Peacocks in Berkeley

To update a bit on the reading front I can tell you this morning I curled up on the couch and made a considerable dent in Farm City. Which is, by the way, getting much more exciting now. I have finally reached the part of the book in which Novella purchases two new piglets for her urban farm. 

This is really exciting news for me since I've always been into having strange animals. As a kid I constantly begged for more pets but of course all my pleas went unanswered. After much frustration, I ended up finding that the only way I could acquire animals was by saving them. Over the years we nursed several baby squirrels and birds back to health. The problem with this plan was that the patients never stayed around for long because as soon as they healed, they left. Not even the kitten we rescued from the park was welcome after it had regained its strength. Yes folks, that's how cold my parents' hearts are, not even a kitten can melt them.

My first real pet-breakthrough was also unplanned. It came in the form of a gift from a scientist neighbor: a little white lab mouse. (I'm sure my parents must've been thrilled) I named her Lily Belini and at the time she was probably one of the most loved mice in all the world. She sat next to me as I did my homework or else kept my parents awake by running on her wheel all night. But in true mouse fashion, her era came and went rather quickly. After Lily, we lived for a few years without pets until my constant begging must have hit a nerve, one Christmas I opened a shaking box to find a baby bunny. I was in ecstasy.

I think that must've gotten us on a roll because then we somehow got two chicks. And at the same time as the chickens came another bunny, a few dozen goldfish and later, my puppy. (The dog definitely took the most work -- years and years of begging until she finally materialized -- but it was totally worth it.) Needless to say, after a few years of hard work on my part, our house did get pretty crowded. It became known as the Teletubby house to all the kids that walked past because they likened the bunnies grazing on our grassy hill to their favorite TV show.

I now remember having criticized Farm City after the first few pages but I have to say, it's growing on me. And at the very least it really did tickle my imagination. It got me dreaming and thinking about all sorts of untraditional pets: little piglets running around an Oakland garden, the ostrich that lives in Point Reyes, two weasels I once saw on a leash in Norway, the legendary peacocks that used to roam the streets of Berkeley...