The Last Hurrah!

Teddy: Yesterday, we woke up to an unnerving racket outside! Spaulding: It had been beary windy for a whole day, rattling the windows and making it sound like the windows were going to come crashing in at any moment. Teddy: But that was only part of the racket! Spaulding: It had also been raining hard throughout the night, but the rain was ending when we woke up. Teddy: But that was only part of the racket! Spaulding: Five of our neighbors have dogs that they let out into their beary small backyards where they bark constantly for half an hour each time they are let out. Teddy: They're let out all at different times and they're let out four times a day! Spaulding: But that was only part of the racket! Both: kehehehehehehehehehehe Teddy: The LOUD racket came from a large bunch of birds.... Spaulding: ....pigeons, starlings and sparrows.... Teddy: ...AND a rather big group of squirrels! Spaulding: In the whole time we've lived here we have only seen three squirrels at one time, and usually there are only two squirrels in this neighborhood! Teddy: Betcha didn't even know squrrels made any sounds! Spaulding: They make a sound that almost sounds like a chicken clucking... Teddy: ...but it is more of a woody sound then a bird sound, if you know what I mean. Spalding: One of those noises you hear every day, but don't know it's from a squirrel. Teddy: We forgot to mention that Mommy and Daddy changed our home around a bit. Spaulding: We have run of the whole house, but Mommy bought us a basket to sleep in, and then bought Axlerod his own basket, because the first basket bearly fit us all. Teddy: We used to sleep near Mommy's bed on the floor, but when cold weather comes, Daddy pulls out the hue-mitt-o-fiver to stop the inside air from being so dry. Spaulding: With moisture in the air, their skin doesn't itch so much, and thier noses don't clog up as much. Teddy: But, the thingy that was sitting where the hue-mitt-o-fiver goes had to go somewhere, so Daddy put it where our bed used to be, and put our bed on top of it! Spaulding: And Mommy cleared a spot on the chest of drawers next to our bed for Axlerod's bed, so we can still all be together at night... Teddy: Well, the nights I don't have to stay up to keep Daddy company when he is feeling particularly yucky! Spaulding: And when Valentine doesn't stay out in the living room on our specially-made-by-Mommy-just-for-us-to-sit-on-and-watch-rasslin'-and-The-Three-Stooges sofa waiting for Daddy to go to bed leaving you and her with some alone time together. Teddy (blushing and then recovering): And now, with our new house, we can see the things Mommy has bought us through the years as decorations on our beary own shelf! Spaulding: Well, it's really the window sill, because now we have easy access to the window so we can visit with Petey the Pigeon outside on the air-conditioner, without having to climb up the chest of drawers to get to him. Teddy: Mommy and Daddy let us "steal"... Spaulding: ...it's not really stealing, since we ask if we can have it before we take it... Teddy: ...leftover money from when they order dinner to be delivered! Spaulding: And they buy us all 3 dozen hotdogs too when they buy dinner to come to the house! Teddy: Beary cool deal! Spaulding: And sometimes, when Mommy is emptying her pants pockets, she puts the change... Teddy: ...including bills.... Spaulding: ...into the piggy bank she bought us! Teddy: We all know it's really Mommy and Daddy's emergency money... Spaulding: Like if they can't get to the bank but need to get some groceries... Teddy: Or there is more month then deposits in the bank... Spaulding: ...whatever a bank is?! Teddy: I think it's the name of the tree that grows money. Spaulding: Oh! That sounds right! Anyway, we're working with Mommy to raise the amount in our piggy bank hoping that we have enough to buy Daddy a good Christmas present! Teddy: You KNOW we love Mommy and Daddy if we're willing to spend OUR money on them! Both: kehehehehehehehehehehe Spaulding: AND, last year when Mommy made all the wreathes for her family for Christmas, she made us a beary special potted flower! Teddy: The terra cotta pot fits in our paw, and the moss is real and the little dried purple flowers in it are real! Spaulding: Just the right size for us, but way too small for peoples. Teddy: Actually Spaulding gave it to Lady for last Christmas, but we all can enjoy it on our beary own shelf! Spaulding: Mommy kept it for us, but we rarely saw it because it was way up on the chest of drawers! Teddy: So, anyway, when all that racket woke us up, we sauntered... Spaulding: "Sauntered!" Good word! Teddy: Un hunh,...we SAUNTERED over to the air-conditioner and peeked through the Ben Eashtion Blind and saw Petey the Pigeon and a couple of his friends. Spaulding: We were about to ask him what all the noise was about, but then noticed behind him all the other birds in the yard! Teddy: It looked like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds! Spaulding: All along the top of the chain linked fence and in each chain link were birds upon birds upon birds. Teddy: They were also on the picnic table and all along the flower containers. Spaulding: Then Sammy, the squirrel, climbed up next to Petey and asked us to come on out! Teddy: We had to know what was going on first. Spaulding: We had watched The Birds right before going to bed one night, so got beary nervous with all those birds, even if we recognized many of them were Petey's family, and therefore friends! Teddy: He told us that they were celebrating The Last Hurrah! Spaulding: Yeah. We didn't know either, so we asked! Teddy: There is this moment of time in autumn when the weather changes so drastically... Spaulding: ...and it has to be after Indian Summer, that short few days after the first frost where the weather turns nice and almost summer like again... Teddy: ...that tells all God's creature that winter is almost here! Spaulding: There are many, many signs to point to that moment, but usually peoples are running around so busy with their lives that they don't notice... Teddy: ...and stuffed animals have already given into the idea of staying near home to wait out the cold, cold winter... Spaulding: ...BUT animals KNOW when that moment comes! Teddy: AND they know it without even having to notice all the signs! Spaulding: It's that moment when squirrels stop storing up for the winter... Teddy: And, migrating birds give up migrating... Spaulding: And birds that don't migrate have fixed up their nest well enough to be prepared for winter... Teddy: And the winds blow and the rain pours out of the sky as if it's being dumped out of a beary big bucket... Spaulding: And all of the creatures that don't hibernate and don't fly away hunker in their well prepared homes or under big, now bear, trees waiting out the storm... Teddy: And finally the storm is over but the winds keep hollering... Spaulding: And they're all too small to go out in the wind, or it will blow them far, far away... Teddy: And they wait and wait and wait for the wind to calm down.... Spaulding: And there is a shiver in the air, hinting at the coldness of winter beginning to settle in.... Teddy: Then FINALLY, the wind calms down and the temperature rises.... Spaulding: Not back to summertime temperatures, but rising into the low fifties... Teddy: After having dipped down into the upper twenties and lower thirties.... Spaulding: And it feels like the whole earth has decided to take one last little nap before becoming truly serious about bringing on winter. Teddy: And in THAT short moment... Spaulding: ...all the little creatures gather to have one last hurrah!!! Teddy: Hurrah that all the preparation for winter is done! Spaulding: Hurrah that the bad weather is over for now! Teddy: Hurrah that they made it through the storm! Spauding: Hurrah that the beary same storm blew all sorts of nuts and last lingering berries and garbage full of pizza crust and the end of hoagie rolls and unclean garbage cans fall over and open up to reveal brand new, ready to eat, maggots! Both: YYYYYYUKE! YUKEY! Teddy: But birds like to eat them! Both: Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Spaulding: And just a beary big HURRAH for the moment in time when all God's creature know what is to come and have set themselves for the task of living through, yet another winter! Teddy: If you are a people, you might remember a particular brisk autumn morning when it seemed like all the birds on earth decided to have one beary large synphony of sound! Spaulding: That IS their The Last Hurrah! Teddy: That's the racket that woke us up yesterday! Spaulding: Petey and Sammy invited us all to join them! Teddy: We snuck out the window with them before Axlerod even woke up enough to use his Magical Time thingy! Spaulding: We almost forgot to ask what to do! Both: Kehehehehehehehe Teddy: It's a party like the animal's version of a Harvest Celebration! Spaulding: Because we were invited, all the animals in our neighborhood decided to center the party in our back yard! Teddy: Because we can't fly without our helioplaneship boxcar, and because we can't climb as easily and quickly as squirrels... Spaulding: ...I didn't know there were that many squirrels around here! There must have been fifty! Teddy: While Petey took each of us, on a separate trip flying down to the ground... Spaulding: ...and for extra fun, he did that by taking us once around the park! Both: Kehehehehehehehe Teddy: the other pigeons and squirrels all went off to bring in their special after-the-wind-died-down finds for our banquet! Spaulding: Wellllllll, since we don't appreciate stale bread, fermented berries and maggots as much as they do... Both: YUKEY!!!!! Teddy: We snuck back into the house and got a few dozen hotdogs roasted with all the trimmings.... Spaulding: ...raw onions, baked beans, relish, sauercraut, cheese, mustard, catsup, and mayo.... Teddy: ...and enough NiHi to pour some in a pail Mommy left outside to use it as a beary cool birdbath for our friends! Spaulding: Even after they finished eating the creatures were kind enough to think of other creatures who could benefit from their treasury of food and left a whole pizza crust right next to an ant hill, and a bunch of raisins on the vine still.... Teddy: I think they were still considered grapes... Both: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Kehehehehehehehehe Spaulding: Next to a bee hive near our roof! Teddy: It looked like the ants and bees had already hibernated for the winter until right after we were done eating and they all showed up for the leftovers. Both: Kehehehehehehehe Spaulding: Then we found out who the entertainment was! Teddy: Everybody! Spaulding: Uh hunh! Teddy: The main event at a Last Hurrah is the singing! Spaulding: Every body sings at once. Teddy: They harmonize beary well, but not like people do, so I don't think people can hear the harmony. Spaulding: Probably sounds like what we heard at first, when we woke up--a racket! Teddy: The squirrels were all singing about the stash of nuts they collected--each one singing about their beary bestest nut collection! Spaulding: The pigeons were singing about the stale bread they collected for their secret nest... Teddy: And how good they are in making nest so secret, few peoples have ever seen one! Spaulding: The starlings were singing about their secret worm garden where they drop all the extra worms they collect during the summer. Teddy: And the sparrows were singing the joys of their maggot collection hidden in their beary secret nests! Both: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Both: Kehehehehehehehe Spaulding: And they sang for the joy of singing... Teddy: And for the joy of preparing for the winter... Spaulding: And for the joy of conquering winter.... Teddy: Or just surviving it, hopefully! Spaulding: And they sang beary, beary loud... Teddy: And beary, beary joyously.... Spaulding: ...but mostly they sang so all the other animals would know where their secret stash was.... Teddy: So, together they would all have enough to eat, even if their personal secret stash ran out before the winter ran out! Spaulding: And we felt inspired... Teddy: And we sang our hums.... Spaulding: We sang of our jobs... Both: ~~~~Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go~~~~ Teddy:: And we sang of our Jeopardy! winnings... Both: ~~~~~~~~~~~We are the champions, we are the champions, no time for losers because we are the champions--oftheworld!!~~~~ Spaulding: And we sang of our food... Both: ~~~~Momma's little baby likes hotdogs, hotdogs, Momma's little baby likes hotdogs NOW!~~~~~~ Teddy: And we sang of our Star Trek shows.... Teddy: ~~~~~~~~~~~It's been a long road~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spaulding: ~~~~~~~~~~Getting from there to here~~~~~~~~~ Teddy: ~~~~~~~~~~~It's been a long time~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spaulding: ~~~~~~~~~~But my time is finally near~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Teddy: And, now we have so many new hums from our buddy, Mawson's Hum Page that we had to memorize just one and we chosed BabyBear's hum, The Teddy Bear Blues! Spaulding: ~~~~~~~~~My people been gone the long day through~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Teddy: ~~~~~~~~I fell on the floor and don't know what to do~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Both: ~~~~~~I got The Teddy Bear Blues, oh, yeah, got the Teddy Bear Blues~~~~~ Spaulding: When we sang that, all the pigeons and squirrels stopped their singing. Teddy: That's because we are such good singers! Spaulding: That's what I thought too, but actually they never thought falling without peoples around could be a problem. Teddy: And they didn't know how good peoples could be to others... Spaulding: As long as the others are their Teddy Bears! Teddy: They told us how they were chased by people... Spaulding: And how peoples would scare them by stamping their feet... Teddy: And how, sometimes they'd even be shot at with something called a "sling shot"... Spaulding: ...or an air gun.... Teddy: I still don't get how air can hurt! Spaulding: Me either but I saw that bear patch of skin on Sammys thigh where he got hit by air! Teddy: But peoples aren't all bad! Spaulding: When we told them that all the food they were eating... Teddy: ...except for the worms..... Spaulding: ...were from people directly or indirectly! Teddy: They didn't understand until we told them what pizza looks like before it's thrown away and what whole hoagies are like! Spaulding: Kehehehe Remember when Petey thought maggots were people food too?! Both: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww! Kehehehehehe Teddy: But, he was surprised to find out that the can was a people's can specifically to throw out garbage, and, had it been clean properly, then there would have been no maggots! Both: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww! Kehehehehehe Spaulding: Most peoples say they hate pigeons and starlings. Some even admit to hating all city birds and squirrels! Teddy: Daddy calls squirrels "tree rats," and I don't think he means it as a good thing! Spaulding: Mommy quietly admits to liking all birds but starlings, and would like them too if they didn't squawk so much. Teddy: And the only time she hates squirrels is when they dig the dirt out of her herb pots! Spaulding: Davis, Sammy's brother, says they are just finding any available dirt to hide their nuts in, or are looking for nuts they hid last year. Teddy: Still. She did smile when she went out back to bring in the plants and found Sammy and Davis on the picnic table next to her plants. Spaulding: Sammy and Davis were glad they weren't wearing pants or they would have dirtied themselves. Both: Kehehehehehehe Teddy: But, once we told them about how peoples were good for them too, we all started singing again together some more. Spaulding: It was a grand day! Too bad they all had to finally go to fix up their homes after the storm. Teddy: I think everybody shoud have The Last Hurrah Days every so often! Spaulding: Me too, just to celebrate life! Teddy: Soooo, anyway..... Spaulding: Sooooooooo, until next time....