One of the joys of rural living is working from a home office where with a few clicks on your keyboard you can instantly be connected to nearly anyone on Planet Earth who has a decent internet connection.
It does get a little lonely, at times though.
It's not like anyone is likely to ask you out to lunch and the nearest Starbucks is a mere 100 miles away! So you make friends with the furry people who surround your home.
For us, in northwestern Montana, that meant four Walker Hound dogs, a mutt named Toby and a horse called Fire rounded out our 4-legged children who had arrived to fill our empty nest.
In those days we never bought or shopped for animals...
people would just drop them off at our house or give them to us.
Working from my home office I would type away on my computer right in front of a window that looked into our horse pen.
Our thoroughbred quarterhorse had his morning routine, which included munching grass in front of my window with occasional glances in my direction.
Sometimes he would wave his big brown head right into my window screen, and it was not uncommon for him to knock on the door with his hooves! Fire could be distracting, but in a peaceful stress-relieving way.
I was never at a loss for smiles and giggles when Fire was close by, even if it was true he loved me for the food I gave him (I think).
It always amazes me how a horse can delicately find the most scrumptious blades of grass while discarding the yucky stuff.
Their lips are almost as dexterous as a human's fingers! Part 2: Do Horses Talk? Noon was lunchtime and my favorite place to eat was on our front deck.
Taking my sandwich outdoors, I would sneak in a few carrots and saltines for Fire, who always knew he was our favorite.
It was not acceptable for me to be late for my lunch appointments, and if Fire's internal alarm clock fired off before I hit the porch, he would beat me to the door and knock on the steps with his large hooves, shod with heavy metal shoes! Well, I wasn't late for lunch on this fine summer day...
no.
I was late for dinner! At 5 o'clock sharp Fire understood the routine.
I was supposed to be outdoors, on the dot, filling dog bowls with Ole Roy high protein pellets and hosing water into their drinking pans.
I must have had too many phone calls that day, because I was late for a very important date! Fire, who had the run of our riverfront property in the mountains where there no neighbors and barely any traffic, decided to take matters into his own hooves! He knew the dogs must be fed first, and no one was taking care of business! Mischievously, he trotted over to the hound dogs, grabbed hold of the lid on the Rubbermaid dog food container, pulled it open and knocked it over.
Using his big head, he rolled the food bin over to the dogs and allowed them to gorge on 25 pounds of food! Next, Fire calmly walked over to his own food shed where I normally scooped out generous servings of alfalfa grain, corn, and oats.
Waiting next to his shed, Fire simply trusted that now the dogs were taken care of, it was going to be his turn! And so it was..
..
losing 25-pounds of dog food was worth the trouble as my husband and I laughed until we cried.
Laughter is a great source of healing and stress-relief! And this was a story that we have retold dozens of times, and we always get a good chuckle! I don't remember ever being late for dinner after that! My husband is a "horse whisperer" and having been around Fire long enough, I'm beginning to communicate with horses now, too.
We've since grown from a one-horse family to managing a ranch with dozens of horses.
But I'll never forget the day Fire put young Toby in his place.
You see, to Fire, a yard is more than grass...
it's his salad! Fire never once lifted his tail in our yard...
he had plenty of trees in the woods surrounding our property to use for his latrine.
The grass was "sacred space" to Fire and not even a wild turkey was allowed to touch the ground.
Fire was more like a 1200-pound watch dog..
..
a pit bull, is more like it.
All deer, elk, and turkeys had better mind their manners! That's kind of handy when you live in the wilderness where lions, bears, moose, and other large beasts roam.
But Fire was more interested in protecting his land from the 4-legged's who considered grass to be their pooping grounds.
One day Toby was released to run off some energy and made the biggest mistake of his life.
No sooner had he finished squatting than Fire galloped and met the pup head on.
Nose to the ground, Fire herded a very humble mutt to his dog house.
Toby bowed his head and plopped down in the safety of his dog house.
But that was not enough for Fire..
..
no, uh huh.
Turning his back to Toby, Fire backed up and lifted his tail and plopped the biggest, greenest, mushiest present all over the door of the dog house and directly on Toby's doorstep! Trotting away, as nonchalantly as ever, Fire returned to munching grass..
..
I'm sure he never realized we were watching the whole episode right from the living room window! Hilarious! Now, really, you wonder what people do who live way back in the hinterlands of Montana with no T.
V.
? There are stories everywhere we look, if we take time to notice the little details of creation all around us.
If we pause to listen and to watch, the world is full of humor and adventure.
And if you listen very carefully, you will not mistake the thoughts of a horse gourmet...
English is not needed when you can communicate heart-to-heart.
I hope this story inspires you to share your own pet stories.
Please share your story with us...
it builds community and brings us all into a whole new level of joy.
Stories bond people and build community.
We can work together to help all of us share our stories so the next generation can feel connected to us, even if it's 100 years or even 1000 years from today.
Who is your all-time favorite pet? What stories do you recall? Have you ever learned a lesson through an animal? Please do share!