Casey's Bird Cage
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A Little Bit About Terry:
OK, after months of hints from my husband (I’d rather be talking about animals than myself); I’m going to do this. I grew up in the country. When I was very young, my mom didn’t drive, so during the week we didn’t go anywhere that the neighbor lady didn’t take us. I was the oldest of four girls who shared one bedroom of a small two bedroom house with no basement, so we didn’t have room for a lot of toys and stuff. We also didn’t have bicycles, so I spent my summers drawing, playing with the few neighbor kids, and with animals. My first pet was a black cocker spaniel named Cracker who was my best buddy. When I was 2 or 3, Cracker decided I was hungry and killed a rabbit which he and I ate raw. The doctor didn’t seem too worried about it. I think my next pet was a turtle. We were at a boat launch with my uncle George when I saw a little turtle in the water. I asked my uncle to catch it and he did. It was about the size of a quarter. I adored this little turtle. I still like turtles to this day and currently have two. I didn’t have my first turtle long as I was just little and didn’t watch him well enough when we were outside playing with him. I was only four. When I was around 8 we had a parakeet. Mom was at the neighbor ladies one day when my 5 year old sister Pam decided to give him a bath under the water faucet. I ran and tattled to my mom who came home and wrapped him in a towel. She turned on the gas oven and put him in there with the door open for a little while to get him warmed up and dried off. That night she put him in his cage next to the furnace. It was a huge furnace, coal I think. The next morning all the metal bars of his cage were really hot. We gave him to my Grandma Erskine the next day where he lived a nice uneventful life. I’m not sure if he was the reason I was always dreaming about birds when I was young. I used to dream about having lots and all kinds of birds, mostly wild birds probably because I didn’t even know about parrots then. I also dreamt that I neglected them. I think that’s actually why I take especially good care of them now. As a teenager everyone brought stray baby animals to us for raising and releasing back into the wild. We raised rabbits, raccoons, red tailed hawks and even skunks (with all their skunkly capabilities). My sister Pam got sprayed by one of them once. Our parents weren’t home and us girls locked her out of the house and laughed at her as she stood at the window crying. After I married and had children I did volunteer work at Binder Park Zoo for a couple of years. It was great for my kids to practically grow up in a zoo as I was there 20-30 hours a week. I helped clear brush for the Bald Eagle exhibit and moved rocks for the Red Pandas. What I enjoyed most was doing the educational programs in schools. We would take animals to schools and talk about endangered species. We got pooped on, spat on and bitten, and loved every minute of it. We also traveled to other zoos and got behind the scene tours. The Toronto Zoo in January is beyond beautiful. And to sit on a bench in the warm sunlight reading a book all day when the zoo is closed for the season, listening to the Gibbons whooping and the birds singing. Incredible! I miss that greatly. I had to give up the zoo when I became a single parent and had to get a real job. Now I have 10 grandchildren and work part time as an electrical theory instructor for a college. The rest of the time I take care of an assortment of animals and our Parrotlets. There’s something about Parrotlets you just can’t describe. They are cuddly and soft and warm. Kind of like a pretty colored baby chick that never grows up, and yet they are smart and funny. They will listen to you intently when you talk to them, and run from you when they are on the floor with that cute waddle walk. Then, when you pick them up and they cuddle into your neck like that’s where they belong, who can resist. Well, that my story and I’m stickin to it! Thanks, Terry
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