[speaker001:] You bet. They tell you our topic?
[speaker002:] Uh, pets.
[speaker001:] You've got it.
[speaker002:] Do you have pets?
[speaker001:] Yes, we do. Uh, my wife and I have a dog that soon be eight years old, and we have a, a cat, which is, uh, I guess about five years old.
[speaker002:] Oh, my goodness.
[speaker001:] How about you guys?
[speaker002:] We have three dogs and
[speaker001:] Three dogs.
[speaker002:] two birds at this point.
[speaker001:] And two bi-, what kind of birds do you have?
[speaker002:] Parakeets.
[speaker001:] No, kidding. En-, enjoy them?
[speaker002:] Oh, have a ball with them.
[speaker001:] You let them out and let them fly around and everything?
[speaker002:] Well, no, because my dogs [LAUGHTER] chase them.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] So in order to have the birds not stuffed I have to keep them in their
[speaker001:] You-,
[speaker002:] cages.
[speaker001:] You know, this is like a cruelty joke, and I apologize if you're a bird lover, but, uh, we had a parakeet.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, my fault, put up our first electric fan.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And never thought about it. Knocked that parakeet [LAUGHTER] right out of the air.
[speaker002:] Well, we had that happen once, um, my son had the bird back in his room, because it's his bir-, well, the first one that we had was his bird, and I had a ceiling fan put up, and it, the bird got away from him one afternoon, and I mean that sucker hit that fan and went flying up against the wall, I thought, oh
[speaker001:] It killed him?
[speaker002:] so much for the bird. No, he's still alive and kicking.
[speaker001:] Oh, that's, well, it killed ours, I'll be darned.
[speaker002:] No, I guess we didn't have it high enough or he didn't get hit in just the right spot,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] but it threw him up against the wall, you know, and he slid [LAUGHTER] down the wall.
[speaker001:] Well, speaking of pets, I'll tell you, my, my kids are older now, my, both of them are either in or out of college, but, but we had for years, about five years I guess, had a, my son had a Burmese boa constrictor, and
[speaker002:] Oh, gosh. *slash error
[speaker001:] that thing grew to be seven and a half feet in, in length, and finally my wife, wife, bless her heart, got rid of it, because I didn't really like it.
[speaker002:] Oh, I hate them. *sd
[speaker001:] We also had a, [LAUGHTER] one year down in Florida on a vacation, for Father's Day, my kids, years ago, maybe, uh, ten years ago, go, bought me a skunk from a exotic pet shop. It'd be like, it'd been like deactivated as far as
[speaker002:] Oh, my goodness.
[speaker001:] s-, s-, smell and everything, and we had that darn pet skunk for about five years, and, and my son left, went to school, we finally sold his boa constrictor, but my son needed some money, and we, we sold it for about two hundred and fifty dollars.
[speaker002:] You're kidding.
[speaker001:] So, when the guy came over, he was infatuated by that skunk, so I made him a deal, I said, You take that skunk, and, he said, I'll sell that snake to you for two fifty. I said, otherwise I'm going to give it to this other man.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] So he took the skunk, too. And the skunk was a good, a decent pet, but, you know, does his little jobbies in the litter box, and is, is.
[speaker002:] Oh well, that's pretty good.
[speaker001:] And it was sort of a neat, but, they just stink too much [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
[speaker001:] That was sort of fun, you know, I tell everyone this story because my wife is a real pet lover. I use to visualize my wife, many times my wife would be lying there on the sofa, and this snake honestly would be stretched across the top of her body
[speaker002:] Oh, you're kidding.
[speaker001:] and with his, with his head right on her neck
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] and the skunk would be sitting at her feet, but the cat would be on the back of the sofa, and a dog would be running around crazy [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Oh, my gosh. I can not ima-, I just, I don't, in fact my brother has a, uh, a exotic pet shop out in California, and he keeps threatening to send a snake through the mail, you know, I'm going
[speaker001:] Oh, gosh.
[speaker002:] don't do that, because they won't come in my house.
[speaker001:] Oh, my son bought this snake, uh, someone gave it to him when he was in junior high school, and it was just a small thing then, but it got to be pretty big, and, you know, you'd feed it, you'd feed it, you put, feed him small mice to big rats and things like that
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] it's just, uh, too much. That snake used to watch our cat walk around. I always told my wife, I says
[speaker002:] Oh, my gosh.
[speaker001:] you know, your friend's going to get our cat one of these days [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Oh, my gosh. That is wild. Oh, I just can't do those, and the lizards and the
[speaker001:] Oh, me neither.
[speaker002:] all those those things, [ugh] they, they need to stay outside, far away from me.
[speaker001:] We're down to a simple dog and cat now, and that's the way it should be, and.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Haven't had any parakeets for quite a while, birds. Uh, customer of mine has a parrot, and, uh, gosh, sticks in my mind he paid eighteen hundred dollars for a parrot, and that was just mind boggling.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, they are so expensive. Well, my son was just dying for a bird, and I'm really allergic to them, so
[speaker001:] Are you?
[speaker002:] I try to stay away from them, except I've gotten real attached to this one, and, and, uh, we went down to Canton one time
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] oh, gosh, two or three years ago now, and he'd saved up his allowance, you know, and picked him out a bird in a bird cage and,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] and that stinking bird, when I brought it home tried to take it out of the little box that they give you
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] clamped onto my finger and would not, I mean, I had to literally shake him off to get him in the cage, and he has tried to bite me for two years, and all of a sudden this bird and I have become wonderful friends.
[speaker001:] Oh, gosh.
[speaker002:] He gives me kisses, he talks now
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] That's neat.
[speaker002:] and it's just hysterical. I'm the only one that pays attention to him.
[speaker001:] Why, sure.
[speaker002:] And I'm a substitute teacher and one of my fifth graders last year came up to me and said, [sounds high-pitched like a child's voice] my mom's making me get rid of the bird, we have too many pets. I thought, yeah, right come tell me about it,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] you know.
[speaker001:] Come to my menagerie.
[speaker002:] They knew the sucker when they saw one. So now we have two parakeets.