Cats or dogs?

Growing up our family household was never without a pet. When I made home with my husband and children we did the same. In fact we had a wider variety of animals as our children grew up. It started with couple of cats when we first got married then we got a dog. As they years went on and the boys grew up, pets were welcomed in the home.

An array of different pets in our home. Ranging from hamsters, cats, guinea pigs, dogs, rabbits, birds. The boys learned how to look after them, clean them out, take them walks, etc. When we moved to the small holding we grabbed our chance and got chickens and a goat. What great fun we had. The goat, Poppy was a black and white British Alpine — she was a cracker. Everybody loved her. We used to grow plants in our 40 foot polly tunnel, at the end of the fence we had a big brass bell, if you said ring the bell for Granny, Poppy would pull the bell and make it clatter. She would look at you with her black eyes and bleat away.

We absolutely loved having the animals, the border collies, herded the chickens and were fabulous loyal companions. The cats were super at keeping the vermin away. And the chickens provided us with the most wonderful eggs, collecting them in abundance. The yokes not yellow but an amazing dark orange and a taste that lingered in your mouth. How I miss those eggs.

As I approached my fifties and our border collie Skye approached 10 years of age, our youngest son brought home a puppy, it was a Labrador Retriever. Skye spent her last year with Buddy. We now have two labs, Buddy and Bella.