Neighborhood Heroes: Animal and People Stories

This is an interview with one of my dear neighbors who rescues homeless animals and people. She uses her journal writing to relief the stress of everyday life and discusses her rescue stories of her "animal children" who teach her about life.

Mrs. Annie's Journal Writing:
Dear Journal, Please listen especially close today as we are moving into a formerly abandoned home that we have restored with our neighbors. It is such a joy to see and sense the beauty of this home that was built in 1897 in Dayton, Ohio. It's so homey. We are in a frenzy trying to move just three doors down the street because we had lived in the same home for over 20 years. We have added so many loving pets to our family. I am certain that most animal lovers feel the same as I do about pets being family. Our pets are really people inside and come in all different shapes, colors, more legs or no legs and even fur and some with fins. Since there are more of "them" then "us" in our new home, I guess they consider us in the own way most of the time. You know how it is; wherever they want to be, that is exactly where you will find them, most of the time anyway.

"How do they do that?" I mean they wander; and who actually protects who in this world. If they are animals and we are humans; who came first unto this world? Our animal people actually believe that they are the higher species, at least in our household and maybe in yours. I think our family, and maybe most humans, are really students in training with pets as teachers!!. For me at least, as a housewife-well, I can get out of control at times by thinking that I run the show but these pets of mine; they keep me in the straight and narrow by doing somethings that are a combination of very smart, very stupid, and very funny; just like humanity. I am convinced that they laugh more at themselves for getting us to laugh with them. So the animals have done their job; now its time for humans to get a clue of how to really live life and time for the pets to go lay down, just when you start to figure them out, they are hidden from view or so sweet lying down asleep in a bowl or a shoe.

First, let me Honor Pretty Kitty, PK for short. That's all she'd answer to when we first brought her into our home. She was born in a shed, nobody wanted her or her other siblings who died of illness's of a stray Mother Cat, PK was the only survivor. She hung in there and we hung on to her. What a great mouser she turned out to be. She was born kinda ugly, icky almost grey color, she had no eye lids, but had good hearing which sort of compensated for her poor eyesight. Once you touched her; she was yours forever; she loved you to pieces. You actually had to pick her up and put her somewhere else before she realized that the human had enough of her rubbing, purring, kneading your skin full of pinholes, and fur balls up the nose. P>K. had more fur than a coat and shed gobs and gobs. She was not just born in a shed, she was a fur shed. She would never lay on a flat surface, its had to be a fence, a wheel, a tin can, a railing, the rung to a chair. It only bothered her when she fell off of things. She was born in 1986 and passed quietly in 2007. At the time of her passing, Pretty Kitty,;PK was blind, her tongue hung out always. I realized she had no teeth to keep her tongue in her mouth. She had bald spots on top of her head but she could still stalk and catch a mouse with ease with her busy tail. She looked like a squirrel tail as she chased the mice; but she conquered them without any problems. She taught us humility, and patience, and that she was the first species and survived to train us to be "Keepers and Rescuers Of Homeless Family Animals".