Hi, dog buddies! This week, I headed into the Boonies wa-ay west of Fellsmere to yap with Topaz Knoesen, an older pooch who is South African and has the coolest accent!
Topaz has a very important job at Florida Organic Aquaculture, where we met. As a responsible Journalist, I had done my Due Googling, and found out it’s a place where they raise, like, ka-jillions of shrimp. Topaz is Shrimp Supervisor and Very Special Assistant to his human Dad, Les, who is Executive Vice-President.
A nice lady escorted us into the Board Room. This tidy little Yorkie was sitting on the long, important-looking table, looking very important himself. He had great posture and a very engaging face.
“Welcome, Bonz! (May I call ya Bonz?) I’m Topaz Kuh-Noo-Sun! Please, have a seat! This is my Dad, Les. My Mum’s Jean. She’s at home.”
“Pleased to meet you! This is some place you have here!” Driving up, I’d noticed what looked like huge airplane hangars, down at the end of a dusty road.
“I’ll give you a tour later, if ya’d like,” he said.
“Pawsome! I’ll bet you’ve got SOME stories to tell! I know you’re a World Traveler!”
“Indeed I am. Hope you have a big notebook, young fella.” He smiled. I grabbed my pen.
“I was born and raised in South Africa. Mum got me after hers and Dad’s Teacup Yorkie went to Dog Heaven. I was just a tiny pupster, and now I’m 13 in People, so that’d be, 91 in Dog. Gettin’ up there, but feelin’ fine. Retirement’s not for me. Use it or lose it, that’s what I say.
“Anyway, I loved South Africa. Dad’s an engineer and we also had this little restaurant so we knew about shrimp (we call ‘em prawns). But, Dad said the Political Climate was getting bad. I figured out that means some people wanted to be Boss and other people got Mad and it was getting Scary. Dad knew Mr. Morris (he’s the man who started this place) ‘cuz he’s from South Africa, too. So me and Dad and Mom came over here in 2011 so we could help build all this.”
“Wow! What was it like flying all that way?” I had to ask.
“The airplane people were quite nice to me, had a special cabin for us animals. But it took a loooong time to get all the check-through stuff done, with Customs and Homeland Security making sure I wasn’t trying to sneak stuff in, and I’d had my shots. I went into cargo at 4, and we took off at 7. Dad put his T-shirt in with me so it’d be familiar and comforting. From Johannesburg to Atlanta, I was in that crate for 26 hours! I tell ya, Bonz, by the time I got off the plane in Atlanta, I took off for the first patch of grass I saw. Mum and Dad let me take all the time I needed.”
“I bet it’s real different here than in South Africa.”
“Yeah, in some ways. I really like it here. I have my Green Card and I love my job. Right now, I pretty much run the place. I try to personally greet every visitor. I remind Rebecca (she’s Office Manager) when we need more coffee or when I need my lunch, or when I’m out of treats. THEN she gets my Grumpy Face. When my water bowl is empty, I gently place my paw in it, give a little bump, and flip it across the room. Now THAT is FUN! Me and Dad check out the shrimp in the barns every day and I help Dad conduct tours.
“Whaddya do when you’re not working here?” I inquired.
“Well, me and Dad and Mum have our own little farm nearby. This company teaches people how to raise their own prawns – er, shrimp – so we learned. It’s fun! We call it Ithuba Farm (that’s Zulu for Opportunity). I just love shrimp. I like to name ‘em, and I give ‘em pep talks so they’ll grow up fat and yummy. I also like to eat ‘em.
“And I love to visit new places. We took this 9,500-mile car trip, visited 24 states and a bunch of national parks, had some awesome adventures. I wrote a blog during our travels, had a lot of followers, too. Saw the Black Hills, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone. I’ll tell you a secret, Bonz,” he leaned in. “Third on my Bucket List is to leave my mark in every National Park in the country. So far so good.”
I was speechless. And impressed.
He tilted his head to one side and gave me a thoughtful look, sizing me up, I figured.
“I like you, Bonz, and I’m a pretty good judge of character. You seem like a clever young fella, smart and polite, but I’m pretty much a People Pooch. Mom and Dad love me dearly so we all hang together. I ‘specially love kids – keeps me young, y’know.”
After our interview, Topaz took me on a tour of the shrimp barns. I’ll never forget it. He even introduced me to some of the shrimp – Cecil, Baxter, Doreen, Mark and Rolph.
Heading home, I thought how lucky I am to have a job where I can Broaden My Canine Horizons: meeting interesting fellow pooches – and the occasional cat.