An example of Dogkin

So, as an example of dogkin, I thought I'd share a little story we heard this week that just so happens to be true. While we were at the funeral home in Natchitoches, one of the funeral directors asked if we knew of a man named Washington Basco. It didn't ring a bell, but since that is a family name we said it was probable. Apparently Washington had bright orange hair, rode his horse everywhere, and carried pocketfuls of hunting knives.

Back in Gorum we asked Aunt Carmen, my great aunt and grandma's sister, what she knew about Washington. She laughed and said, "Oh yeah, he was a character." Apparently he is a great-great uncle and one of 22 human children. Did you catch that? Human children. His parents, my great-great grandparents, Napolean and Lizzie Basco had 22 children - and that's not the unbelievable part. Not only did she raise 22 children, she also suckled and raised two bear cubs.

Uh-huh, I know. Aunt Carmen swears it's true, and she's usually very reliable. A mother bear died and left two cubs behind. In order to help keep the bears alive and nourished, she suckled the cubs. Just one of many tales of my backwoods relatives, but it's where my roots are and as weird as they may be they're all a part of me.