Of Pens and Rescued Horses

The older I get, the more I want the same things I wanted when I was a kid.  Take colored pens, for instance.  I absolutely love any pen that isn't black or blue.  So I was in 7th heaven when my friend Gwen gave me colored pens for Christmas.  Holy cow!  Red, green, turquoise, pink, purple AND yellow!  (The pink and purple are my favorites.)

When I was a kid, I also wanted a horse.  Back in high school I rode very badly, but loved to go out even in cold weather to take a ride on Zippy or Babe (usually Babe, who always seemed to be pregnant, but didn't seem to mind a chubby teenager on her back).  Frank was shocked the first time I introduced him to the softest thing on the face of the planet, a horse's nose.  Whoa!  I think he thought the horse would bite him, but this particular horse (in Colonial Williamsburg) seemed used to being petted by city slickers.

Well, I can have lots of pens but I can't have lots of horses.  Or even one.  (Our backyard is the size of a postage stamp.)  So instead, I support Cracker Box Palace.

( BTW, Cracker Box Palace is what George Harrison called his estate, Friar Park, in Henley On Thames.  In the early 1900s, my great grandmother was a cook there (and made the world’s best rice pudding.  I do not know this from personal experience; my Dad told me so).  Ole’ George even wrote a song about his home.)

There’s a Cracker Box Palace down the road from us in Alton, NY.   It’s a farm animal rescue organization that takes in abused (and homeless) horses, cows, goats, and assorted other farm animals.  (They really aren’t equipped to take in discarded pets.)

They have a wonderful newsletter and that's sure to make you cry.  I'll never understand how people can be cruel to animals--big or small.  But there are also stories of rescue and adoption.  Here's a picture of Blaze, who's currently looking for a new home.  (Sniff...why did we buy a house with such a small back yard???)

My point?  If you didn't overspend at Christmastime, maybe you could forgo a a couple of lattes and send a couple of bucks to your favorite no-kill shelter.  For big or little animals.  You'll feel good and the animals will feel even better.