Two Angels Visited Us

I'm sure that many of you who have been on the internet for a long time, have seen this story.  It's my favorite story.  If you have not seen it, it's a good one to remember.

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.
When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."  The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.
When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, "How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die."
"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied. "When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."
"Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."



Portrait of Gifford
April 5, 1999 - May 7, 2011

 It's this story specifically which I always turn to when times of hardship occur in our lives.  Yesterday, May 7, we experienced a time of extreme hardship. We lost our horse Gifford.

Many of you had just read the "Gifford Chronicles."  It seems it was fitting to get that story out, and certainly timely.  Now Gifford has gone on another excellent adventure.  I'd like to think where he is he is enjoying lots of grass and has some good buddies.  He was such a special horse.

It turns out that horses, like people, have some of the same illnesses.  Gifford died from what my vet believes was an aortic aneurysm.  It was a very quick and painless death.  One minute Gifford was here, and the next he was gone.  There are no real symptoms in most horses, and this particular illness is hard to find.  Gifford was 12 years old. 

I am comforted in that he had a wonderful life, never having to do much, and always trusting people and anything we tried with him, because that is just the kind of horse he was.  He was kind and gentle, always gave your hand a lick, and listened very well when he heard his name.



One of my most favorite photos of Gifford!

 There are certainly a few very funny Gifford stories that I will always remember.  He was such an escape artist.  One morning, after I'd stayed up very late watching a movie, and fell asleep on the couch, I woke up, sat up and looked out the big windown in our family room.  In a groggy fog, I thought:  "Oh, look....Gifford is eating grass in the yard."  Then I laid back down.  Then I sat BOLT upright...."GIFFORD IS EATING GRASS IN THE YARD?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  He's supposed to be in the paddock!  Well, he had removed the gate, carefully lifting it from the hinge pin holders, and left the paddock.  Since that time, our gates have been installed upside down so that when lifted up, the pins do not lift out of their holders.



Gifford and his best buddy Pharaoh.  Pharaoh called
for him for the rest of the day yesterday.  He knows
he is gone because he was with him when he passed.

 Another time, when Gifford escaped his stall in the middle of the night, he went around and took all the horse blankets off their blanket racks and piled them in a pile in his stall, then went about taking the clock in the barn apart and leaving the pieces lying on the floor.  He had a very rubbery nose that acted like a hand for him.  We fixed our stall doors with stall locks after that incident.

This great escape artist has escaped once again.  Unfortunately, this time, we have no fix.  We will miss him greatly and hope to see him again someday.