As cold winter days came creeping in this past week and the whipping wind cut straight through me, it took a lot more effort to tend to my crew of animals – nine family pets inside my home and twelve feral to semi-feral cats outside. Just trying to make sure everyone was warm during this nasty negative wind-chill weather transported me back into time and our farming ways.

It was the summer of 1972 and my family just moved from our little house on Glenda Drive in Yukon to our forever farm at the foot of Tiger Mountain in the Pierce area, just west of Checotah. I was only four years and the baby of the family when we moved in with my grandparents on their 80-acre farm while we built our home three miles away on 20 acres just cattycorner to their 160 acres where we raised cattle.

Black Angus cattle were my grandfather’s favorite but I promise you anywhere on Ray Belyeu’s land you could find a critter or two. From chickens to pigs to dogs and cats, we had them all and were raised to tend to them all. It didn’t matter if you were young or old, everyone had chores to do and it was expected of you to get them done on a daily basis.

I was turning five that winter when I begged my parents for a puppy. Though my plea fell on what seemed to be deaf ears, my grandfather surprised me with my first pup, a Chihuahua that I named Smokey Joe. He was so cute and tiny but I learned quickly that cute and tiny are also whiney.

However, my grandfather didn’t let me shirk my responsibility even though I was young myself. In fact, he taught me all about reasonability through that little dog and by growing up on a farm with animals. It didn’t matter if you were tired. It didn’t matter if it was hot or cold outside. You always had animals to tend to and it was your job to tend to them. They were dependent on you and your livelihood was also dependent on them. So you got up and helped to feed the dogs, chickens, pigs, horses and cows.

I guess this is why I’ve taken this responsibility so seriously my entire life. Even in freezing weather you beat the ice off the round bales of hay and chopped holes in the pound for the cows to get a drink. Yes it was cold, but you bundled up and dealt with it because it was your responsibility as an animal lover and owner.

So it’s hard for me to understand when people don’t take care of their animals. There’s really no excuse in my book. Whether it’s hot weather, fair weather or cold weather, we need to make sure that we are doing what we need to do. We need to be responsible animal owners at all times and make sure our animals have adequate food, water and shelter at all times. I have heat lamps, blankets and tarps around even my outside cathouses and feed twice a day.

So surely if a five-year-old child, who is now a 56-year-old woman, can learn how to take care of critters, there’s still hope that others can too.