Bird in the attic--My Favorite Things Part 2 4/12/2007 4:22:00 PM
Pets surrounded us, both our own and the neighbors' MOST of them endearing, and at the very least MEMORABLE Bird in the attic when you blow your horn Bruno out barking at night or in morn Dear Mary Urdzik calls Trixie inside Play in the greenie, a good place to hide A perm for li'l Cindy, Mrs. Osman insists Sally and Rusty and Taffy we miss Carol's cat Spook jumping up on your back When she was pregnant she'd land with a splat!
Cindy, our oldest daughter, and Susan, the next in line (two and a half years younger) took music lessons one year. I hardly know one horn from another, but I do know these were big and loud. One was a French horn and I think the other was called a Bass horn???? NOBODY in the family appreciated the racket, so Bill and I told them to practice in the attic, which wasn't totally finished. On this particular day, it only took one blast on the horn to launch a large black bird down out of the rafters, scaring the girls down at top speed! How it got there I'll never know, but it emphasized the fact that the horns were not very popular on Willow St. In fact, they were "for the birds." Bruno was a big, crabby Boxer who lived next door. He was really a she, but the name "Bruno" seemed to fit her well. When kids passed, she would race up and down the big yard, barking her head off. Mrs. Osman told us the previous neighbors (who lived in our house) had some nasty little boys who used to throw glass milk bottles at Bruno, and that's why she was so disturbed by kids. We avoided Bruno as much as possible. She was very much loved by Violet and "Lum," who used to say things to Bruno like, "come over here to Pap." We all got a kick out of that, but now we have regressed to calling ourselves "Mommy" and "Daddy" when talking to our puppy Sugarplum, and we did it with dear departed Corky, too. Mary Urdzik lived across the street. Funny, I can't think of the name of that street now. We were on the corner, Willow St. was down front and Carson St. at the back end of the yard. They were both alleys, but the real street's name eludes me. We were on a hill, btw; much of Shamokin is on hills. Anyway, Mary was a dear, dear lady who loved her little terrior Trixie and spoiled her no end. Trixie even got cooked chicken breast instead of dog food, and had a little sweater for cool weather. She was a barky, but nice dog. Mary and Steve, who ran a car lot, had 2 daughters several years older than our kids. Rosemarie, the younger, and Carol, the red-haired older sister. The greenie was a big grass lot next to Lesniak's, catty-corner from us. All the neighborhood children liked to play there, and the Lesniaks tolerated them pretty well. It was a great place to catch lightning bugs in the evening or play with balls or frisbees in the daytime. Mrs. Osman was a hairdresser, mostly for old ladies. Her shop was in their basement. She pestered me to let her give my tiny child a perm, but I wouldn't. One day she took Cindy over to play at her house and lo and behold, Cindy came back with a perm. I didn't argue about it, but I was not happy. Her hair was much too fine to be permed! My sweet little blondie had a perm in her baby-fine hair. Sally, our first family dog, was a beagle who died having puppies that were too big for her. How sad. Rusty and Taffy were both Spaniels, I think it was Springer Spaniels. Taffy was a sweet-natured girl and Rusty was a rambunctious boy who ran a rut all along the fence. We only had one at a time and loved them all. Spook was Carol's charcoal grey cat, and what a character she was! Carol was such a pet-lover, she was like a little blonde Dr. Dolittle. Spook's favorite trick was jumping up on the backs of people who were not even aware of her presence before being scared out of their wits! She treated everyone the same, family and visitors. Even when she was pregnant, she liked to climb high and jump to the floor. And it really made a big "splat" sound when she landed. Didn't hurt the babies inside, amazingly. I hope you've enjoyed this session with my memories. Come back again.
