School...Scouting...Playing with Pets

Diane says this is her 1st grade picture. She would have been 6 years old at the time of the school photos (with her 7th birthday coming up). The year would have been 1968. Thank goodness, she sent me her school pictures so I have those digitized.

Here's Doug with one of his pinewood derby cars. He was a scout for a few years, and I mostly remember the horrible time he had at scout camp. He went to the camp between Cedar Falls and Waverly (I think it's called Camp Ingawanis, or something), and it's on the way to where his brother Dave now lives, so I pass the camp frequently. Every time I go by, I think of the week he attended camp...

He had to use his dad's brown cotton sleeping bag (the one with absolutely no padding in the bottom!) The other boys (I found out when we visited on 'parents' night') were sent with a big piece of cardboard to put on the top of the wire spring cots, but Doug didn't have any cardboard, so his very thin sleeping bag was all that was between him and those nasty wire springs...  The parents visited the tent where their kids had been staying. Those tents were canvas with no floors...they just came down to about a foot from the ground...and it had been raining all week, so I saw one of his socks embedded in the mud under his bed! OMG! Talk about roughing it! I could hardly leave without him after I saw how he'd been living, but I couldn't take him home either, because his fellow campers would not have let him forget that. 

Doug was in the program after the supper. He rode a horse (or I should clarify that...he sat on a horse...the horse wouldn't move, in spite of the many kicks Doug gave him!) I could tell that Doug was rather mortified, but he toughed it all out, and came home in one piece at the end of the week. I was not at all interested in having him continue in scouting after that experience, but it probably was a 'part of growing up' that really didn't do him a lot of harm. I don't remember if he asked if he could quit scouts or not, but I would not have told him 'no.'

I did do a bit of work helping with the scout meetings, and also with Diane's girl scout troop as well. I also did a bit of Sunday school teaching, and worked with the youth group at Nazareth Lutheran Church. When I was involved with the youth group, one spring I was the director for a play put on by the kids titled 'I Made Christ's Cross.' I also helped decorate tables for one of the women's luncheons...it was a huge job, but I thought they looked nice. 

The nice thing about being on a street that didn't have much traffic was that the kids could work on their biking skills in relative safety. This is Doug, riding his two-wheeler.

Here's Dave on his tricycle. One day when he was riding his trike in the driveway, he stopped and came running around to the front of the house where I was sitting on the porch. He said, breathlessly, "I drive on 'moley-fluffy!' " (Dave had cute little names for critters, and in this case, he meant a mole!)

I went out to the driveway, and sure enough, a rather flattened mole lay there. It was quite dead, so I think we had a little 'funeral' and buried him, but I'm not sure. I know over time, we buried several fish (in little match boxes with cloth lining them...) and maybe a hamster. 

This must have been 'picture day' at our house! Doug in his scout uniform, Dave wearing the shirt he had on when riding his trike, and Diane in one of her dance costumes... (not sure if she is 'growling' at me or not...)

Oh, I remember the florescent colors and the black light numbers at the dance studio! Here's Diane in her costume...with her shoes and the stripes on their costumes the only things that showed up when they did their routine!

Here's our little dog Fritzie. He was not the best kind of breed for a family of lively kids...he was part beagle and part terrier, and very excitable. But, the kids had fun with him. We had a dog house for him, and he enjoyed being outside.

Diane especially liked having a dog. She became pretty attached to Fritzi... (Here it looks like she is trying to 'convince' him to stay inside his house, and he doesn't look like he wants to do that...)

The kids thought it was great to have a dog, and I know Fritzi enjoyed playing with them. But, when they went to school, he was often tied outside with a long rope so he could roam around a bit. One time, some boys in the field behind the house, were hitting at him with a belt they had found. This got him very upset, and started problems with his behavior. Later on, Doug and Joel (our neighbor) were going to play circus, and they decided to use Fritzi as the lion. Joel pretended he was the lion tamer, and began to whip at the dog with a rope, which continued the dog's fear of being hit.

As he got older, Fritzi had a habit of running out as soon as a person opened the door. That led to him running after and trying to bite people's feet who were going by the house. One kid riding a bicycle got lightly bitten by Fritzi, but fortunately it wasn't serious. Another person walking past the house after dark had the dog run out and attempt to bite his feet. It was getting to be quite a problem keeping the dog inside when he didn't have a rope tied to him. 

One day during the late spring, a little girl was going through the field on her way home from Bible school at St. John's Lutheran Church down the street from our house. She was about 4 or 5 years old, and thought she would pet Fritzi who was tied by his long rope to his dog house. Well, instead of being able to pet a nice, well-behaved dog, Fritzi jumped up and bit the little girl. I realized then that he was no longer a safe dog to have around kids, and it was a critical moment for me. I decided that he needed to be put down so he wouldn't seriously injure a child, so I told the kids what I was going to do. Some parents tell their kids the dog 'has run away' so they don't have to confess to having a pet put down. But, I didn't want them to always be expecting him to come back home, so I was honest with them. It was a hard thing to do, but there's simply nothing easy about having to put down a pet, no matter for what reasons. 

Diane took it really hard. She wanted Fritzi's dog tag, and for months afterward, wore it on a chain around her neck. I don't think she ever forgave me for having him put to sleep. I hope that now, as an adult, she understands better the quandry I was in...

We later got a beautiful Persian kitten. He was simply gorgeous, with smoke blue fur and golden eyes. And, he was much easier to have as a pet. He was an indoor cat, and was playful, and entertained us all. Plus, he didn't bite or scratch...much...

We named him Rufus....and he was a wonderful pet. But, he came from a farm home where the people raised Persian kittens, and without any symptoms, he came to us with a case of 'ringworm.' He had no lost fur, no sores, nothing to let us know that he was carrying a fungus. But, shortly after we got him, we started having classic symptoms...reddish, itchy rings on our skin. So, I took the kitten to the vet, and sure enough, he had ringworm. The vet prescribed an ointment for the human victims (including our neighbor girl who was our babysitter, and had handled the kitten...their family had a little Dachshund who they didn't want to get ringworm!) The cat had the worst of the treatment. We had to bathe him (in a pillowcase because he went ballistic when we started to put him under the faucet to rinse the anti-fungal shampoo off of him!) I don't remember how often he had to be bathed, but the result was the most weird thing I've ever seen. His skin actually came off in sheets, right through his thick fur. He didn't lose any fur, but I think all of his skin was gradually shed! But, we finally got rid of the ringworm, and no one had any serious issues afterward.

Rufus was so pretty. And, he was playful and fun...loved jumping when he was surprised, and enjoyed playing in a paper bag or box. 

At Christmas time, Rufus sometimes became part of the decorations! Here he sits on the bench of the old piano (yes, I antiqued this, too!) He looks like some kind of 'royalty!' (I see Diane peeking around the corner!)

Sometimes he liked to lay like this...I suppose it felt good to get some air on his tummy, with all of that fur!

Here's an 'altered' slide (it was split, and at least I could save this much...) Diane and Rufus.

Rufus liked being at the cabin... (notice all the cans of mosquito spray...there's a reason for that!) 

Rufus was a great pet. He was quiet, didn't bite, and was not only entertaining, but he was very sweet and gentle, too. One should know about an animal's temperament before bringing it into a houseful of active kids...

More photos to come...and more stories about the Cooper and Hansen families. Keep coming back!