jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Apr 28, 2006 5:11:04 GMT -5
Yeah, it was photos that she stuck the list over. But Claudia probably arranged them in a very artistic way...
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Post by aln1982 on May 10, 2006 16:21:25 GMT -5
Trust me, considering all the animals except the snake were kept inside, it would be near impossible for the place NOT to stink. For one thing - five cats all using a litterbox? A cage full of rodents? I don't know about hamsters, but I know pet mice STINK. I just started thinking after coming in from outside that I wonder if the smell transferred to Jessi. I don't see how it wouldn't since I know that my hair/clothes always smell after coming in from the barn (even though our barn is really clean). If she took care of the pets and then went to school, it's likely that she smelled pretty strong. But... if anyone avoided her or gave her a funny look, it was probably just because she was black. Right. ;D
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on May 11, 2006 21:04:31 GMT -5
Frank the talking bird was awesome.
"How am I going to tell the Mancusis that Barney is missing?"
"Long distance. It's the next best thing to being there!"
Hee.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 12, 2006 1:05:41 GMT -5
Haha! Yeah, 'cause as we're constantly reminded, Stoneybrook's full of racists. Despite the fact that NOT ONE of the BSC regular clients have any issue with Jessi's blackness whatsoever.
You'd think it would. Ewww.
Also agree with wanderingfrog that Frank the bird was cool. One redeeming feature of the book!
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mckay
Junior Sitter
Posts: 672
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Post by mckay on Mar 16, 2007 21:18:43 GMT -5
Reviving a dead folder with something I have felt the need to get off my chest.
Frank the cockatoo was awesome, no question. But there is NO WAY IN HELL any responsible adult would allow an eleven-year-old to care for a large parrot, especially a cockatoo, which are known to be particularly temperamental. They're dangerous if you don't know what you're doing around birds, which...Jessi totally doesn't. She could have lost a finger or an eye if she'd pissed him off. And then letting the kids run around in the room with the birds...kids are notorious for sticking fingers in cages. Which is annoying to the birds at best (and oh my god, I have gripes about this, but I won't start or we'll be here all day) and dangerous to both kids and birds at worst.
I can't believe they'd have so many flighted birds kept in an already-packed house. Although I honestly would love to live like that! Maybe without the dogs, although I did like the Mancusis' bunch. I liked Crosby a lot - my old cat would fetch, too. We didn't "teach" her, she just did it. She was awesome.
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Post by aln1982 on Mar 17, 2007 10:18:43 GMT -5
Thanks Mckay for bringing this thread to the first page as I wanted to post on it today and didn't feel like looking for it I don't know anything about birds but what you said makes sense. As for this book, I didn't care for it much at all. The thought of all those animals in a house grosses me out and I usually enjoy reading about the kids. Every time the kids were in this book, the animals were there too. I always hate Chewy, anyway. The fight in the subplot was one of dumbest, too, in my opinion. As for the good things, some parts about Becca and Squirt were kind of cute and I always love Jamie and his songs and excitablity. The thing about MA and the snake was also funny as were some of the extreme features of the fight (Kristy was so over the top bossy, even for her). I also liked how Dawn stood up to Kristy without going on a crusade like she tends to do in later books and can understand how Mal and Jessi as the Jr. members felt like they shouldn't speak up.
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Post by hitzpink on Mar 17, 2007 17:36:27 GMT -5
Interesting info about the bird, mckay. I don't know anything about different types of birds so I never would have thought about all of that. So....ok, amongst other animals, the Mancuses have five cats plus a bunch of birds and some rodents? How does that possibly work out?! My cats go crazy when they see birds through the window, I can't imagine how they'd react if I actually brought in a pet bird! They'd probably knock down the cage and the poor thing wouldn't stand a chance. I am pretty jealous of their five cats, though. I have three and keep daydreaming about getting two older ones to add to the bunch (one of mine is just over a year, the other two are almost one).
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mckay
Junior Sitter
Posts: 672
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Post by mckay on Mar 17, 2007 20:02:01 GMT -5
I've seen cats and guinea pigs get along fine, and cats and birds (larger birds are more likely to harass the cats!) but you'd think the cats would be looking at the hamster cage like it was a lobster tank in a seafood restaurant.
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Post by aln1982 on Mar 17, 2007 23:35:12 GMT -5
Never thought of it but you're right hitzpink. Our cats in the barn go crazy when there is a bird in the rafters. With the birds flying loose in a house of cats or even just in cages, I think there would be a problem.
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msstock87
Sitting For The Braddocks
Here Comes The Bride!
Created by Rie.
Posts: 3,618
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Post by msstock87 on Mar 18, 2007 13:37:20 GMT -5
I just don't see how one person can have that many pets! The smell in that house must have been interesting....and that is an interesting point about the cats and birds. My cat whenever she sees a bird or squirrel out the window goes CRAZY. I can't imagine what she would do if she actually ever came face to face with one.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Mar 18, 2007 20:34:12 GMT -5
^ITA about the smell. I always think that house must smell so nasty everytime I read this book. I also always picture the Mancussi's as total wack-jobs. Who has that many friggin pets in one house?! It just makes me think of like, when the cops run across a nasty, dirty rundown house full of half-dead animals
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msstock87
Sitting For The Braddocks
Here Comes The Bride!
Created by Rie.
Posts: 3,618
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Post by msstock87 on Mar 19, 2007 0:28:00 GMT -5
They seem like wack-jobs to me too, I mean, I love my pets and all, but seriously if I had that many, I would go insane. Plus, when I like to give my pets love, and you would think it would be hard to give that many pets the kind of love and attention they would need..thats just a thought.
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Post by hitzpink on Mar 19, 2007 19:47:06 GMT -5
^Exactly! I always think that about people with tons of kids, too. (Like the Pikes!) How can you give each pet (or child) the attention it needs when you've got a million of them running around?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2007 13:41:04 GMT -5
I also wondered how much they were paying Jessi...I mean, it'd be one thing to have her come in and take care of, say, two cats for a week; but an entire menagerie?! It's like hiring a sitter to take care of one child or 15...I sure hope she wouldn't have settled for her usual fee! But then again, the BSC always did take care of a zillion kids for about fifty cents an hour, so I highly doubt it...
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lyricalangel
Sitting For The Newtons
Logan's love-bunny
Posts: 1,918
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Post by lyricalangel on Mar 30, 2007 2:10:24 GMT -5
They'd have to pay me a million bucks to take care of a snake. Yikes!
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