Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Pets

Pets are very important to make life more fulfilled. I haven't had much luck with pets. When we moved to Columbia, we bought a cocker spaniel named Brownie. I was 5. Brownie was very active. He ate my teddy bear, which was very traumatic. We gave Brownie away, when we moved to another house. Brownie was a small dog, but when we visited him a year later at his new home, he had grown into a horse, or at least it seemed that way from a small child's viewpoint. Later on, I had a rabbit, Easter chicks, some turtles, fish, and birds. Not all at the same time. All of them died in one form or another. Except for one of the birds. He flew away, when I was cleaning his cage, and the door came open. If anyone were to dig up our back yard, they are going to think it was a graveyard, and in a sense it was. As I got older, we adopted the birds and squirrels in our yard. We would provide water for them in a bowl, and we would feed them bread and food scraps. We had cardinals, bluejays, sparrows, robins, doves, blackbirds, and squirrels. They all seemed to work together without too much problems. And, they all had jobs. The squirrel would let us know if there was a cat in the yard, or if there were any other dangers. He also would let us know when it was time to eat. The robin would wait for the paper carrier in the morning, and would stand next to the paper, until we went outside to get it. The bluejay would announce to others that the food had come. The blackbirds would take their bread to the water bowl, and dunk them before eating. Some of them lived there year round. Others would come and go, but each Spring they would return. It was as if there was a big sign on our roof saying to stop there. When I moved to an apt., I had a balcony, so I could feed the birds and squirrels. I had a water bowl, bread and bird seed. The birds would fly in. The squirrels would either climb the brick wall to the balcony or use a limb to get there. They were very smart. Now, that I have moved again, I don't have a balcony and am unable to put out a bird feeder. I miss being able to help those, and I hope that someone has taken over my job.

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