The day Agnes tried to sing, and an owl chased her home

Then I might as well tell you about the experience I had with a, big white owl. I was walking towards my cabin one time, and I heard the owl there, who, who, you know, I didn't pay enough attention.

I went and got to the cabin, and I enjoyed myself there for a little while, and I, it was such a beautiful evening. I opened the windows there. I got four windows on each side of the cabin, so the fresh air stuff could come in, and the smell of the Christmas trees and all that and so I was in that window there watching the creek down below and see if I could see a deer coming or something no deer didn't show up and so I thought to myself I thought of my mother and how we used to sing songs and hymns you know in bohemian

language and so I said to myself, well, Agnes, now is the time you fed your husband for supper and that, and you can relax a little. So I put my elbows in the window, stuck my head in there, and there's screen on the other side so mosquitoes couldn't get at me.

And I thought of her, and I was singing and stuff. Then I said to myself, well, now you can sing your heart's content because there's no one going to laugh at you. There's no one around and indulge yourself.

So I went and I got this songbook that I wrote by hand, certain songs that I remembered, you know, years go by. So for that purpose, I won't forget them, the ones that my mother loved the best and everything.

So I looked at one and I said, I think I'm going to try and sing this one. Now, mind you, I didn't sing those those songs for maybe 20, 20, 25 years, or maybe more, I don't know. And I still, I start humming the tunes, you know, so know exactly which tomb belongs to which.

Then I read two of the stanzas, and I think, well, I can remember them yet, you know. And so I started to sing, and I was the most disappointed woman on earth because my voice, was cranky and rough and my chest didn't expand enough so I could get my tunes the way I want and my voice you know and the words come all right but the whole thing was such a disappointment that I couldn't help but I start crying I said where are the days and the wishes and all good to 30 years before I saw sang on the road, and I loved it, and

I met a neighbor boy. I think I had that already in the book, and that day I made up my mind. I'm going to have a little shelter in the woods, not too far from the road, but where I will be all by myself, and I could sing what I want to sing, or do whatever I want to do.

And here, after all those years, I thought of singing, and then the disappointment. It was quite bad. So I shut the windows and locked the doors and went home, see. And I was, like I say, quite downhearted about the whole thing.

I says how life can disappoint a person after all and all that. And I was halfway home. Well, I think it's about a quarter of a mile to my house where I live from my cabin, see. Just a little ways down the road.

I used to make it, say, seven, eight years ago, I used to make it in five or eight minutes to the cabin from the house. But at this time already, I was told to take it much slower, go slow.

So it was supposed to take me half an hour. What used to took me ten minutes, it was supposed to take me half an hour to get home. So I was wandering around slowly and looking over the trees and everything in the sun already set, it was setting pretty close to the horizon and so I tried to kind of forget about the disappointment of singing and all that and all of a sudden I heard an owl right by where Johnny's got this pond built for the trout sea and it made four hoo -hooos who -hoo -hoo -hoo -hoo -hoo you know and I says well

that's that must be a big owl the way the voice was loud. Of course, it was so deep, you know, when it gets cooler and quieter towards evening, you can hear better, same way as you do in the morning.

So I don't know what got into me. I said, ooh, it made it just like she did, or whatever it was, it was an owl. And made four whooos, you know, and stood there a little ways by the creek.

All of a sudden I heard four or five hoo -hooos, but much, much closer to me, see? And so I, like, foolish, I went and I hoo -hooed some more, see? And all of a sudden, a great big owl must have been three -foot -across wing spread.

A big one was coming straight at me. I could tell that she must have wanted to, you know, see who was who -hul or something. I must have imitated pretty dog gone good because I could tell that she was flopping her wings right between the different trees, you know, but she was going right at me towards me, see.

Oh, she must have been about 15, 20 steps away from me, my, you know, steps. And so I didn't wait for no more who -hoos. I started running, and I ran all the way the home. And John says, who was chasing you?

He says, you're out of breath. He says, you know he's supposed to be running. I says, the owl was chasing me. And he says, go on with you. So I explained to him how, and he thought maybe it was a male angry at the young owls or at the other owl or something.

And he must have thought I was an owl, but it gave me a plenty scare. I've heard before that they do land on a person and try to pick their eyes out. And when I was wooed, I must have been doing pretty good imitation.

why should she be straight for me going straight for me flopping her wings and stuff so I never tried that trick no more I left them a hoo -hooos and I go back my business so