Patty’s Critters
I love my wife.
After 40 years of marriage she still does things at which I marvel. The most recent episode began some time ago, but began to take shape just yesterday.
We have a sidewalk about 40 foot long, that leads to and from our back door. It serves as a buffet counter for some of Patty’s Critters. We discovered a few years back that we have to spread the goodies all up and down the sidewalk because there are so many of them they quarrel over whose food it is.
The whole thing is humorous because there is enough food for all of them. Patty sees to that. She doesn’t just throw out food scraps either. That would not be good enough for Patty’s Critters. She usually has at least 4 different store-bought bags of various food types. We have corn kernels, sunflower seeds, and various mixtures of seeds and pellets by our back door.
Once every day or so, Patty makes a run down the runway to provide for her friends. While she is out there she cleans the birdbath and replaces it with water for her feathered friends so they will have a clean place to poop and drink (Yech!) The backdrop to all of this is a wall of roses. Guess who takes care of those.
Yesterday, around 9:00, a couple of young Irish Setters came romping through our back yard. We tried to catch them so we could find out who they belonged to but they darted off so fast we lost sight of them. Patty put out some water in case they decided to come back. A short time later a coyote came strolling by. Not long after that I noticed a full display of birds feasting on the abundant menu of gourmet food that Patty puts out for them. A short time later Patty was enjoying the fact that a rabbit was hiding in the engine compartment of her car.
A group of squirrels is called a dray or a scurry. While Patty was smiling at the little rabbit, a dray was watching her in the front yard and a scurry was waiting for her in the back. For the name of other animal groups click here.
This morning our neighbor called. He said that two stray young dogs spent the night under his back deck and he didn’t know what to do. They were the two setters I mentioned earlier. He noted that Patty is known to Foster dogs from time to time so he enlisted her aid. Naturally, she took over.
A few minutes later the young energetic beasts were gulpping down water like SpongeBob Square Pants would absorb liquid gold. Then she gave them both a good sized dish of dog food with both dry stuff and a can of tastier food mixed in. Since we don’t have dogs of our own, this is just another example of how she likes to be ready because sometimes our boys bring their dogs over for a while. You should see how excited those dogs get when they see Patty.
Within a half hour she had the names off the collars and placed a long distance call to the name and number on the tags. It is some animal hospital in South Dakota. There was no answer, so she left a message. Patty assumed that whoever owned the dogs would want them back promptly so rather than just sit around and wait for the phone to ring, she decided to take them to our vet (Our vet? We don’t have any pets).
Patty asked if they would check to see if the dogs had a chip implant so that they could find the owner. The vet, Bouton’s Veterinary Hospital knows Patty by her first name and they know her heart. They agreed to take a look, for free.
Like most dogs, the setters were enthusiastic about going for a ride with Patty. They all got back a little while ago. The vet told Patty the breed name is actually German Shorthair Pointer. They have no implants but they both have a mild case of kennel cough and they both have a few fleas. Patty brought home some medicine, which the vet gave her for free, for the kennel cough and she is giving them a bath now to get rid of the fleas.
Patty is in a bit of a hurry though, because she still has a couple of elderly people and a sick person she wants to visit later today.
I love my wife. Is it any wonder?
Feel free to add your thoughts. Just click on Comment and you can quickly register.
I love my wife.
After 40 years of marriage she still does things at which I marvel. The most recent episode began some time ago, but began to take shape just yesterday.
We have a sidewalk about 40 foot long, that leads to and from our back door. It serves as a buffet counter for some of Patty’s Critters. We discovered a few years back that we have to spread the goodies all up and down the sidewalk because there are so many of them they quarrel over whose food it is.
The whole thing is humorous because there is enough food for all of them. Patty sees to that. She doesn’t just throw out food scraps either. That would not be good enough for Patty’s Critters. She usually has at least 4 different store-bought bags of various food types. We have corn kernels, sunflower seeds, and various mixtures of seeds and pellets by our back door.
Once every day or so, Patty makes a run down the runway to provide for her friends. While she is out there she cleans the birdbath and replaces it with water for her feathered friends so they will have a clean place to poop and drink (Yech!) The backdrop to all of this is a wall of roses. Guess who takes care of those.
Yesterday, around 9:00, a couple of young Irish Setters came romping through our back yard. We tried to catch them so we could find out who they belonged to but they darted off so fast we lost sight of them. Patty put out some water in case they decided to come back. A short time later a coyote came strolling by. Not long after that I noticed a full display of birds feasting on the abundant menu of gourmet food that Patty puts out for them. A short time later Patty was enjoying the fact that a rabbit was hiding in the engine compartment of her car.
A group of squirrels is called a dray or a scurry. While Patty was smiling at the little rabbit, a dray was watching her in the front yard and a scurry was waiting for her in the back. For the name of other animal groups click here.
This morning our neighbor called. He said that two stray young dogs spent the night under his back deck and he didn’t know what to do. They were the two setters I mentioned earlier. He noted that Patty is known to Foster dogs from time to time so he enlisted her aid. Naturally, she took over.
A few minutes later the young energetic beasts were gulpping down water like SpongeBob Square Pants would absorb liquid gold. Then she gave them both a good sized dish of dog food with both dry stuff and a can of tastier food mixed in. Since we don’t have dogs of our own, this is just another example of how she likes to be ready because sometimes our boys bring their dogs over for a while. You should see how excited those dogs get when they see Patty.
Within a half hour she had the names off the collars and placed a long distance call to the name and number on the tags. It is some animal hospital in South Dakota. There was no answer, so she left a message. Patty assumed that whoever owned the dogs would want them back promptly so rather than just sit around and wait for the phone to ring, she decided to take them to our vet (Our vet? We don’t have any pets).
Patty asked if they would check to see if the dogs had a chip implant so that they could find the owner. The vet, Bouton’s Veterinary Hospital knows Patty by her first name and they know her heart. They agreed to take a look, for free.
Like most dogs, the setters were enthusiastic about going for a ride with Patty. They all got back a little while ago. The vet told Patty the breed name is actually German Shorthair Pointer. They have no implants but they both have a mild case of kennel cough and they both have a few fleas. Patty brought home some medicine, which the vet gave her for free, for the kennel cough and she is giving them a bath now to get rid of the fleas.
Patty is in a bit of a hurry though, because she still has a couple of elderly people and a sick person she wants to visit later today.
I love my wife. Is it any wonder?
Feel free to add your thoughts. Just click on Comment and you can quickly register.
2 comments:
Aren't you glad you spent a lifetime preparing for retirement so you could do things just like this - enjoying the simple pleasures the world has to offer due to abundance of time?
She's definitely a special person. And your house is sounding a lot like a Disney Princess cartoon...are you sure Patty isn't a Snow White double?
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