As a young kid, I was very lucky to always have a lot of animals. Being an animal person, this was a source of great joy. My family lived in a very small town (only a few miles from where I am today), and our house sat just on the outskirts of town. We lived close enough to make quick trips to town, but far enough away that it still felt like we lived in the country. Our house was on a half acre lot, and my parents also owned the acre across the street. We lived on a dead end, so it was like our little country out there, since no we had very little traffic, and we were surrounded on two sides by fields.
Anyway, we had a menagerie of animals on the property at one time or another including, goats, chickens, ducks, a pony, lambs, miniature schnauzers, fish, a parakeet, rabbits, and roosters. Across the street, we kept our horses and my sister had a calf in FFA for a couple of years.
I have been wanting to get more animals, at least chickens, for the past year or so. But one thing has always held me back. Button. Yep, our sweet faced little schnauzer is a terror to large and small animals alike. She is completely untrained (thanks to me) and would not be able to stop herself from slaughtering a whole herd of chickens just for fun. I'm not at all prepared for the amount of tears and loud wailing I would hear from the kids after that catastrophe!
My mom, who is fairly like minded in terms of a love for animals, took the fall a couple of weeks ago. My sister brought over a large bunny rabbit names Suzie that she had bought from the barn sale animals, as well as a couple of fancy chickens named Fifi and...... the other name escapes me. Actually that chicken keeps escaping from the pen, even though its wings have been clipped....twice!
So, here are Cubby and Little G meeting Suzie for the first time.
Little G loved that bunny. She had to learn how to pet an animal without petting it too hard. "Gentle, Gigi, gentle...."
Awww....love at first pet.
And.....here are the hens. The kids weren't super interested in them. But the hens were totally o.k. with the fresh bugs in the dirt!
Then it became clear who the real animal lover in the family really is.
The petting goes on and on...
Nope, we didn't even plan this.
More petting....
and still more...
....you get the point.
A week ago, my mom confessed that she was concerned about how happy the bunny could be since it was solo all the time. Luckily, our good friend called with news that baby bunnies were for sale!
Meet Sparkle (the black one) and Sarah.
The girls were pretty excited to meet the new members of the pet family.
And the love affair began...
Cubby named this one Sarah, and she would not let her go.
And Emma named this one Sparkle. Sparkle has sharp claws.
But she sure loves carrots!
Cutie pie, honey bun.
Poor little chicken. You don't see anybody holding the hen on their lap and petting her over and over. Chickens aren't really known for cuddling. We love our new pets!
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