{AMISH COMMUNITY NEWS}
A Salute to our Loving Friends
Vol. 4 No. 7
May 30, 2012
Animals in My Life
Heidi Hill Van Paul
I’ve always been an animal lover. The homelier they were, the more I’d love them. Once a neighbor gave us a nanny goat, she was still just a little kid that I had to bottle-feed at first. We were best friends that summer; she followed me everywhere. Sometimes, someone would hold her back and I’d go hide somewhere, then she would come look for me. She always found me quickly and would Baaaa! at me and shake her tail. But her horns had not been clipped and grew long and thick, curling back over her head. As she got bigger, she bumped people harder and harder. She never bumped me, but Dad said she was getting dangerous and had to go. That was a sad day when she left for auction. My brother raised rabbits. We’d let them out on the grass one at a time so they could nibble the grass and hop around a little. We would watch them carefully. Well, this one rabbit we brought out for the first time, set her down in the back yard, and in the blink of an eye, she headed straight for the road (we lived on Route 87 at the time) with us tight behind her, yelling our heads off. What a show that was. Thankfully, she headed for the barn again with us close behind when FLOP, she fell on her side and couldn’t make another hop! We caught up with her, panting as wildly as she, picked her up and put her back in her pen. That was her last day of freedom; she was stuck in that pen ever after. Another time, we got four piglets, black with white belts. Three had black snouts, and one had a pink one. That’s the one I fell in love with. I played with her and brushed her everyday. She was the cleanest pig around. But the day came when they were taken to the auction, all full-grown. The man had to work to get the other three on the truck, but “my pig” just followed them up the ramp, grunting quietly. I shed a few tears, thinking I had betrayed her, but life went on and there were other animals to love.
When I was growing up in Cleveland, I longed for a pet of my own, but we lived in apartments and pets weren’t allowed. I once enticed a kitten to follow me home when I knew my Mom was next door visiting neighbors. It did not turn out well as I fed the kitten milk and it got sick all over my Mom’s best bedspread. I had to take the kitten back where I found it. It wasn’t until I was in college that we finally got a pet. My uncle bought a pedigreed miniature dachshund with a name as long as her little self for my aunt. But when the dog, Heidi Hill Van Paul, was 2 years old, my aunt died of cancer. My uncle was so upset, he couldn’t stand having the dog around. He said that if my Mother didn’t take her, he would have her destroyed. My Mom persuaded our landlord to let us keep a dog (I believe she agreed to the rent going up) and Heidi arrived by train a few days later in a crate without water. So little Heidi became our first dog. She was brave, once zooming under a passing boxer to grab a hind leg. The boxer stood holding the hind leg up with Heidi dangling from it. She once chased a squirrel across the yard and turned tail to run for her life when the squirrel whirled around to chase her. She was funny, running in circles like a merry-go-round horse to make us laugh. She was intelligent and loving and cuddled next to me the night after my mother died. Heidi died at the age of 16, having been everything I ever dreamed a pet should be.
By C. Miller
By Jacquie Foote
Our Pet Crow
Family Pets
Soon after we were married, we got a
We used to have a little Jack Russell that went everywhere that Ivan did and stayed there with him. When our boys were still at home, we had a German shepherd they used to hitch to a sled for rides. They also used to ski behind the sled with him. We also had a pig that was tame. He stayed in the pasture with the horses and only a barbwire fence. The boys could sit on her back.
By Barbara Ann Detweiler pet crow. He was a loud-mouthed thing. Thecawing really grated on nerves! But it was interesting to have him and a great conversation piece! We fed him bread soaked with milk and he loved it!
By Rachel Miller
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