Another story to tell you is about the day some of us went out and I encountered the biggest birds I have ever seen, and believe me, I never want to see them again. It all began one Sunday...Every Sunday I went with mum to visit her mum, some 45 miles away. She lived in a place with other quite old and poorly people.
My mum’s mum loves to see me and says she looks forward to us visiting all week. For this reason, we visit regularly, usually Sundays. I generally stay on mum’s knee because she says I may get in the way if she puts me down. People stop and talk with us and I usually end up licking lots of different people.
This particular Sunday started off really well. Shauna (grand-daughter) along with Janet and Dillon (who is a small baby around my age) came with us for a ride out in the car. Along the way we stopped off at a place with a huge lake and lots of boats. We decided to go for a walk. Janet put Dillon in his pram and I was on my long lead. It was quite a windy day and we headed towards the water to have a better look at the boats.
Suddenly, we were surrounded by all kinds of different birds. Mum told me to ignore them but I could not help being curious. They did not seem to be a threat. I barked at a few and carried on walking, doing my best not to get into trouble.
We walked for a while, the ducks following. As we turned a corner some huge geese, nearly as big as mum, ran towards us and began quacking and threatening us. They were hissing and very aggressive. Shauna screamed and hurtled back to the car.
Janet began to run with the pram, wanting to get Dillon safely inside. Some of the geese followed Janet and Shauna, but I was on my long lead amongst a crowd of them and one of them knocked me over with it’s wing. I instantly rolled on my back and remember noticing that their webbed feet were as big as me. They were grey with big tufts of grey feathers sticking out the tops of their heads. They all seemed very angry and upset with us.
As I lay on my back, I really thought they were going to peck my stomach out and I was totally terrified. With that, mum came running in, screaming at them to leave me alone. She ran in and picked me up, running back to the car with me in her arms and the geese following us.
When we got to the car Janet had only just managed to get Dillon unstrapped from his pram and buckled into his safety seat in the back of the car, whilst at the same time fending off the geese who were pecking at them. Mum and I had managed to get into the driver’s seat and Janet opened the front door at the other side. She was in such a rush to get away from the geese that she hurt her face on the door and this caused her to shout at them and lash out.
Once we were safely in the car, everyone started laughing. Mum said they must be either very hungry or maybe have babies close by to make them so nasty towards us. I was pleased to hear the people laughing and I suppose you could see the funny side, after all they are only birds!
Well, these are but a few of my adventures so far. I am still only eight months old and so much seems to have happened to me. Every day I think how lucky I am to have such a nice home here in Skeffling, with kind and understanding people. I hope you have enjoyed reading my story and I hope to meet you again when both you and I are older.
by Crystal Peterson
