Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Opal “Grandma” Habisch Column 10/4/99



When I was small, I had a goose for a pet. His name was
Limpy. I will tell you a story about how Limpy got his name.

When he was a very little goose, Limpy was running with
the other geese and he fell down and broke his leg. He was so little and
so cute, but Limpy could not walk with a broken leg, so the other geese
would tend to push him right over and even run over him when they were in
a hurry to get to the feed dish. I felt so sorry for him.

My mother is a nurse, so she and my father found two small
sticks and cut them to be the same size as Limpy’s leg. They put the two
sticks on either side of the broken leg and taped them on, just like a little
cast.

Limpy had to learn to walk with the stick cast on his leg.
At first, he fell down a lot. But I would work with him every day and by
the end of a week or so, he was able to get around slowly. I was so happy
to see him get around. I called my mother to come see how well he was doing.

Mother said, “We will make Limpy a bigger cast so
he can run.” And we did.

The leg healed very nicely except that when it was all
healed, the injured leg ended up being shorter than Limpy’s other leg.

When Limpy ran, he looked really funny. Grandpa said it
looked like Limpy had been drinking too much beer.

As Limpy got older, he spent more time with his other goose
friends. He could keep up with them pretty well.

But Limpy also would come to me when I called him.

He really liked it when I gave him some bread. Limpy started
coming to the kitchen door every day for a handout. When I opened the kitchen
door, he would come right in and limp over to the pantry ­ he knew exactly
where the bread was kept.

Grandpa said, “That goose is getting to be more like
a dog then a goose. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if someday we will hear
him bark.”

We all laughed trying to imagine a barking goose.

In fact, Limpy and Tom, our dog, became very good friends.
They even slept in the barn together at night. Limpy grew to be a very old
goose.

One day, when Grandpa went out to the barn, Tom came running
out to meet him, but there was no sign of Limpy.

Grandpa looked in the barn for him, and found him in his
sleeping place. Limpy had gone to goose heaven, in his sleep.

Limpy taught me that how you walk or look is not important
­ you should never laugh at someone because they are slower or different
than you. Limpy was a very happy goose and he lived a good life, in spite
of his handicap.

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