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The really funny part was, the utility room was really big because the house had been converted to a house from an old school. It was 5400 square feet. The utility was the old school kitchen. The horse managed to get himself in the bathroom in the utility room and couldn’t turn around. I had to squeeze in under his belly to back him out. Dad shut the bathroom door after that.

And another time.....he ordered about 500 baby chicks so he could start a laying house. He put the brooder in the diningroom. Mom got up one morning to start breakfast and there were baby chicks all over the house. My four year old brother let them all out.

Another time...he came home with a young horse (foal) in the back seat of the car. He was in management with Bell South and when he went to supervise his “boys” on a job it was at old farm back in the middle of nowhere. The foal was in the mud, couldn’t walk, and was starving. The old man said the big horses wouldn’t let it eat. Dad gave the old man $10 for the foal and brought it home to me.

Dad was born and raised in Chattanooga but after so many years in S. Florida he thought anything below 40 was cold. Sometimes I felt like I lived in a barn but I was taught to love and take care of animals no matter what it took.

Great story

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What fun - you had an amazing childhood! We were only allowed pets that could be confined in a cage or bowl.

I had several fish, turtles, a hamster, and a few birds. And a baby chick that hatched in an incubator! When it got too big, we had to find a home for it, and took it to a local “Nature Center”, where they promised to take good care of it (until it became big enough to be someone’s dinner, I’ll bet! The lies they tell to appease children. LOL)

The high point was when we acquired a squirrel. It was repeatedly feeding at our birdfeeder (which annoyed my dad), and one day he snuck up behind it and caught it! (Yes, he remembered to wear heavy leather gloves.) He built a cage for it, which even included a wheel for the squirrel to exercise on. That squirrel moved to the next house with our family, and was still with them for long after I left. Poor animal paid for its crimes with a life prison sentence. Never became completely tame, but was allowed brief time outside of the cage each day to explore on the basement floor.

It weasn’t quite like having cats, dogs, or horses! Oh well, I’ve made up for it with the long parade of cats who’ve shown up in my life since then.