I don't know of many of you had pets when you were growing up, but the Walker children always had some animal or the other. My mom, when she was going through her hippy, mother earth phases, fancied herself a farmer -- though maybe more a gentleman farmer than a real famer. So as we were growing up, we had doberman pinchers, goats, geese, chickens, horses, cows, and cats. I dont' remember them all, but I remember several.
Red - a large red doberman. He was really really big. Once he bit my neck - though in retrospect, I believe that he barked and my neck was in the way. When we lived in California, we used to let Red pull us around on our skateboard.
Mandy - she had a floppy ear, also a doberman. And what I remember most about her is that whenever someone called her, I thought they were calling me.
The White Rooster -- evil creature, I believe I've posted about it before -- if not, let me know and I will - it's a horror story.
The Geese - who seemed to get their joy from hissing and chasing us given any chance.
Harley - the boy goat who would pee on himself - apparently it's some sort of cologne for goats and oh so appealing let me tell you.
Camille - If I remember correctly this is the goat that would stand up on the root cellar and rear up so that she appeared 20 feet tall and ready for action.
Nothing - this was one of our cats - she once had kittens that Jodi and I helped deliver - Jodi made me a book about her when we lived in california and used her thumbprint to make the cat - it was pretty cool and I think i still have it somewhere.
Poopee -- a white furry dog - would ride on the back of mom's motorcycle -
Pooh - a poodle that we got, she'd jump up into your arms
Pooh 2 - the not quite as good as the first replacement
Tigger - my poodle - 3rd and last.
Seymore - 1/2 siamese 1/2 persian - cat with attitude - she lived for ever.
We've had so many more animals than this - and have had more animals than I have finger and toes get killed or run away or disappear. but they've always been there, marking the moments of my life.
Jesse, the stray cat that we got from Eleventh Street, has had 4 kittens. And Elijah and Isaiah have been entranced. Isaiah more because he thinks they are pretty cool toys - and has to be constantly watched because his favorite thing is to sit on a kitten or lay on it - i think he thinks that the meow is like a squeaker. But he will come up to the box and look at me and say his equivalent of "mine, mine, mine?" And Elijah, has also fallen in love, and I dread the battle that will occur between him and Jose when it comes time to give the kittens away. Elijah wants to pretend that he's their father, or uncle, or big brother. And spends a lot of time with one or all of the kittens on his belly as he watches t.v. or plays video games. Although, I did catch him using the kittens as toys in one of his little documentary dramas (he was making them talk and growl back at each other like he does with his dinosaur toys). But this summer, for Elijah and Isaiah, will be the summer of the kittens, and that's something special. To see them from an hour of their birth until they get to that playful stage. It won't be much different from Grandma Walker's - who always had kittens every summer it seemed - and though it must have been a hassle for her - seemed like a gift that she gave us each summer as well.
