Dedicated to:

"Tootie Tah"

"Honey Bunny"

"Jilly Boo Boo"

Jillian Henderson

Jillian was so excited! She and her snuggly friend, Blue Bunny, had finally arrived to visit Grandma and Grandpa, who lived in a small cottage in the "Loveable Forest".

There were lots of hugs and kisses for Jillian and Blue Bunny from Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma always greeted Jillian with a sweet, "There's my Honey Bunny!" Grandpa would say,"A Tootie Tah!", meaning I Love You, and Jillian would reply, "A Tootie Tah Tah!", which means I Love You, Too"!

The "Loveable Forest" was a wooded area in King Julius' kingdom. The King's woods were set aside years ago to provide a safe place for the animals and birds in his kingdom. The woods were always alive with the sounds of birds singing, frogs croaking, bees buzzing, and all kinds of other animal activity. It was a happy place!

Grandpa and Grandma were the only citizens of the kingdom that were allowed to live in the "Loveable Forest". Grandpa's job was to look after all of the wildlife and make sure that they felt safe and secure. Jillian was anxious to help Grandpa take care of the animals in the forest so she put on her working clothes, said goodbye to Grandma and Blue Bunny, and off they went.

Grandpa was glad that Jillian was there to help with the bird feeders. She would fill up the feeders with bird seed, and Grandpa would hang them high enough so that the squirrels and other animals could not reach them. Jillian tasted the bird seed...."Yuk!" "Do the birds really like this stuff?" Grandpa laughed and said, "We shall see!"

After the feeders were hung, Jillian and Grandpa sat down on a log nearby. They stayed far enough away so they could watch but not disturb the feeding activity. They didn't have to wait very long. All kinds of birds were flying to the feeders.

Jillian said, "Look Grandpa, I see some sparrows and chickadees! What's that pretty red bird on the ground?" Grandpa said, "That's a robin! They like to pull worms out of the ground and eat them." "Yuk!" said Jillian. "I think I would rather eat the bird seed than the worms".

"Grandpa, look!" exclaimed Jillian. "There's a mockingbird and he's really loud!" Grandpa said, "You are right about that! I call that loudmouth Smarty Marty." "Why do you call him Smarty Marty?" Jillian asked. Grandpa said, "Because he is always imitating the other birds, and it sounds like he's making fun of them!"

Jillian and Grandpa sat quietly watching and naming all of the different kinds of birds that were coming to the feeders; woodpeckers, warblers, cardinals, wrens, blue jays, just to name a few. The feeders were also attracting other animals. Jillian said, "Look Grandpa, here come some squirrels!" The squirrels began eating everything that fell to the ground as the birds flew on and off the perches attached to the feeders.

Grandpa said, "Look!, That little squirrel on the tree is trying to get to the bird feeder". They laughed and giggled when the young squirrel attempted to leap from a branch to the feeder. The feeder was just out of reach. Other squirrels tried to jump from the limbs to the feeders. NOT! Jillian and Grandpa loved to watch these acrobatic critters.

Grandpa had names for some of the animals. Jillian asked, "How do you pick the names?" Grandpa said that sometimes he would name an animal according to what the birds were singing at that time. "Look! Here comes a fat possum!" "What's his name, Grandpa?" Grandpa said, "Well, the birds were chirping "peet, peet, peet!", so what do you think I named him?" Jillian said, "Pete! You named the possum, Pete!" "That's right!" said Grandpa.

"Look at that big black cat!" asked Jillian. "What's his name?" Grandpa told a story, "Well one day the birds stopped singing and the forest got very quiet. Then all of a sudden the crows started screaming, "Caw! Caw! Caw!", "Caw! Caw! Caw!". I saw this big black cat come out from behind a tree, so I named him Carl. You always knew when Carl was around because the crows would scream the alarm."

"Grandpa, can I name some of the animals?", Jillian asked. Grandpa said, "Sure! Here comes a little pony. What are the birds singing?" Jillian said, "I think they are singing "pic-el! pic-el! pic-el!". Pickle!, they're saying Pickle! I think I'll name him Pickles!" Granpa said, "That's a wonderful name!" Jillian said, "Hello, Pickles!" Pickles shook his head and clicked his hooves to show that he liked his new name.

So, Jillian started naming the animals. Grandpa said that she was very good at naming the animals. He was glad that she loved all of the animals.

Some of the animals and their names were:

Arnie the Armadillo

Turbo the Turtle

Blaze the Snail

P.U. the Skunk

Honey Bunny

Peepers the Mouse

Owlbert the Hoot Owl

Wakka Wakka the Goose Bubbles the

Freddy the Fox Frog

Tiffy the Deer Mr. Winkles the Pig

Miss Fatty the Gorgeous Guinea Pig

Spork the Porcupine

Emmett the Bear

George the Gopher

Mickey Moose

Goober the Gobbler

Percy the Peacock Doug the Beaver

Doobie the Hedgehog

Rosco the Raccoon

Snookums the Chipmunk K.C. the Kangaroo

One day, a little squirrel came to the feeding area. Grandpa said, "Look, Jillian! I was hoping this little guy would show up." "Come here, Chipper! Come meet Jillian....she won't hurt you." Chipper hopped up on the log beside Jillian and Grandpa. Jillian asked Grandpa, "What happened to his tail? He doesn't have one." Grandpa said, "I don't know! He's never had one that I know of."

All of the other squirrels playing in the trees, would run and chase each other, and shake their hairy tails back and forth and up and down. Chipper tried and tried but all he could do was shake his booty! He was so cute!

Grandpa always brought something special for Chipper to eat. He would reach in his pocket and take out a few small pieces of apple. Chipper loved apples. Grandpa said, "Here Jilllian, you feed Chipper some of the apple pieces." Jillian and Chipper became good friends.

"Grandpa, did the birds give Chipper his name?" Grandpa said, "They sure did! When Chipper was old enough to come to the feeder I heard the bird's singing "chip-purr! chip-purr! chip-purr"!" Chipper was the perfect name for this happy little squirrel. Jillian and Grandpa would watch and giggle when Chipper would shake that booty. Chipper was special!

On the coldest days, Jillian and Blue Bunny would sit by the fire in the cottage with Grandma and help her crack the pecans that someone had given to her. Grandpa loved pecan pie and Grandma's pies were the best. He loved eating pecan pie with his coffee. Yummy! Stumpy the beloved family dog and Grandma's faithful companion, was always waiting for a crumb or two!

There were no pecan trees in the "Loveable Forest". There were walnut trees, and all kinds of oak trees with acorns, but no pecan trees. One morning, Jillian asked Grandpa if she could take some of Grandmas pecans and throw them under the feeders for the squirrels. Grandpa thought it was a great idea.

Jillian threw a handful of pecans under a bird feeder. The squirrels were not interested in the pecans. Not interested at all! Jillian told Grandma about this when she and Grandpa returned home that evening. Grandma said, "Of course...Stranger Danger! It's an important rule for survival in the king's woods. Don't mess with anything you have never seen before! Stay away!" Maybe that is why the pecans were left under the feeders without being touched.

Several days later Chipper, who was always late to arrive, accidentally touched a pecan and it rolled away. Chipper started playing with the pecan, rolling it back and forth on the ground. Finally, he sniffed the odd shaped thing and picked it up and ran away to a secret place.

Grandpa laughed and said to Jillian, "Well, look at that!" Chipper returned until all of the pecans were gone. Jillian said, "Grandpa, he loves those pecans!"