Pets

The first pet that I ever had was a chicken named "Miss Bitty Hen" because she was a very little bitty hen! My Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Cline gave her to me for Easter. The fact that we lived in an upstairs 3 room apt didn't seem to matter. She lived in a big box when I wasn't carrying her around. We took her for daily walks with a string tied to her leg. She didn't like it much if it was raining however. By fall Miss Bitty Hen was not content to stay in her box so she moved out to the farm of Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Cline. My uncle kept her separate and saved all the eggs she laid just for me!

After we moved to Nebraska I had two gray and black kittens named Smoke and Smut. But they gave me ringworm, so that was the end of that. Next I had a little rat terrier named Ginger. She was a nice little dog but her one failing was she liked to chase chickens. We and all our neighbors had chickens. So Ginger went to the Humane Society in Lincoln where they assured us she would be adopted into a chicken free neighborhood.

Next I had a Scotty named Binky. We were inseperable. But a neighbor put out poison and Binky died in our kitchen floor. I said no more pets! We did have some outside cats but I never let myself get attached to any. Then I raised an orphan kitten, Cinderella, fed with a doll bottle. She lived a long life and raised many litters of kittens. She got her tail caught in the back screen door, which she could open herself. Her tail dropped off and she only had a stub of a tail. She was sleek gray.

Through the years of raising 5 sons many pets came and went. A goat, a Guinea Pig, calves, turtles, fish, hamsters, Hermit Crabs, cats and dogs. But for the most part I did not bond with these animals.

Then we got Gizmo and MacGuyver. Gizmo was a Bichon Frise, and MacGuyver was a Shih Tzu. They were like childrren with fur! We took them on trips with us and everywhere. We lost giz when he was 14 and recently lost MacGuyver at the ripe old age of 18. We miss them so much.