Summer came and school let out, but we didn’t go to our cabin in North Carolina.  Instead, Grandma and Grandpa Junior had bought a cabin on the mountain side in Black Mountain near the cabin we rented, so we went up and spent a week with them.   We didn’t do as many activities as we had in the past, because we had done most of them already but, of course, no trip to North Carolina would be complete without Dad taking us on a drive up on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  

 Grandma Junior also got two miniature poodles which she named It’l (rhymes with little) Bit and Mimi.  They were small little things, smaller than most cats. Uncle Cork tells about It’l Bit and Mimi.

The family pets that stand out to most are probably It’l Bit and Mimi, the miniature poodles that Mom and Dad loved.  They were real cute dogs, and very smart.  The problem with them—the one that made you hate them—was Mom and Dad (mostly Dad).  They baby-talked to them, prepared special meals for them, told stories about them, took pictures of them and pampered them to the extent that no one wanted to be around them.  I still get sick when I think of Dad walking It’l Bit and repeatedly saying: “Pee-pee It’l Bit, pee-pee.”  One night, while living at home, Dad and Mom went out somewhere and asked if I would “watch” the dogs (although they never referred to them as dogs).  I said yes, and by the time they were starting the car, I had to decided to teach that little runt, It’l Bit, to mind me.  I got a sing sheet of paper towel, rolled it into a circle, and used it as a spanking weapon.  Within five minutes I had taught him to get into, and stay, in his bed when told to.  Mimi had stayed in the bed the first time I told her, out of fear of my voice!  When Dad and Mom arrived home, I announced that I had taught the dogs a trick.  It’l Bit was sitting in his bed and looking like I had beaten him with a baseball bat.  His head bent down, Dad knew that I had done something awful to his favorite “son”.  As It’l Bit slowly inched his way out of bed and toward Dad, I dug my grave deeper by holding up the paper towel and saying: “Bit, get in that bed!”  He turned to go, looked at Dad, and Dad came to his rescue.  Dad told me that Bit never had learned to get in his bed, or any trick, and that if I wanted to continue to live at his house I had better “never raise a hand to him again.”  It’l Bit understood what was going on because he suddenly looked normal and happy, and he never listed to me direct him again.

Cork Junior, March 2002

I always remember It’l Bit and Mimi as little yappy little dogs that Grandma would dote over.  When the dogs were a couple of years old, Grandma wanted them to breed and have a litter of little It’l Bits but it was not to be.  Mimi had grown in size, still little, but weighing maybe six pounds while It’l Bit never grew much at all and probably weighed half of Mimi.  When Mimi came into heat Grandma and Grandpa both did everything they could to encourage a coupling but it was not to be, it seems It’l Bit just wasn’t interested.  Eventually Grandma gave up and It’l Bit and Mimi grew to a ripe old age but childless.

Beth with I'tl Bit and Mimi on Grandma at Grandpa Junior's cabin in North Carolina

Beth on porch at Grandpa Junior's cabin in North Carolina

Updated: 10-15-2022

The Ranchette