It is my opinion that we humans are a combination of many things but most of all heredity and environment. Having said that I think I must have been born loving animals. It comes both from my heredity and my environment. Many of my descendants and all three of my children are or were animal lovers.
I have had many pets in my life particularly during the years I had  children growing up. Some I wouldn’t have chosen. There have been the usual dogs and cats and one parakeet. Others included hamsters, guinea pigs, a bunny, a white rat (that was definitely not my idea) and  white mice. I would like to tell you about a few special ones.
My first memory of a beloved pet was a little dog named Sandy that I never actually saw.

Sandy

But I did see a picture of her and remember my mother telling me that she was supposed to be my little dog. It seems someone in the family took it upon themselves to find Sandy a new home before I came along, thinking it was a favor to my mother. I don’t think she ever saw it that way. There was a long time after that we didn’t have any pets,  until I was about 12 or so. Then came a cat named Ytag, because she was found in a Ytag truck.

The important thing about her was we had her for a  long time. Once she somehow cut her foot and left bloody paw prints all over the place. It was the morning of a school day and I refused to go to school until she was found and fixed. After much searching we did find her and my mother treated her cut and she got better. I was just so beside myself because I didn’t know where she was or what was going to happen to her. She later presented us with two kittens Tommy and Jerry. I honestly can’t remember what happened to any of them. It’ been a long  time since I was twelve. A really long time. Then a few years later I dragged home a puppy and persuaded my parents we just had to keep him. He was a little black and white pup who looked like Snoopy and we did keep him and named him Buttons. He was still with my family when I left home. Later when I came home to visit and was pregnant with my first child, Buttons wound have nothing to do with me. This broke my heart as we had been so close. He was my dog and I loved him and things were never the same after that.

It was another dry period in the pet department for me. But later on we took in a stray collie that must have been abused and was terribly frightened. Then still later after many changes in my life we moved to California and enter Tigger the dog I never got over. I wasn’t looking to get a dog, my hands were pretty full with three kids, no family around and very little money coming in. But the place we lived in was in San Diego and the landlord ask me if we would take this dog as it had belonged to a sailor who was shipped out and just left him. My first impression of Tigger was he was the ugliest dog I had ever seen. He turned out to be the best pet I ever had.

Tigger

He looked like he might be part Boxer and to this day I  still have a soft spot in my heart for dogs that look like him.  He was tan and white and his face was a little longer than a real boxer. He was smart, loyal, protective and just the best dog ever. He could be spiteful and when he was he took it out on my books (I still have a chewed up cook book) and my daughters dolls. But all in all he was wonderful. I could go outside and call my daughter who was about five then and he would pop up and I knew just where she was as he was always with her protecting her.
When I had to drive anywhere he would go along and I felt safe because he was so protective of us. He came back to Pennsylvania with us and remained an important part of our family. When he finally did leave us the entire family walked around crying for a long time after. Above all the pets I have ever had he is the one that lives on in my heart the most. Words just can’t do justice to what a wonderful pet, friend and companion he was.

There have  been more dogs and cats since him and I loved each and every one of them.
We presently have two cats Squirt and Ebony and being an empty nester they have become my babies. Squirt is ten now and is a twenty pound tiger cat and pretty lazy.

Ebony

Ebony is five and a beautiful black and white tuxedo cat. I love then so much and can’t imagine life without them. It is so interesting at this point in my life without the distractions of kids or a job to really watch them and see the different personalities.

Squirt & Ebony

Squirt has attitude and thinks he is the boss. He tries to see how far he can push us at times. Ebony is sensitive and pouts when she don’t get enough attention. Our  veterinarian says “they have us well trained” and I guess she’s right.

There have also been a few pets of friends and relatives that have tugged at my heart stings in a special way. Mandy, a friends dog,  Warlock,

Warlock

my parents black great Dane a wonderful and noble animal and Sheba,  the dog of my step daughter and the sweetest dog  who I really grew to love. So if you know me or meet me you will have known a great animal lover and now you have gotten to know a little about some of the animals that made me love them.

On Wednesday May 12th. a small group of us, led by  Chrylann Fons, headed out for a day I won’t soon forget.

We left about 8:15 AM and headed to Hanover, driven by the ever great Elsie.  Not only does she drive us anywhere, she makes every attempt to help anyone she can and keep us happy and comfortable. Our first destination was the Little Red Schoolhouse for breakfast. This is a truly fascinating place. It really is an old schoolhouse turned into a charming little restaurant open only for breakfast. To be able to take in all the interesting things going on there would take quite a bit of time.

There were antique enamel pots, coffee pots and dippers of every size and shape and color. Other old kitchen implements were also scattered around the place. The food was old fashioned (home) cooking and very good. The service was a little slow due to the fact that there were only three or four women running it and they did everything.  So Chrylann stepped up and helped pour coffee and water.  This is so typical of everyone helping even when it’s not your job.

Our actual destination was St. Matthew Lutheran Church, home of the 9th. largest pipe organ in the world.  It is right in downtown Hanover and is beautiful and very well kept up.

The man who spoke to us was the director of music in the church for 30 years. Looked like he must have been about twelve when started. You can tell he really loves the church, his job, the organ and music of all kinds. He played a lot of little parts of things to show us the features of the magnificent organ. He did play about four songs all the way through and I could have just listened all day. He also explained a lot of the history about the church and organ. Both a quite old with some updates from time to time. The organ is currently under some updating but was still wonderful.

Above the alter is the most beautiful stained glass window  I have ever seen. It is a Tiffany and the colors were amazing. That is an understatement. It was a truly wonderful trip and I hope we go again. We  were invited to come at Christmas time for a Concert and it is well worth the trip. Hope we go and lots of you join us.

Early in February my husband, who is 91 but still very active, began complaining of a bad back ache. After as reasonable amount of time he visited his doctor. The doctor put him on a pill that was a combination muscle relaxer and pain pill, saying it was arthritis. This pill made him sick; the pain persisted and he became more and more miserable. In desperation, he asked me to drive him to the hospital emergency room. We spent an entire day there, had x-rays taken and he was once again diagnosed with arthritis. I wish I would’ve known, but my husband was being prescribed too many pills because I started to notice an unusual disorientation, confusion and weakness in him.

I then decided to call the reception desk here at Messiah Village to explain my situation to the receptionist and ask for help. Very shortly I received a call from Geli Losch, Director of Community Based Services, telling me she would like to visit and talk to us. Geli arrived shortly despite it being a Saturday and the second big snowstorm. She brought along the nurse on duty to help evaluate my husband. Fortunately, Geli knows my husband very well and could tell right away he was not himself. I proceeded to show them his medications and was told by the nurse to cease giving him the pills. They suggested we go to a different hospital by ambulance and get another opinion.

We agreed and after some discussion Geli called the maintenance people to clear our driveway. They were here before she hung up! She and the nurse then spoke with the hospital to inform them of our situation and the types of medications my husband had been taking. At this point I was concerned how we’d get home if we arrived via ambulance. Geli assured me that someone from the Village would be able to drive us home. I took along a list of my husband’s medications the nurse had written for us to give to the hospital staff.

The hospital discovered that my husband had a compression fracture of his lower spine and proceeded to give him correct treatment and got him off the other medications. He stayed overnight and the next day he was brought home by someone from the Village. Geli then worked to get him into Wagner, our rehabilitation neighborhood. He was there a few short days later and stayed about five days, receiving the care and physical therapy he needed.

I definitely feel that the preparation and efficiency on behalf of the Messiah Village employees helped us to get the care and attention we needed. He received out-patient physical therapy for the next week or so. Today he is nearly better and improving every day! Without Messiah Village and all the wonderful help and support we were fortunate to have, I don’t know what I would’ve done. So thanks to everyone involved and thanks to Messiah Village for being the wonderful place it is!