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All My Little Animals
When we were very young and growing up, we were not allowed having long haired animals in the house, like cats and doggies. We did have a parakeet, she was named Betsy. She was real pretty blue, and white. She lived for a long time. We had a few turtles, two to be exact. They would play all night long, and sleep in the daytime.
My Dad had allergies. Also, he had breathing problems, and sneezed quite often with the cat or dog’s hair flying around the house. This made it hard on my four sisters, and myself, who have always loved cats and dogs. We were unable to keep any of them in the house. We would always feed all of the stray cats in the neighborhood. They knew where to get a good meal, with many leftovers and scraps. We had to feed them outside on the porch. Each cat having its own dish, or two. Naturally we all had names for our cats which kept us happy for many years to come.
In the winter months we were able to keep them in the basement. It had an outside entrance, so my dad did not go down there very often, except when we girls would blow a fuse. As time slipped by we became very familiar with the fuse box, and how to replace the fuses. We did not want our Dad going outside to the basement and seeing a new cat, every time he have to replace a new fuse. It was much easier on us girls. Dad never knew how many cats we all had at one time. That way, everyone was happy! Mom knew, although she loved the cats as much as we all did.
Our dad was a Baker and had odd hours, and slept a lot in the day time. He worked in the wee hours of the morning, and then he would come home with bags of bread, rolls and pastries; enough for the whole neighborhood. They would line up at our door step for the sweets. Every child was tickled pink, with happiness.
In 1971 my little sister Marianne was a junior in high school. It was a sunny afternoon, Marianne and her friends were walking home from school. They discovered a small, tan, longhaired Lassa Apse doggie had been following them for several blocks. Marianne brought the little dog home, in hopes of finding its owner quickly as possible. With no luck in finding her master anywhere, we had no choice but to keep her. She was a precious little dog. She looked as if she had just come from the doggie Beauty Parlor. She had bows in her silky hair.
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