Animals

-- Author unknown

Does the statement, "Because we've always done it that way"... ring any bells?

The U.S. standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?

A big city lawyer went duck hunting in rural Tennessee. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.

-- Author Unknown

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

GREAT TRUTHS...
THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED

A FABLE from "Walking on Water" By Anthony De Mello, SJ

-- by Kathy Pippig Harris

The man and woman kept the puppies in the backyard with their mother. The father had been a free roaming mix and belonged to a neighbor.

Six weeks after the mother gave birth to the seven pups, the couple put out signs in the front, along the road: "Free Puppies".

-- Author Unknown

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?”

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

A True Story of Appreciation

It happens every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembles a giant orange and is starting to dip into the blue ocean. Old Ed comes strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his bony hand is a bucket of shrimp.

A True Story -- Author unknown

There is a kind soul working in the dead letter office of the U.S. Postal Service somewhere...

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God, so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these words:

A Parable-like Story -- Author Unknown

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand.  When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep through a storm."

This puzzled the farmer... but he liked the young man.  So he hired him.

A few weeks later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm ripping through the valley.  He leapt out of bed and called for his new hired hand, but the young man was sleeping soundly.