Dogs and Chickens And Some

Why not dogs and cats? Because we don't have cats, and dogs and chickens are the ones I used to have fun with when I was 7 to 10 years old. ^-^'

This story is when we used to live near a river in the province of Oriental Mindoro. We lived in a house made of bamboo and kugon grass. Back then, we only listen to radio programs and used gasira (gas lamp) as source of light, my mom calls it kingke or kinke (I'm not even sure how it spells.)

We raised chickens and we have 2 to 3 dogs. Dad and mom also grow vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, long beans and bitter melon. Dad has also planted pineapples alongside the house. They loved and enjoyed growing veges and then sell it in the nearby marketplace.

I would wake up every morning on the flickering light of the gas lamp, seeing mom and dad preparing hamburgers as mom sells it on the grade school I'm attending. Dogs wagging their tails. I would get down the stairs made of bamboo and go straight outside under the house where the hen is. I would reach my hand in its soft feathers and grab those now awakened chicks. I just enjoy rubbing those cute little chirping chicks in my face while others peek from under their mama hen ^-^'

And if the dog has puppies, I would pick up those puppies and cuddle them. I could always hear either my mom or my dad, " Don't play too much with the puppies, or the chicks, or the dogs. You might get an asthma attack."

We used to cook on kalan as they call it. Usually made and shaped off from hardened ashes. There was a time when my grandma had stayed with us and cooked with it while mom and dad went off that night catching frogs on the rice field.

Night time is always quite. Just the rattling sounds of maybe rats climbing on the banana trees, the dogs, and the crickets on the rice field. The radio would be on, and just before the horror program "Isang Gabi Ng Lagim" ( One Night Of Terror) play on the radio, we would then be getting ready to sleep on the banig (mat..) I enjoy listening to that though I was scared as hell. Wrapping myself under the blanket together with the gas  lamp hanging on the ceiling gives me comfort. (-_-')