My landlord, a horse rancher, has property over on the next road as well as the property I live on. I don’t know where it is but apparently it’s not far. A while ago a goose made friends with one of her horses. They were a pair, like you see in children’s books, except it’s real! They even slept together. Well my landlord sold that horse and got another horse which was not too friendly. Poor little Quackers followed the bad horse around but unfortunately just before Christmas Quackers got trampled. The ranch intern arrived one day to feed the wild-acting horse and saw Quackers all splayed out. In a panic she called my landlord to see what to do. The two of them rescued Quackers and brought him over to this property. They set up a heated hospital room in the barn and they take care of Quackers, feeding, cleaning, even wiping his goosy bottom.A few days ago they got a blue kiddie pool and filled it with three inches with water to see if Quackers could move. He could kind of, he floated and used his bill to pull himself forward. Seeing the pathetic prognosis, the landlord said, “Uummm, maybe…” but the intern begged to try and rehabilitate Quackers more. See, she is a pre-vet student at the U. Sighing, the landlord said “OK, one more week.”
Yesterday they filled the pool higher and set Quackers afloat. Encouragingly, he moved one of his little webbed feet a little. I had met up with her in the driveway, she and I chatted for a while, telling me all this. After about 15 minutes of talking, looking at the setting sun and feeling the falling temps, she said, “I gotta go, we put Quackers in the sun and now the sun is going down so it’s time to get him back to bed.” And she took off in the truck to go take care of the goose.
It’s not every rancher who would be physical therapist to Quackers the Goose.
Ed note: Photo not of the real Quackers.
6 comments:
Just goes to show the dangers of inter-species relationships.
horsing around, that silly goose!
Quackers should not be minging with the wrong species. It is unnatural and not to be rewarded. He should keep to his culture which is based on the sancity of the family.
For him breaking family values you have rewarded him.
Why just think of all the OTHER things that the intern could do were she not tending to the wayward goose. The opportunity cost was too high.
The other geese and the other horses are paying the price for unnatural behavior.
From the lame-duck philospher :)
yes, but Quackers has free rein to come and go, and as a healthy goose he is at home on the range.
Perhaps I can re-read the children's book "Are You My Mother?" to gain some insights...
Quackers can come and live with my Quackers, who is also injured. I'd be more than happy to provide him with a permamnt, duck/goose family.
Hi Suzie!
Thanks for the offer! I think my landlord has Quackers all set up on the ranch to live out his days.
How's your Quackers doin'?
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