Dad grew up in a small town. Menomonie was not a monstrous thriving metropolis but a slow paced college town where everyone knew everyone in one way or another. His school was across the street from his house, the neighbors in the surrounding area knew his name along with every child, and pet, within a mile and a half radius. The trees hung over the road helping to protect those walking below from the weather. It was the 1930's so basic necessities were a little harder to come by. People saved every little thing to get by and entertainment had to be found, not provided. Penny candy was just that, a penny. There were corner drug stores with malt shops and a band shell where the town orchestra would play music on special days. People today would classify it as an idyllic setting, it was possibly so.
Dad always said he loved his life. It was never dull, there was always a new adventure around the next bend in the road. His siblings liked to keep things exciting, especially his older sister. She thrived when there was excitement, at times she had to create her own. She would often wake dad at night by tying a string around his toe and pulling on it after he had fallen asleep. They would go on midnight walks around the neighborhood trying to find trouble to get into. Once in a while they would sneak into neighbors gardens to snatch watermelons and bring them down to the creek to cool in the water. They would then go back to the creek later in the day to partake in the deliciously cool treat.
At times the animals would be the ones to provide the entertainment. Dad and his family were never ones to stick to the conventional pets. Sure, they had a dog and a cat, however they also mixed it up a little with a crow named Mike and a woodchuck.
Mike, the crow, was one that liked to create chaos. He was sometimes a little mean spirited in his teasing of the cat and dog. There were quite a few stories of Mike pecking at them to make them run, staying just far enough ahead of them to not get caught. He would sneak up behind the cat as it was sleeping in the sun and nail the cat hard in the tail with his beak, the cat would chase Mike around and around the wash house until he would collapse from exhaustion. He would then move to the dog to continue his torture. There is one instance where he picked up a leaf that had fallen to the ground. He stood with the leaf in his beak in front of the dog and placed the leaf on the ground. Each time the dog ignored him he would again pick up the leaf and move it a little closer to the dogs nose. He finally ended up placing the leaf on top of the dogs nose which was enough to get the dog to chase him. Mike screeched and squawked as if he was being mauled. Finally the dog tired of the chase and he dropped to the ground. Mike landed in front of the dog and tossed the leaf in the air as if he had done nothing wrong, then he started the whole process over again. Eventually the cat ran away, and the dog, well, I'm not sure what happened to the dog. He most likely went insane.
Mike also learned to talk, dad isn't sure when but he thinks that the crow just started to mimic my grandmother. Grandma would hang her yarn mop on the clothesline to dry and Mike would sometimes like to sit on top of the mop, My dad's brother would come along and swing the mop handle to irritate the bird. As Mike swung back and forth along with the mop grandma would yell from the house "Jerome stop that, stop it Jerome." Eventually Mike learned to say the same thing when Jerome would again swing the mop handle. Mike loved to be around my grandmother. On wash days he would sit on the edge of the wash tub to visit with her. He would land with his tail over the water which grandma did not like because he would end up dirtying the water with his waste. To correct this grandma would swish his tail so he would turn around to face the inside of the tub. She did this enough times so that later he learned to land facing the tub instead of away so grandma wouldn't swish his tail.
There weren't that many stories about the woodchuck though. She lived in the house with the family. Eventually she had to be taken out to the woods to be let loose because she had started stealing the family's clothes for nesting. There is a picture taken with her and one of the family members. I will have to post it at a later date
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