Another one of those Christmas Letters
Fuzzy Bear Farm
December, 2005
Hey Folks, Happy Holidays from all of us here on the farm. I’m called RikkiToo and I got delegated to write to you this year. The sheep insist they can’t do it because they only have hooves, but since two horses managed it last year I think they are just trying to skip out on the responsibility. Anyway, we had a discussion about it and everyone decided I should do it.
Those of you who are interested in those big clumsy-foots called horses may be interested to know that Miss Dawn departed for her own place last spring. She was getting too uppity and didn’t seem to want to take any advice about behavior, so she got shipped off to a place where there are other horses who will put her where she belongs. I think she has a lot to learn, but she’ll turn out all right one day. Her mom, Tess, was kind of unhappy at first but then I think she decided that having all the grass in the pasture and all of Gary Lee’s attention for herself wasn’t so bad after all. Here is Tess "in jail" waiting to be let out in the morning.
If you ask my opinion about it, all horses seem to do is stand around and eat, anyway. Fortunately, they eat stuff that no one else wants. Except maybe the sheep. There’s some sort of rivalry between them, though it seems to me that a horse can easily out-eat any sheep. Just look at the size of them, after all. As you can see here, they don’t do much otherwise, so they have lots of time for eating, eating, eating. Of course, Archie here will tell you that I’m just prejudiced because I share living quarters with the sheep while he and his brother Asher live in a separate barn, but that’s not true. I’m friends with the bunnies who live in that other barn, so I get all the word about what goes on over there. And most of it is just eat-eat-eat. You can see me here chatting with my friend Buster. He keeps me well-informed, even though he’s a bit shy about talking to anyone else. That’s why he’s hiding behind the feed bin in his cage and you can just see the top of his head.
The sheep really are my special friends too. After all, they let me sleep in their lambing pen most of the year when they aren’t needing it. I don’t mind too much having to move out when the lambs are due. They’re so cute and bouncy they are fun to play with. Besides, they are more a suitable size. I keep eating more myself in order to try to get bigger, but somehow I only get wider and not taller. Still, the sheep don’t seem to mind me hanging around. I keep some of the mice and birds out of their hay. Well, it’s the horses’ hay too, I guess, but I kind of like the sheep better. They’re not so snooty about things. No one, and I mean no one, can look down their nose at you the way a horse can. Here I am with Salt, one of the first lambs born here three years ago. As you can easily see, he’s not snooty like those horses are.
Since I make it my responsibility to patrol the whole place against intruders, I get to see nearly everything that happens. The neighbors on the west side finally built a henhouse with a fence, so their chickens don’t come scratching around here any more. Unfortunately, they haven’t built a fence to keep their dogs in line, so the two mutts keep wandering around, even right in my barn. Speaking of scratching, I’ve taught the little one (his name is Gus, but he looks like a Toto to me) about scratching all right. All I have to do is look at him right and he runs away with plenty of yelping. The neighbors on the east side, now (that’s the lady who trims five acres to look like a golf green) have cats as well as dogs, and yes, I’ve been known to sneak over to visit and sometimes steal a snack. You have to keep track of the enemy, I always say.
I will admit that not all the birds are as obedient as I’d like. Those chickens were a problem, they just didn’t seem to care what I said to them. We have some ducks here that are much the same, but there’s a difference. They have their own pen, and they stay in it. As far as I can see, that’s the way it ought to be. Birds that cross my territory are either potential food or invaders. And I don’t care for invaders. The two dogs here on the farm aren’t much help, since they are also behind a fence all the time. Of course they have one advantage, and that’s that they get to sleep in the house. But obviously they aren’t trusted to patrol territory on their own, and I have to do that for them. On the whole, I think I can settle for a warm spot on top of the hay as long as I have the freedom to check up on everyone.
Oh yes, and eat. Even I have to do that sometimes. It’s dinner time now, as a matter of fact. So I’ll wish you a Happy New Year and all that traditional stuff. Let’s chow down!
--RikkiToo