Beech Tree News Network

Do you have critters around your house? In my experience, some critters are members of the family and some are simply onlookers. 

According to an Internet site (http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics.aspx), about 62 percent of all households in the United States have a pet. About 78.2 million dogs and about 86.4 million cats are owned in the United States.

I grew up on a farm, and my family always had animals. My favorite pet was a horse named Babe (One winter, I took care of 17 small horses, making sure they had food and water.). When our children were growing up, we had dogs and the occasional cat. One dog, Cotton, lived his life with us. He was definitely a part of our family. Now, my grandchildren have pets: currently four cats and two dogs (Stinker, Gracie, Rabbit, Carlie, Maggie, and Sammy – Cork disappeared).

But, I’ve also had some experiences with unwelcome critters:
•    Stray cats that made their home under our house,
•    Squirrels that got into our attic,
•    A small lizard that briefly appeared in an upstairs bedroom,
•    Birds that nested somewhere between the porch roof and my bedroom ceiling, and
•    A groundhog that resides under an outdoor building.

This summer my oldest daughter’s family bottle-fed four kittens whose mother died. Only one kitten survived. She’s a pretty gray kitten, and she’s tough. She climbs, jumps, and runs: she’s learning about her world. She often misjudges and takes a tumble or bumps her head, but that kitten bounces right back.

Richard Friedman said, “Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail.” We bring some critters into our family. We choose them; then hopefully, they choose us.