On Geesery

About twelve years ago, my husband and I were walking through what was then called Road and Ranch. It was early springtime and two aisles were devoted to baby chicks, ducks and geese.

We should get one, the kids would love it, they’d learn some stuff and we can keep it in the yard.

We decided on a goose. My husband explained that a goose does better with another goose, so we left the store with two very cute baby geese.

The kids were not home. We put the babies in a box and set a heat lamp over them. They peeped a symphony and I went to work on the computer. Then about twenty minutes later, it was suddenly silent.

I thought the babies were sleeping. When I checked, I found we had ‘cooked’ our geese. That should have been at least a small clue to give up geesery, but it didn’t turn out that way.

My darling husband took care of the tiny bodies and came back with two more geese. These became the family pets.

We kept them in a wagon, then a box in the breezeway and finally moved them to the back yard. On the first outing my lab, Lincoln, fetched one of the wayward critters and the remaining goose made it to adulthood.

I think I heard somewhere that the family at Rudy Ridge kept geese as watch dogs and I agree that they are very good at the job.

The goose ran our outside lives as surely as the parrot rules our house. She alerted us to every movement and sound in the neighborhood and needed occasional wrangling.

She would peck at our cable line and we had to have it replaced. Someone had to capture her while the serviceman worked. To this day, when I call the cable company, they inquire about the goose, asking if she will be contained.

The goose is long dead of natural causes but her reputation lives on. We think of her when we see geese heading north or south and although we miss her, we will never give in to an ‘ah, aren’t they cute, lets get one, the kids will love it’ moment.

With spring coming and chicks and bunnies arriving at stores, please, don’t give into the moment. Try a stuffed animal and make a donation to your local humane society instead.