While my mother was the benefactor to several dozen missionaries and their families, she was also the benefactor to a myriad of birds including chickadees, blue jays, goldfinches, and woodpeckers and the foster parent to a few hundred deer, several dozen families of squirrels, and a half dozen families of woodchucks. There wasn't an animal around that went hungry through the winter while she still lived on the farm. She was the local wildlifes best friend and they showed it. She had squirrels that would come up and sit with her on the porch and deer that would wait for her to come out and feed them. She loved nature in general, and I'm sure the only thing that really resented her were the weeds that she took after with a vengeance. She would spend hours outside cutting down the tall weeds and grass to make it look presentable around the house. When I say tall weeds, I mean tall weeds. We have pictures of her standing beside these weeds taller the she was. In the late spring and early summer she couldn't wait for the lady slippers to bloom so she could pick them and have an arrangement of them and tigger lilies sitting on the table or to deliver them to friends and family just so she could stop in and say hi. After Dad passed away she put most all the love and care that she had put into taking care of my father into taking care of the animals of what the family called the Runnalls Zoo.
Robert
