred into my ancestors for years, and it would be a shame if I wind up being just a flabby city punk. I was so tired I slept real sound all night and had some beautiful dreams about Mallard ducks.
THURSDAY
Grandpa came to get me and took me me for another walk. This time we followed the woods trail back of the church as far as we could go and I did some more scouting. After breakfast, and by the way, Grandma only had skim milk to put on my breakfast and I didn’t care for it. So Grandpa said, if you are going to be tough, you are going to learn to like this skim milk. So he took me for another hike uptown, about a mile away. He made me stay outside the post office, and the drug store, and the barber shop, and the Herald office, and people came out and said what a beautiful dog I was so Grandpa had to show me off, and I did real well, if I do say so myself. Only when he made me stay outside the post office, a truck was standing by the curb and started up with a roar all of a sudden and I thought for sure the end had come and I forgot myself and came charging in after Grandpa. But I’m getting used to trucks now.
In the afternoon Grandpa took me to Everett Lake again but this time he took Grandma along to show me off. He threw the dummy clean over a big long log. He said he wanted me to work on logistic problems. I found out in a hurry what it is like to try to climb over over a slippery log in the water. I had to admit defeat. I turned around and looked at Grandpa and asked him with my eyes, “What do I do now?” And then Grandpa pointed in the direction of the end of the log and I caught on right away. In no time at all I swam down to the end of the log, around it, got the dummy, swam back around the end and brought my trophy to Grandpa. He gave me an A for that performance. Even Grandma beamed and she is not quite so much of a dog lover as Grandpa. Since I don’t think you care about all of the details of my evening walks, I’ll skip that for now.
FRIDAY
Grandpa and I are going to the woods this evening to try to finish clearing a trail down to the Shelvers so that Grandma can have a nice trail to walk to her friend when she feels like it. While Grandpa hacks away with his hatchet, I just go sniffing for new smells. I disappear sometimes but I always know where Grandpa is and come back once in a while to let him know he doesn’t have to worry about a dog with a nose like mine. Well, you have a good time too! Lots of love and licks,
Trish
LAURA AND TRICIA AT BAKER LAKE
To view previous Spiritlifters post – click here –
Another example of the wonderful creative writing talent in the Olson family.
I remember Dad never stopped talking about his special relationship with Tricia. Never noticed he wrote about it, but not surprised. Amazing, the volume of writing he did about any subject that attracted his attention – and all with basically 2 or 3 “hunt and peck” typing on an old fashioned typewriter. As for Tricia, how could anyone not fall in love with her at 1st sight.
What a special letter! Grandpa Roy’s descriptions painted a great picture of Tricia. I didn’t know he hunted?
Yes, Grandpa Roy hunter – both deer and ducks. The hunting years were especially in Alaska on the Audace and with Rook, Dave & Ken. You might check out the Rook post written by Dave.