I received a wonderful package recently from Howard of Edgecomb and a lovely hand-written story from his companion humans, Amanda and Andy, who tell of Howard and his fondness for Big Squeaky Squirrel and Baby Squeaky Squirrel, which are on loan to us for the show.
Here's what Amanda and Andy wrote me:
Big Squeaky Squirrel is ten years old and is Howard's first toy after we adopted him from Lincoln County Animal Shelter. Baby Squeaky Squirrel is 5 years old. Howard loves both, and as you can see, he takes extremely good care of them. For some reason, he hasn't taken to a New Squeaky Squirrel
We think Howard's unusual caretaking of Big Squeaky Squirrel and baby Squeaky Squirrel arises from his unusual first year of his life before we adopted him. Before his rescue by the Shelter, he had no name and was one of dozens of rescued dogs kept by a single owner. His tail hung limp. He was cautious to the extreme.
That first year of Howard's life before his rescue, before our adoption, gave us a dog with the sweetest personality, one who from the very first day with us, sat watching us prepare his food, explored the back of the stereo speakers where he heard voices coming from, relied on his nose to identify us, and despite the beagle in his border collie breeding, never wandered from our house or us. Not once.
He remains committed to his home, to us, and we are all committted to Howard. We love him to pieces, and we love how Howard acts like everything about life is fun and precious, especially Big Squeaky Squirrel and Baby Squeaky Squirrel. The sheer age of these two toys tells a lot about Howard. To see him "play" with them tells even more: very kind and gingerly and careful and very, very loving."
Amanda, Andy, and Howard, thank you for sharing these toys with us for a month or so, We wil also take very, very good care of them and return them to you at the end of the show. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of love and loyalty. Human and canine, a story with a good ending.
