All The Pets

Hey guys! Happy National Popcorn Day. (Random, yes.) I’m sitting in my bedroom right now, waiting for my fingers to thaw out. I was outside with my family stargazing. So beautiful. But also very cold. Now I’m in from of my little heater, with Phantom of the Opera soundtrack playing through earbuds. Ahh.

So I was trying to figure out what to write about today. I normally have quite a few ideas for my blog, but it’s been a really busy week. School starting again, trying to get my sugar glider joeys sold, writing, chores, babysitting, and life in general. So, I thought that I would do a random post about the pets that I’ve had. XD Hey, it’s all I could come up with on the spot. XD

I’ve had quite a few pets that I considered “mine” (even though they weren’t exactly MINE per say). Starting out….

Daddy’s Girl, Pecky, Mr. Rock and Mr. Grey

My first real pets were chickens. When I was six or seven, we got a bunch of chickens as chicks. We raised them inside of our kitchen, and I fell totally in love. I would hold them, pet them, talk to them. I loved them all, but I had four favorites: Daddy’s Girl was a beautiful Americana. Pecky was a mean version of her sister. XD Mr. Rock was a barred rock rooster who I loved dearly. Mr. Grey was an Americana rooster, who was MEAN. I’m not sure why I liked him so much ‘cause he always attacked me – hard enough to draw blood sometimes. When we had to give him away a few years later, I cried as he was being taken away.

We lived in town at the time, and one neighbor eventually called the animal control on us. (We had a ton of roosters that would crow ALL through the day, not just at dawn.) We found out that we could only have ONE chicken. I was CRUSHED. We decided to keep Daddy’s Girl. We gave the rest of them to a friend in Morgantown, West Virginia (where we went to church).

Daddy’s Girl was my favorite chicken ever. She was the sweetest. I’d spend hours with her and she became very tame. I would turn my bike helmet upside down and carry her around in that. She never tried to jump out!

We eventually moved to Springfield, MO and we got our whole flock of chickens back. I loved them so much.

Sadly, Daddy’s Girl and Pecky died one stormy night. 😦 We lived on a farm that had horrible storms. Strong waters would just be flowing through our “front yard”. In one of those storms, the big chicken coop got moved, and Pecky and Daddy’s Girl were both killed. 😦 I was devastated. We couldn’t find Pecky’s body to burry her. Even though I knew she was dead, I still wrote lengthy prayers in my journal begging God to let her somehow find her way to a loving family who would care for her as much as I did. The night before I found out, we were driving home from church and I was so scared for them ‘cause I felt like they were in trouble. Sadly, I was right. 😦

But they were awesome pets and they added so much to my younger years!

Trustworthy

Technically,  Trustworthy wasn’t mine. But I spent the most time with him, so I kinda pretended that I owned him. XD He was the SWEETEST donkey ever. I was nine or ten when we got him. We were still living at our farm.

Male donkeys have a tendency to be very mean. But man, he was the best. I rode him, talked to him, walked him through the fields and just hung out with him. He was so gentle. We eventually got two other donkeys and I was shocked at the difference between them. They were skittish and jumpy and didn’t want to be near humans. Trustworthy, however, would come right up to me.

When we moved, we had to sell him. Again, I was so devastated. But he went to a good home – I think he became a therapy donkey or something of that sort. He was definitely cut out for it.

Obed and Ruth (and Sampson)

My two banty chickens. I LOVE banties and would love to get them again. They were both very sweet, but Obed was my favorite. He was a beautiful TINY rooster, who wouldn’t hesitate to stand up to the regular sized roosters. I would walk around our farm and Obed would just sit on my hand without jumping off. Full grown, he was smaller than my hand.

On our farm, we raised caponized roosters for meat. We did the caponizing ourselves as well as the processing (both very interesting in their own ways). Sampson was one of the capons that was saved for being killed. He was a beautifully colored bird with long feathers (hence, his name). When we left the farm, he went with a bunch of our other chickens to friends.

The Piglets

We had two pigs and one day, just before Christmas, we found out that Pricilla had had piglets. Unfortunately, it was her first time and she didn’t know what to do. All of the babies except two were dead by the time we found them. We brought the remaining two babies inside and left for our Christmas trip. For the next few days, they were mine. I fed them and kept the warm. I loved them with all of the love my little nine-year-old heart had. And they still died. 😦 I was so depressed when I looked in their little box the morning before we were heading back to our farm and found it empty. 😦 😦 Life is frail. I figured that out in more than one way during that season of youth.

Esther

Esther was a cat that came along with our Great Pyranesse dog, Boaz. No one else liked Esthser, so she became mine. She was an amazingly gentle cat. She would allow kids to pull on her ears and fur and she wouldn’t bite or scratch. She loved me. She’d hang out with me and steer clear of everyone else. XD

I remember sitting outside and holding her on my lap. Aside from my chickens, she was my one companion who I KNEW loved me during that time. I had her for…probably two years. When we left Springfield for a different part of Missouri, we couldn’t take her. 😦 She went to a good home, but it was heartbreaking to watch her scratch at her cage as they were taking her away….

Naomi and Yas

Ah yes, my last two chickens. Yas was one of the original chickens that I had had from the first batch when I was six. I named her after a young lady who lived with us for quite some time. Yas (the chicken, haha) lived to be almost nine years, I believe, which is quite old for a chicken! She went through six moves all across the country! She was quite a traveler!

Naomi was a sweet hen that Jehosheba had bought for me when we lived on our farm. I had both of them up until 2019, when we left Minnesota for Tennessee. They went to live with my grandparents ‘cause we couldn’t have them in town. 😦

Ink and Dreamer

And my most recent pets! SUGAR GLIDERS! I got Ink and Dreamer at the beginning of 2020. I’m hoping to have them for the next 12-15 years! 😉 (I won’t say any more about them ‘cause you guys hear me talk about them enough! If you’re interested in hearing more, you can always go follow my side blog, An Inky Dream.)

Wow, this kinda turned into a depressing post – with all the dying/rehoming animals! But you know, that’s part of being a pet owner. It’s being willing to love these animals while we have them and then let them go when it’s time. Like everything in life. *nods*

~Hattush

What pets have you owned? Have you had any of the pets that I’ve had? What animals do you dream of owning?