Clyde is a scardy cat

Our cat jumped across the living room and quickly flew upstairs when the vacuum cleaner turned on last weekend. "Scardy Cat Clyde" we called him. The loud noise always scares him. I can empathize with him as I had the same problem when I was a little kid. I was young, about two or three years old, and whenever the vacuum cleaner started up I would run into the kitchen and hide in a small space between the ice box and the stove. I put my little hands over my ears to block out the scary noise.

It got worse when roaring tractors started tearing out the grape vineyards that were across the dirt road from our house. Development was on its way to "Poverty Flats, Pacoima." That's what my dad always called it. That was then, this is now...

After spraying and vacuuming the stained carpet I went upstairs and found Clyde all rolled up in a ball on our bed. Poor baby. But the only reason I had to vacuum last Sunday was because Clyde brushed against my glass of wine that was on a tray on the floor next to my rocking chair. It was red wine - very dark red wine and it really showed up on our light colored carpet. I sprayed a whole can of 409 carpet stain remover before the carpet turned light again. I learned my lesson. I'll either put the cat outside or hold the wine glass in my hand.

Calf on the run: A lost calf was out in front of our house last Sunday morning. He had a tag on a collar that said "025." I went in the house to call around and see who he belongs to but he disappeared right away. We'll keep our eyes open for him.

Lost family photos: Fish Springs resident Jerry Daniels found a photo album on top of the locked mail boxes next to the Fish Springs fire station. This occurred a couple years ago and Jerry has not been unable to identify any of the people in the photo album. It's too bad because they are beautiful pictures of families with lots of babies, little kids, parents and perhaps grandparents. I would certainly hate to lose any of my families' photographs. If you have an idea, please call me at 782-5802. Thanks.

Garden corner: Last week we harvested green onions and asparagus. This week we have some chives and ripe rhubarb in our garden. Do I get to count the lettuce, bell peppers and lemons that our growing in our greenhouse?

-- Linda Monohan can be reached at 782-5802.