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In Loving Memory :: Foghorn
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Tribute To A Special Friend
This is our dear little "angel chicken", Foghorn (named after Foghorn Leghorn, of course).
Foghorn was a little feathered buddy to our departed kitty Angels Leo and Frosty and our new additions, Buster and Nikki.
Foghorn came to us in May of 1999. It was a very sad, disheartening spring because Leo had suffered a stroke. My husband and I tried so hard to do everything we could to help Leo and make his days happy and comfortable. But a part of you dies too, watching a member of your family slowly fade away. Foghorn appeared out of nowhere and found us.
Foghorn was a beautiful bird with brilliant feathers. He was friendly but shy. Foghorn had large spurs like a fighting cock would have but Foghorn could never be one. He never pecked or clawed anyone. When Leo was a little better and outside in the yard, he and Foghorn checked the area out together, just buddies. Frosty was a house kitty but he and Foghorn always checked each other out on our deck.
During that hard spring, Foghorn brought us smiles and laughter. John built a little "tree house" for him to feel safe at night but we couldn't get him to go in it. We rolled with laughter as one or the other of us tried to catch him. Foghorn didn't have to fly - he could just outrun us!
As the weather grew colder, we did trick him into going into our plastic hothouse. Foghorn approved of the accomodations - so much so that we had to put him outside during the day! A herd of wild turkeys started hanging around and Foghorn would get so excited to see them that he went quite a ways into the yard. The turkeys left and Foghorn realized that he was too far from home. It was so funny to see him do a half-run, half-fly back to his home. We had an old medicine cabinet in the hothouse from some remodeling and Foghorn loved to watch himself in the mirror.
When it got quite cold at night, we got him a large pen that we mounted on an old cart and moved him into the house. Foghorn could be moved to different areas of our first floor. Lots of people would think we were nuts but he was our friend. When our new kittens, Buster and Nikki, came here to live, Foghorn was fascinated and so were they. At any given time, there was usually a kitten watching Foghorn and he kept a good eye on them. The cart that Foghorn's cage was mounted on had two shelves and during playtime, the kittens jumped on the lower shelf all the time. Often they were trying to look up at him and he was trying to look down at them.
Foghorn had some funny personal habits. As well as his corn and grain, Foghorn loved cantaloupe, noodles (particularly spaghetti), 12 grain bread (no white!) and ham. Whenever there was a little sauce on something, he had to stop and wipe his beak several times. No self-respecting chicken would have a dirty beak!
We were getting ready to spend a lot more time with him - he seemed so healthy and happy. But on February 4th, he wouldn't eat and seemed listless. We hoped so hard that he would be all right, but the next morning he had passed to the Rainbow Bridge.
Foghorn was there with us when our Leo went to the Rainbow Bridge. We were so devastated to lose Leo. Then unexpectedly in less than two months, our Frosty kitty died of cancer. Frosty was so brave, we had no clue he had a fatal disease; we just thought he was anemic. Losing both of our furry children so close together was so unbelieveably painful, I could hardly function. But little Foghorn was there to remind me that life does go on.
Maybe Foghorn was a gift from the Almighty, sent here to help us through those black days. Now that we had Buster and Nikki, maybe the Almighty felt it was time for Foghorn to return to Heaven to add his beauty there. I'm so hoping he is "hanging out" and playing with our Angel kitties.
I learned a lesson too. I always thought chickens were just brainless animals. Foghorn taught me that all animals have a personality and a soul that perhaps people are not astute enough to see. All creatures deserve our respect and kindness.
Goodbye, Foghorn. Thank you so much for sharing our lives for a short time. Say "hello" to our babies, Leo, Frosty, Snowball and Gracie.
We miss you, Foghorn. but, like all our Bridge babies, you'll always live on in our hearts.
Love, Mom and Dad
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©Copyright 2000 by Sue Gilliland
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