Immigrant Daughter 49

My girls asked me when I was going to mention some of the funny incidences that happened with some of the pets we had that weren’t so funny at the time.

One story when the kids were in school the girls had to start supper for me when we were having Carl’s boss over for supper. Carl was a salesman and had a territory that covered so many doctors and his boss came at least once a month to check up on his progress.

The girls would see what we were having and start it for me. This particular time I left chicken in the sink  to thaw so they could begin to roast it. They came home all set to start their chore and couldn’t find the chicken. They ran to our friends across the street to tell her and ask her to take them to buy more chicken. She did this and then they started to look for the chicken that I had put out to thaw.

We had a roll away dishwasher that was positioned next to the sink and when they checked back there they found the remains of the chicken. It seems the cat as fat as she was jumped up to the counter without the help of a chair and tore into the chicken wrap. I can just picture the cat trying to tear into the outer wrap dragging it all over with the dog helping. They had a feast. The kids said they were not as playful as they usually were. I guess not. Like I said not wasn’t funny then, but we have laughed about it  many times since  then.

I worked for the Church in the Diocesan Office as a secretary and believe me I wasn’t a secretary, but as I mentioned before I learn quickly. I have to admit with  all the new jobs I had to learn in my lifetime I still like cooking in the luncheonette the best and most rewarding. Being around people whose life crosses mine I some time can see why the Lord let them cross my path.

My husband was a smoker and he worked around others that smoked also. From early childhood he started by picking up butts that men threw in the streets. I never smoked and we sold cigarettes in Dad’s restaurant and our Luncheonette . Oh I tried it and couldn’t understand why people spent their hard earned money only to burn it.

Getting back to Carl and his boss who also was a chain smoker and when he came for supper he filled  many ashtrays that I always waited until the next day to empty. I never complained about the mess and then  one day while he was helping me clean up he was emptying the ashtrays he made up his mind to quit “cold turkey”. He bought a new carton of Mallboro and put them in the house where he usually kept them. When he finished the pack he had opened he never smoked another cigarette again. We ended up giving them to his boss one pack at a time.

Carl moved up the corporate ladder and was so glad he had quit smoking because when their day was over they ending up relaxing with smoking and spirits. It was easy for Carl to say goodnight because they would honor his wishes by saying goodnight. His boss died a very young man.

One day our dog that was in his pen in our fenced yard. We had this dog as a puppy that was part Doberman and part who knows. Our neighbor claims we let this happen when we were dog sitting their dog that was a pedigree Doberman  so we had to take one of the litter and we kept her in the outside pen and called her Sukie.

This pen lined the fence on the side of a couple with no children. The other side had five kids that were mean to animals. They couldn’t reach Sukie  and that was good. As time passed I noticed Sukie was growing tall but fat and I couldn’t imagine why because we only fed our dogs once a day. Then one day I saw the sweet neighbor lady throwing white bread over the fence for the dog. She was doing this with regularity, no wonder poor Suki was getting fat. We didn’t have any trouble of the kids trying to get in the yard because Sukie could clear the fence in nothing flat.

M any times we left her fence opened into the yard but she just stayed in her pen. One night our son was sneaking in after he was told he go out. We had a wood  box that filled up from the outside and we could get wood for the fireplace without going out. He painstakingly emptied the wood box so he could come in without waking us up only to find Sukie came up behind him and stuck her nose in his back and growled not letting him finish getting in. We heard Dad, Mom, help! He never did that again. Aren’t pets wonderful. I know ours were and I see I wrote a long time so Until Next Time, I am IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER. 

IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER #20

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you something about the family pets that helped raise our children. Some are humorous and this will give you a bit of a break of everything being so serious about our life.

I already told you about dogs: Debbie, Midget and MIssy. There is one more story about Missy. She was a good traveler because she just wanted to be with the kids in the back seat. Going home we had developed a habit of stopping at the end of Radio Road for a frozen custard. Mind you, we could have fixed a cone at the luncheonette before we left, but it's not the same.

Number two child always shared hers with Missy because she was an easy touch. There came a time when Missy would not just lick, but bite the custard, leaving the child with just the cone and crying. So we had to end up buying the dog her own. The people who owed the stand became friends. He drove one of the large back-hoes that dug out the lagoons and was a customer of the luncheonette.

for us at home was a Siamese cat whose name was "Satchmo" that ended up being called "Sam." The Siamese cat is an Oriental breed with short, smooth hair on a large slender light colored body with dark colored paws, ears and face and with bright green-yellow eyes. This cat was ever bit as eccentric as Siamese cats were given credit for. Our cat climbed up the drapes to get to the valance and would just wait for the dog to come by so he could pounce on her. Never a dull moment!

I finally changed the drapes for venetian blinds to keep the cat from assaulting the dog. This was before Missy. When this cat was outside, he climbed up the street lights and found out quickly the light shields were too hot from the sun. She would howl to no avail and finally got down and did not do that again! This cat was not dumb, and for the life of me, I can't remember what happened to Sam. I guess when my kids read this, they will remind me. I guess this forgetting comes on a little with age.

We dog-sat my brother's boxer, named "Baron." He was old for a dog and one day he ran into the hallway wall hitting the wallon both sides. We took him to the vet and the vet said it was a seizure and it would not bet better and that each seizure would last longer. He advised putting him down, which we did. My brother could not be reached at that time, and when we told him what happened, he said he was aware of the problem and was glad we made the decision for him.

C loved boats and the water, so we always had a boat starting with a pontoon boat that had a canopy that we put on the lake. C was always thinking of me, knowing I wasn't too sure of the water, so he was thinking of safety first, knowing if I was scared I just would not go. It was not his choice of a boat, because it was not a boat, but we did well and enjoyed the lake. One night after going to the lake we came home and, lo and behold, no Missy! We had just forgotten her at the lake while we were packing up the car. She had gone off to do her business, and we did not notice she was not in the car until we got home. So I put the kids to bed and C went back for Missy, who was patiently waiting on the pontoon.

C had a ruddy complexion that burned easily even on a cloudy day. I asked him how he survived in the Navy so long aboard ship, and he remarked, "You get used to it and do what you have to do, especially when you like the water."

When he went out he always wore a large brimmed canvas hat and covered his skin with sun shield. In fact, I still have his hat; I just couldn't part with it.

We purchased a Boston Whaler to pull behind the care that made any water available for the kids to water ski. Number three child was the best water skier. She got up in the skis the very first try. I don't have to tell you where I was: When I tried, you guessed it, in the water! I could never get up on the skis! But I loved watching. I never really cared about going that fast in the water or car.

One time when we went to the lake for the day taking food and umbrella to set up on the beach, so Missy and i could enjoy ourselves, too. When C and the kids came to shore to rest and eat, C got the bright idea to pick MIssy up and wet her. She did not like that at all! She swam to shore and came out shaking off the water, walking on the shore line and finding a place where the fishermen left some fish skin and bones. They were smelly and yuckey then she rolled in them. She came back to where we were and found C's clothes and rolled back and forth on them and got up and looked at him as if to say, "No, there!"

One Anniversary while living in Dallas, C came home with a smooth-haired fox terrier as my gift. He figured Sandy would be good company for me because by this time the kids were grown and in college. He had been given a promotion, and his had 12 men who he had to supervise. This caused him to be out of town during the week, and he thought I needed a dog. Sandy was a pedigreed dog with a name that was too long to remember, so I called her "Sandy."

In the next door house a single girl rented the upstairs, and one night she was raped and no one heard a thing, so that is why I was given Sandy. She was a great watch dog as all terriers are yappy. I worked downtown Dallas for an insurance company. I would ride the bus back and forth to work and I left Sandy in the house and she never had an accident. She must have had the largest bladder possible to hold it all day.

One time we had a thirty-foot Chris Craft that we bought that needed a lot of elbow grease to make it presentable. C had to get the engine reconditioned because that needed professional mechanical work. When we put it in Lake Texoma, it served us well. WE had many enjoyable days on it, and Sandy loved to jump off to swim when we were anchored close to shore. Sheloved to get on top of a tire tube while we were in the water. We slept on the boat many weekends, coming home tired but still looking forward to the next weekend. More about that later. Until then, I am Immigrant Daughter.

IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER #16

I mentioned my brother came to visit us in California and our children showered him with love and attention and all three trying to get his attention at the same time. So you can imagine the noise when he got down to their level on the floor.

My brother was in the Army Air Force and had just finished his last tour of duty in Japan. He brought us a Japanese flag as a souvenir. He came to visit us before starting his civilian job for IBM because he knew he would not be able travel once he started to work. Before his trip ended he wanted to see the “sites” in California and came with us on our trip to Disney Land.

We rented a stroller for our youngest because it would have been too much walking and she was too big to be carrying all day. The park had many strollers available so it wasn’t unusual and they encouraged it because the rental was free. Many rides were not for children her size so it was good she was able to snooze once in a while when the other two were on the rides. When my children saw these pictures they remarked at how I was dressed and said “You went to Disney Land in Sunday clothes”. I told them it was the custom to wear dress up clothes to go anywhere away from home.

Our children were learning to do lots of things besides swimming, like ride two wheel bicycles, roller-skating and just learning how to get along with other children in the neighborhood. We had a mixture of ages in our development that gave


kids an opportunity of learning some of these things before they were really old enough. Second child K was the first to learn how to ride an adult's two wheel bicycle and she couldn’t even reach the seat to sit. She learned on a friends’ bicycle that lived in the unit next door. I don’t know how our son learned or on whose bicycle. My brother bought our son a bicycle for his birthday and he had no trouble getting on and off without falling.


Learning to skate was something else. We doctored so many boo boos and used many band-aids, I am sure we did our share keeping up the Johnson and Johnson stock. They came in so many times booing from falls. Number three child was on athree-wheeler that was no problem. The only problem she had was the little dog next door kept knocking her down to lick her face. His name was Heinz 57 because you couldn’t tell what kind of dog it was.


C and I loved cats and dogs and always had both around for our kids. It seems as though the stray animals always migrated to our house because the kids loved animals and were always bring strays home. We had a black cat with four white paws that showed up at the door that we named mittens and she was pregnant. We tried to find out who owned it to no avail. In the housing project military moved out so fast that pets were often left behind because they knew the neighbors would take them in. After we took her in and one morning she had four kittens not in the box we had fixed for her, but on third Childs’ bed.

We were able to find homes for them because they were adorable and playful. One day I had knocked over one of the lamps I saved during the small earthquake and it broke putting a large hole in it. I patiently glued the pieces having to wait in between pieces for it to dry thoroughly. The hole was getting smaller by degrees because it took some time to glue all the pieces.

One day we were to deliver one of the kittens to its new home and we couldn’t find it. We search all over the house and the time came to leave and still no kitty. We called the people and said we couldn’t find the kitten they picked out and when we do we would set up another delivery time. That evening as we were sitting down to read the paper, and the kids were playing on the floor and long and behold after an all day nap the kitty appeared sticking its head out of the hole in the lamp that wasn’t completely closed, yawning and stretching. We had a good laugh because we looked everywhere but there. I guess it felt it was a safe place to hide and sleep from the kids. (Pun intended.) It did not take too long after that to get the lamp finished and painted. I was pleased with myself because the break in the lamp wasn’t obvious because I used some plaster. We have many stories about the family pets I would like to share some as humorous. Until then, I am Immigrant Daughter

IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER #7

I need to tell you about a dog we had that loved my mother. Now I know, we all have pets that love us but I am talking unconditional love that was put to the test.

When my mother was in her down spiral Tippy was by her side constantly.

I don’t know how long we had Tippy but I do remember Tippy was mom’s dog and just tolerated the rest of us.  My father was not fond of pets. Oh, he put up with them because of mom. Someone brought mom a little kitten and Tippy welcomed the company to curl up with while sleeping.  Tippy learned quickly who was boss in our household and  he followed my dad everywhere and I mean everywhere. When dad went to the Town Council, V.F.W., Board of Education and political meetings Tippy would follow him in and wait under his chair being extremely quiet. He never barked or growled so he wouldn’t be thrown out.

It was easy for Tippy to follow because we walked everywhere. The only one he would wait for was dad. When he followed us to school as soon as the bell rang to go in Tippy would leave.

On Sunday when we walked to church he would follow us, but not be allowed to go in.  He would patiently wait until someone else came and as soon as they opened the door, scooted in crawling under the pews until he found where we were sitting. He sat quietly until church was over,

When mom was in bed for that year Tippy stayed by her side except to go out when he needed. The day mom died and the undertaker was called and carried mom’s body out  to the hearse, the dog seemed to know she wasn’t coming back and that afternoon Tippy ran in front of a car and died on the spot. I will never forget July 18.1942 . I lost both my mother and her dog who loved her so much.  I am, IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER.