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Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
A bird, a boa and other pets in print
By Wanda Orton
Contributor Published November 14, 2009 Two words can characterize my long career in the newspaper business. And they are:
“Animal kingdom.”
I’ve written stories running the gamut from dogs and cats – yours and mine – to squirrels, turtles, alligators, geese, a talking crow and even a (gulp) boa constrictor. Of the latter, I don’t know which was the most unlovable, that smart-mouth crow or the plus-size snake.
A bird with attitude, the crow named Jim, ruled at the home of Glynn and Wreatha Oakes and was the unusual pet of daughter Mona and son Neal.
I never liked that crow. Whenever I approached the Oakes residence, Jim would buzz out to humiliate me, flapping around my head, yakking, “Hello, hello.” All I said to him was, “Go away … go away ….”
Eventually his host family finally donated him to the Houston Zoo. Bye, bye, birdie.
About that boa. When daughter Jan was growing up, I tried to broaden her horizon with frequent trips to the Houston zoo – not to see a certain crow, mind you – but to observe other creatures therein. Each time we made an obligatory visit to that infamous venue of venom, the reptile house.
One day, Laura Woods mentioned a Highlands pet shop where a big boa constrictor resided. She took her daughter Della, same age as my daughter, there on several occasions.
So all of us, Della and Laura, Jan and I, journeyed together to Highlands to view the big boa, and I wrote about it afterward. Honestly. I can’t remember what I wrote. Mental block. I don’t like snakes.
Oh, I meant to mention that the talking crow was the subject of my first by-line feature story on the front page of The Baytown Sun. I think Chester Rogers took the great photo of Mona and Neal with Jim in their backyard.
On numerous occasions I took my own photos to go with features, including the time I photographed Larry Bailey’s turtle collection. The future lawyer was just a young lad then.
I remember crawling on my tummy on the Baileys’ patio, snapping pictures of the turtles, up close and personal. Larry’s parents, Hottie and Sara, watched as I aimed and clicked, and I felt a bit intimidated working a camera in front of Hottie. He was an Exxon photographer– one of the best. Anyway, my pictures “turned out,” as they say.
When the Crasher Squirrel mugged media attention in recent weeks, I thought about Peanuts, the pet squirrel of the Harold L. Wert family. (The Crasher Squirrel, in case you missed it, became an Internet celeb when he stepped in front of a camera lens just as a photo was being made.)
While Peanuts never was famous, he surely loved being the center of attention. He came to Baytown from Austin, having been adopted by daughter Emily when she attended the University of Texas.
Awww, he was so cute and sweet. Extremely well behaved, Peanuts had the run of the house and even went with the Werts on vacation trips, including two trips to New Jersey.
Of all of the creatures I’ve put in print, I make no bones about it. Peanuts Wert, the squirrel who thought he was human, ranks as one of my all-time favorites.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.
Contributor Published November 14, 2009 Two words can characterize my long career in the newspaper business. And they are:
“Animal kingdom.”
I’ve written stories running the gamut from dogs and cats – yours and mine – to squirrels, turtles, alligators, geese, a talking crow and even a (gulp) boa constrictor. Of the latter, I don’t know which was the most unlovable, that smart-mouth crow or the plus-size snake.
A bird with attitude, the crow named Jim, ruled at the home of Glynn and Wreatha Oakes and was the unusual pet of daughter Mona and son Neal.
I never liked that crow. Whenever I approached the Oakes residence, Jim would buzz out to humiliate me, flapping around my head, yakking, “Hello, hello.” All I said to him was, “Go away … go away ….”
Eventually his host family finally donated him to the Houston Zoo. Bye, bye, birdie.
About that boa. When daughter Jan was growing up, I tried to broaden her horizon with frequent trips to the Houston zoo – not to see a certain crow, mind you – but to observe other creatures therein. Each time we made an obligatory visit to that infamous venue of venom, the reptile house.
One day, Laura Woods mentioned a Highlands pet shop where a big boa constrictor resided. She took her daughter Della, same age as my daughter, there on several occasions.
So all of us, Della and Laura, Jan and I, journeyed together to Highlands to view the big boa, and I wrote about it afterward. Honestly. I can’t remember what I wrote. Mental block. I don’t like snakes.
Oh, I meant to mention that the talking crow was the subject of my first by-line feature story on the front page of The Baytown Sun. I think Chester Rogers took the great photo of Mona and Neal with Jim in their backyard.
On numerous occasions I took my own photos to go with features, including the time I photographed Larry Bailey’s turtle collection. The future lawyer was just a young lad then.
I remember crawling on my tummy on the Baileys’ patio, snapping pictures of the turtles, up close and personal. Larry’s parents, Hottie and Sara, watched as I aimed and clicked, and I felt a bit intimidated working a camera in front of Hottie. He was an Exxon photographer– one of the best. Anyway, my pictures “turned out,” as they say.
When the Crasher Squirrel mugged media attention in recent weeks, I thought about Peanuts, the pet squirrel of the Harold L. Wert family. (The Crasher Squirrel, in case you missed it, became an Internet celeb when he stepped in front of a camera lens just as a photo was being made.)
While Peanuts never was famous, he surely loved being the center of attention. He came to Baytown from Austin, having been adopted by daughter Emily when she attended the University of Texas.
Awww, he was so cute and sweet. Extremely well behaved, Peanuts had the run of the house and even went with the Werts on vacation trips, including two trips to New Jersey.
Of all of the creatures I’ve put in print, I make no bones about it. Peanuts Wert, the squirrel who thought he was human, ranks as one of my all-time favorites.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.