family … Alice the
friendly goose
Alice winds
up our bed every night. She is quite the down comforter. By morning there’s down
aplenty on the bed spread and some pretty big feathers too, along with two webbed
feet, two wings and a bright orange beak. Why, it’s a real live goose, awaking
after another night of fowl dreams. The snowy white Alice sleeps at the foot of
our bed every night in our log home by the Weber River.
A goose
around the house is a comforter of sorts even if it’s not one of the blanket
varieties. They make wonderful pets,
they’re very calming, a house pets? Who would have thought it, until the day a
clutch of nine eggs laid in a vacated nest by the river bank. Precious decided
it was time for a house pet. When the nine eggs hatched, she snatched up the
cutest of the fluffy goslings and brought it inside. That was five years ago
and now Alice is a part of the family. 2 foot-tall she struts around the house
like she owns the place, nibbling at her food in a big dog dish on the kitchen
floor or gazing out the patio door at the other geese, ducks and turkeys,
banished to a life in the back yard.
Miss
Alice isn’t content to be just a home birdy; she’s also quite the gadabout.
Maybe you’ve met her at the Roy Farmers Market or at a school, home improvement
center or craft store. We have pictures of her at old Faithful. She was
watching and thinking, “Can I go swimming now?”
For some
reason she seems to like the color blue. When she meets children wearing blue
She always wants to nibble on their shirts. Although Alice
is very clean, we don’t take Alice places that other house pets can’t go, like
grocery stores or restaurants. Every errand with Alice in tow takes two or
three times longer because everybody wants to pet her. Double takes are the
rule of the day when we take Alice goes out of town. At stop lights people roll
down their window and yell at us,
“Can we take a
picture?"
One of Alice’s
many adventures was posing for photographs with visitors at The Amazing Raise,
an annual fundraiser that benefits charitable groups in Ogden Valley. Alice and
a leopard Appaloosa acted as representatives for the Wasatch Front Chapter of
the Back Country Horsemen of Utah, of which we are members. Horses can be
intimidating, especially to small children, but Alice is very approachable and
well-behaved. She really thinks she’s in charge of everything. Geese often have
a bad reputation for nipping or pinching at people, but Alice just tries to
“preen” folks by running her bill along their skin. Everyone is surprised when they meet Alice playing “Mother
Goose” at the annual community baby shower for the Wildlife Rehabilitation
Center of Northern Utah. She’s a very sweet goose. A lot of geese can be a
little bit temperamental and sort of testy about things.
Just seeing a
goose walk on a leash is kind of a novel thing you don’t see that every day. Rango
says,
“Alice is
probably the most-pampered goose in Roy. She likes things done her way, she’s
cute and she knows it, for instance, she has her own cat bed for sleep over at
the Wildlife Dirt Center and a tennis shoe she likes to sleep with, and she is
very aware that there are treats packed in her carryover bag. If I don’t give her
the treats she is obviously offended –and she sulks.”
I
thought about certifying Alice as therapy animal so she could cheer up animals
in hospitals or nursing homes. She was always great with kids when Precious use
to substitute teach and took her to visit special education classes. One little
mountain goat would hug her and stroke her and Alice would just let her do
anything she wanted. Someday—who knows? You might even read about Alice in the
pages of a best sale kid’s book. We have chronicled her real life escapades in
what could be title, “The Adventures of Alice the Goose.”
As a pet,
Alice is more like a cat than a dog, She doesn’t play fetch or know any tricks,
and she may or may not come when you call her name. But she will come a-waddling
across the room at the sound of Precious shaking a resealable plastic bag
filled with dry cat food kibbles.
“Alice do you want goose treats?” The goose mama calls, and she dives
right into Precious hands to gobble up the goodies.
She is a novelty. We like to be a little bit different; I always like to carry on honking conversations with her. Precious likes to hold Alice on her lap and pet her. I just kind of melt when the goose looks at me with those big blue eyes; she brings a lot of joy, a calming effect, uniqueness.
She is a novelty. We like to be a little bit different; I always like to carry on honking conversations with her. Precious likes to hold Alice on her lap and pet her. I just kind of melt when the goose looks at me with those big blue eyes; she brings a lot of joy, a calming effect, uniqueness.
She loves getting out and meeting people.
When we go on vacation, if at all possible we try to take her with us.
Vacationing is how Alice ended up at Yellowstone National Park two years ago,
charming tourists and park ranger alike. at Old faithful going off she was
watching and thing Can I go swimming now. Folks were so intrigued they
watched the goose and not the geyser.
Six years
old she travels in her own car seat a wicker basket that either sits on Precious
lap or between the seats. You see the first rule of any car trip is Alice
always rides up front. Try plunking her in the back seat and wild fits of wing
flapping will ensue. She also has her own stroller, easier for getting around
in parks and stores than all that walking on her short little legs. She picked
out the basket seat for her stroller all by herself, on an outing to Hobby
Lobby in Layton. We showed her several different baskets, but Alice would get
up and walk back to white one with pink trim and sit down.
KARL WALLACE DDS
To read more Karl Wallace goes to: w.w.w.karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com
