Snowflake Challenge #2

[potentiality_26]

Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom

Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

I have 3 cats (one very old) and a dog. I also share property with a horse, but he isn't really mine. 

ETA: There are 8 chickens as well! But I don't think of them when I think "pets". 

On the subject of pets in fandom, I really think animals can add a lot of interest and personality to a story. I'd like to particularly single out All Creatures Great and Small, the current tv show, the 1978 version (which I confess I prefer), and the books by James Herriot. Really wonderful stuff!
   

Comments

[stardust_rifle]

Ah, I loved Herriot as a kid (and I might have reread my mom's copy of Cat Stories when I was there for the holidays and it made me so sad...)

[potentiality_26]

Yeah, I have an old collection I often reread at the holidays, and some of them are quite sad.

[brightknightie]

Agreed, kudos and recommendations to all versions of the Herriot stories! I gobbled them all up in late elementary school after my grandma gave me the first, and have been considering rereading them now, all these decades later, when I'm guaranteed to understand them differently.

(I found the newer BBC/PBS TV series a bright spot during lockdown, with its lush landscapes, when it was hard to go further than the neighborhood park.)

[potentiality_26]

I read them at around that time too. I reread All Creatures Great and Small a couple of years ago and really got a lot out of it, so I would recommend that reread if you find the time.

(Yes, very true <3)

[kitarella_imagines]

Love All Creatures Great and Small! I think both versions have their merits. The earlier one was probably more realistic, but the later one is so comforting. Probably because it started during the pandemic, and was exactly what we needed then.

I also love the sweeping piano theme tune and wish they had brought it back for the new version, but maybe it's copyright.

[potentiality_26]

Oh, I like both versions - I just have such fond memories of the old one!

That theme was really great!

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh yes of course, I watched the first one as a child with my parents, in the cosy world we had back then.

The pianist playing that tune was amazing, what skill to play it!

[potentiality_26]

Very true!

[pattrose]

Do your dog and cats get along with the horse? Unless the cats stay in. That would be wonderful to have a little farm like that. Perfect home life.

[potentiality_26]

The young cats stay in. The old kitty was a barn cat in his youth. He does what he wants and I've seen him drinking out of the horse's water trough many times.

The dog is great with the horse. She was about seven years old when I got her and not used to other animals, but she's always been wonderful with all of them.

(This also made me remember that there are chickens as well, though I don't think of them as pets. I am living that farm life, aren't I?)

[pattrose]

I love chickens. Raised two when I was little and a teen. They have big personalities. LOL

[potentiality_26]

They do!

[haunted_cherries]

OMG HORSE, I love horses so MUCH, so super cool that you get to be able to be near one!! Even more so with the chickens xD

Never heard of All Creatures Great and Small, so thank you for the rec!! :D

[potentiality_26]

Sadly I am quite allergic to hay, so I must enjoy the horse from a distance, but he is very cool!

I hope you enjoy if you check it out <3

[regshoe]

Aww, totally agreed about All Creatures Great and Small. I think the newer adaptation is just trying too hard to be dramatic and emotional; the 1970s one was the right amount of understated to work. (Samuel West is a great Siegfried, though.)

[potentiality_26]

Yes, exactly! I like the newer one, but there's a lot of drama going on that doesn't really fit with my idea of what All Creatures Great and Small should be.

Samuel West is great though, you're right there!

[gingicat]

All Creatures Great and Small is a wonderful series of books.

I had to start the new TV series with the second season, after James gained confidence.

[potentiality_26]

I get that!

[desecrets]

I didn't know you had so many animals! That sounds super nice. Whenever I hear from people who have chickens, they sound like such fun birds!

[potentiality_26]

They are fun birds (but a lot of work)!

[mywitch]

I love the All Creatures Great and Small books! I should reread them, I could use the seratonin :D
3 cats are the perfect amount imo. Which means I need to adopt 2 more.

[potentiality_26]

Yes, 3 is a great number!

[snowynight]

Horse and chicken and cats and dog!

I haven't read All Creatures Great and Small books yet. It seems time to remedy that.

[potentiality_26]

They're really worth a read <3