We are the lucky ones

By Christine Tailer
HCP columnist

She sleeps in a crate beside our bed every night. She snuggles down into her blanket and peacefully slumbers the whole night through, but as soon as I open the crate's door to let her out in the morning, she jumps up into bed and stretches out full length, her head on my pillow. I try to wiggle in beside her to no avail. Four doggie feet push me solidly away. Without any recourse, I sigh and get up to shower and start the coffee. She yawns and snuggles down for a bit more sleep.

In the evening, I often settle down on the couch to read or write. She does not read, and she does not write, but she loves to explore the creek valley. As I relax on the couch, Greg in his chair, she makes multiple trips downstairs to the basement door to retrieve our work boots. One boot at a time, she deposits them at our feet. If we ignore her, she jumps up into our laps, boots held firmly in her jaws. It is really difficult to ignore a growing puppy when inundated with a lap full of boots. 

Need I say more?

Thankfully, she has finally outgrown that puppy stage in which she etched her signature on every chair leg, and every cabinet corner within reach. I would stop her whenever I found her in the etching act, but she is a wily puppy and found etching opportunities when my back was turned. 

And then, after several weeks passed without any new puppy signatures, I began to load the gnawed furniture, one piece at a time, into the back of our four-wheel drive green machine.  Down at my woodshop I was able to give each one a good sanding and refinishing. Puppy signatures have now been duly erased.

This then leads me to the other two creatures with whom we share the inside of our home, the Patagonian Conure and the Rose Breasted Cockatoo. We re-homed these fellows several years ago and have since enjoyed letting them out of their cages to fly freely around the cabin. 

We've become particularly fond of dining with them. They contentedly perch on the backs of our chairs, no doubt because that is the place where we can easily share the occasional tidbit off of our plates. They particularly love it when I serve soup or chili with crackers. Once having eaten, these fastidious creatures scrape their beaks along the chair back perch on which they sit, leaving no crumbs on their beaks, just a mess scattered across the floor and parrot etchings on the backs of our chairs.

Thus, parrot signatures once adorned the tops of our chairs, while the puppy signatures decorated the legs, but I understand. This is their home, their world, and we are simply the lucky ones who are allowed to share it with them.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in Ohio south-central Ohio. Visit them on the web at straightcreekvalleyfarm.com.