For 55 years, she has been entertaining three generations of children with her magical bedtime stories about the exploits of a 12-inch-tall elf with pointy ears and bright-green eyes, who nests in a hollow tree on an old farm, somewhere in the Unity area. His name is Tippy Tom. If he hadn't fallen out of a tree into her clothes basket while she was hanging out clothes one fine day, she might never have discovered him. At least, that's what she has told her four children and eight grandchildren, who grew up hearing hundreds of her spur-of-the-moment stories about the kindly, helpful elf.

Tippy Tom watched a group of animals that he didn't recognize and had never known were nearby. They were beautiful, fluffy, rather long-necked, and tall. Some were brown, or white, or black, or gray, and all were huddled together. It seemed they were in a large fenced-in pasture. Tom knew about cows and horses, but he didn't know these gorgeous, unusual-looking animals.