Chewie

A friend of ours has a small ranch outside of town that we’ve been to before so that Troy could see her chickens and donkeys. Recently, she got a calf and some red wattle hogs, so she invited us over to see them. Troy was very curious about the hogs, as he’d never seen one before, but also very timid to pet them. But when he saw me stick my hand through the fence and stroke the wet nose of one of the hogs, he figured it was safe to follow suit. Our friend then surprised us by telling us that the hogs liked stale Cheetos! So, she ripped open a bag, and Troy fed puffy Cheetos to the hogs, as they climbed over each other to get to the cheesy goodness.

After that, she called the calf in to feed him his bottle. Chewie came running when he realized that food was being served. He was a little shy around all of the new people, but he was willing to risk it for the bottle. Troy pet him while my friend fed him, then he took the bottle and had a go at it too! The calf nearly pulled the bottle out of his hands, tugging on the rubber nipple, but Troy managed to hold on to it.

Then, he fed animal crackers to the donkeys, so they wouldn’t feel left out. And he gave Bella, the dog, a big hug. It’s so neat to see his face light up when he gets to play, pet, and interact with the animals. I’m glad he has the opportunity to do this too, because I don’t remember getting to do these kinds of things when I was a kid. I mean besides the donkeys, cows, and hogs; he’s also pet a goat, duck, gecko, zebra, and giraffe!