Gabby was weird from the start! His feathers were white and black, edged with brown. His face was red with an egg tooth at the end of his beak.
My son, Steven, found Gabby in a gutter, filthy, nearly dead, with a badly broken leg. Naturally, he brought him home.
I managed to splint his leg (without too much cooperation from him) and placd him in the sling box I made with netting so his leg hung free. He sat in his new "hospital bed" at the head of the kitchen table, sharing daily treats and mealtime with us. Being part of daily activities of 3 boys, 3 dogs, 2 cats and daily visitors made recovery time "fly"by!
As it turned out, time was the only thing going to fly. Two weeks later, the family gathered in the back yard to say their goodbyes and watch the take off, but the extra pounds he had gained as a result of the good life grounded him. He was ours!
For two years, "Gabby the Goose" was a major part of our lives, sharing our swimming pool and pool parties with great gusto! The neighborhood cat he had befriended would leave birds and mice next to his food dish. Gabby and Klutzie were good friends, too. Frequently, we would see Gabby place his head on Klutzie's back.
Gabby's show of affection was to greet you by nipping your legs with that egg tooth on his beak. Needless to say, this caused a few problems but was all part of his charm!
I guess you could tell, we all miss Gabby. Even today, we find ourselves reminiscing about some of his antics. He left us with a lot of great memories!
I remember one Christmas morning when he was wearing all the bows on his head as they were taken off the packages...wait, I'll save that story for the next time!