Thursday, March 22, 2007

critter-filled spring break

I suppose it's a given that when you live in the country you're going to see your share of animal behavior (and I'm not just referring to my children). My son's been on spring break from school this week, which essentially means that the house has been a wreck, I haven't gotten as much writing done as I meant to, and...we've had lots of fun. This was especially true today when we woke up to this on the prairie just outside the kitchen window at dawn:



My husband counted 16 in the elk herd - a bunch of cows and some adolescent males.

Later in the day we headed into town and paid a visit to the local pound. Both kids have missed having kitties around (my mom's ancient Himalayan died while we were living in California). So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you (drum roll, please...) Angel!






And Milo!


Honestly, it was an absolutely emotionally exhausting experience visiting the Humane Association, especially since we had to walk through the dog kennel to get to the cat room. Not to bring everyone down, but you'd have to be super-human (or maybe sub-human) not to feel your heart break at the sorrow-filled eyes of the old dogs and the hope-filled eyes of the puppies. This kind of suffering is one of the things I plan to bring up with the Big Guy when I hear the roll called up yonder someday. Until then, it feels good to know we could spring two of the inmates.

5 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh!

    first of all, we never see that kind of wildlife at the farm- it's too densely populated out there. I can count 9 or 10 farms from Mom's house. What a buzz to see that elk herd! I hope they don't steal your hay.

    And you have cats! Good for you. I'm a big believer in pound cats. Nigel came from the pound and he's just so awesome I still can't believe it, 16 years later! Nice matched tabbies. Gotta love Angel's hellacious maw.

    I know exactly what you mean in your last paragraph. For our first family dog we got a puppy to raise but our next dog (hopefully a decent farm dog) will come from the pound.

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  2. WELCOME, Angel and Milo! It is good to know that you will be loved dearly by this family! My cats are from Second Chance... went in for one but came out with 2! N-Someday you and I will be the "Pound Rescuers" - do you think we can take turns wearing that purple fringed cape, too? You know, the one that needs a big letter on it still?

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  3. Heidi, we actually live in a subdivision, so it's not like ours is the only house out here. It's a small and remote subdivision, though, and since we're at the farthest corner we're surrounded on two sides by a several-thousand-acre prairie of US Forest Service land. It's sort of like living on a glass-bottomed boat; we have all the comforts of a humble home, plus our own window into Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, lol.

    April, I love your cats. I thought about paying a visit to Second Chance if the kids didn't find the kitties of their dreams at the H.A., but that didn't happen. :-)

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  4. Anonymous12:58 PM

    We rescued a dog recently, but kitties are still my fav. Yours are so cute!!

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  5. Oh my GOODNESS but that doggie is cute, too. I can't wait to meet her in person (in dog)?

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