Piggy Tales: Runaway, fire drills, ocean creatures

From the rolling hills of Kansas, I found myself transplanted to a land that was filled with excitement and good memories. In "Heading South" I told of our family's move from KS to Homestead AFB, Florida, but settle in for a few more stories of life in this coastal state.

We had them.. See them floating in the back, hiding behind the plastic plants?  Oh, there it goes! Is that a tiny sea-horses living in our fish tank?  Yes, I have always been interested in all those cool animals that God created, but we had some unique ones that I loved watching when we lived in Florida. When they died, for whatever reason, they went to the great porcelain heaven in the ground. They didn't seem quite as minuscule as those Sea Monkey sitting on the kitchen counter, but were more fun to watch. 

"Pretty Bird" she chirped from my shoulder, picking at my hair. Remember those huge yarn things that our mother's used for hair boys?  My bird loved picking at them.  How was I supposed to practice my piano when she kept distracting me? I scooted her over and hoped she would find something else to occupy her.  I loved having my yellow parakeet, but sometimes she was a little annoying.  Have you ever had an inside pet purposely try to escape to the great outdoors?  I remember Pretty Bird doing this at least TWICE!  Yes, multiple times!  How in the world did we ever get her back?  The first time it happened I thought I'd never see her again, but Mom grabbed the first thing she could think of - a fishing net on a 6 foot pole. Why we had that I'm not sure, because we never went fishing in FL.  We followed her from tree to tree, yard to yard, waving that silly pole, making her fly until she finally gave up and flew down to us. I'm sure most people thought we were nuts.  That silly bird lived until I was in college!

School:  I loved going to school in Florida. There were three 1st grade classrooms, all with long narrow windows on two sides that stayed open most year round.  Our classrooms were not enclosed in one building, but a series of connected rooms, open breeze ways that faced an open courtyard that we used for play, science experiments, and PE. One time we had fire drill and we all filed out to the playground that was to the back of our class, clinging to the fence as the bells droned on and on. Most of us had our hands on our ears to block out the loud noise. One girl ran BACK into the room for her jacket, ignoring our teacher's command to stop.  She would have been TOAST if it had been a real fire! Our teacher was so upset with her and I'm sure her seat was on fire once she got home!

Fun Stuff: My mom loved doing different things with us and she took full advantage of living where we did. We would sometimes stop at the side of the road and buy fruit and veggies from a local market stand that we couldn't find at the local PX.  Sometimes she would take us to Cypress Gardens where we would wander through the myriad of gardens and pathways graced with beautiful girls in Civil War type poofy dresses.  It amazes me that they didn't faint from the heat with wearing those hot dresses.  One of my most favorite places to visit was Sea World.  Yeah, Disney World was available and we went twice, but it was expensive. We would rather wander the winding avenues of such a exciting place where you could pet and see some pretty awesome creatures up close.  I remember almost dropping my camera in the shark tank when I lost my grip on it during a school field trip. We stopped one time at some wood workers shop, where the man used all cypress wood.  I still have that wood thing mom let me pick out.  I thought it looked like some animal begging for a morsel.  Some times Mom would take us to the ocean and we loved building sand castles, running in the waves, and running away from pesky jelly fish. I loved feeling the salty spray on my face and the gritty sand in my toes and in my suit.


Well, the babies have arrived and I need to feed them and start on school with the boys.  I'm glad you stopped by for a visit and look forward to seeing you next week when I talk about POWs and more. 

I hope that I have jarred some memories in your heart. If you have the chance, write them down while they are fresh.  If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.