Pets

Jenny at Our Daily Bigtop tagged me for a pets meme.  So, let’s get on with it…

1. What is the first pet you remember?
Yasha, our husky.  I don’t remember a lot about him, honestly, I was pretty young when we had to let go of him.  My mom says he was a very gentle, but very wild dog.  He needed a lot of activity, being a husky.  You know, they’re working dogs.

2. How many different kinds of pets have you owned?
Yasha-husky

Najo, a long haired guinea pig.  This guinea pig was unlike any other.  She was really wonderful.  My 3rd grade teacher gave her to me, and I adored her.  And then we got another one, Docker, and one afternoon we were surprised to find they had multiplied.  Go figure.

Ace, Deuce and Jack, my mice.  Ace and Deuce were your typical white snake food.  Sweet things, really, but also really stinky.  Jack was black and white.  Oh, he was CUTE. 

Frisbee, my little cocker spaniel/terrier mix.  She was also a dandy of a pet.  Unfortunately, she developed a terrible skin condition which made her hair fall out, and she smelled awful.  I think now it was mange, but at the time, the vet said no.  I still think it was mange.  Because you know, I know a lot more about canine skin conditions than veteranarians do.   I’m savvy.

 Dieter, my black lop-eared rabbit.  Now, folks, this rabbit had some personality.  He would lay like a baby in your arms.  That is rather unusual for a rabbit, in case you didn’t know.  And he would lick my neck when I held him.  Now, this is apparently akin to a cat dropping a half-dead mouse at your feet…it is a real honor.  Whatever, it was funny.  I’d never heard of a rabbit licking a person affectionately before.  He was also particular about his treats.  He would not eat a carrot whole; I had to shave it for him.  And when we left him out of his pen for too long, he would get territorial and lunge at you and growl.  Yes, he would growl.  Have you ever heard of a growling, licking bunny?!  He was great… 

I also had a fish in college, he was a brackish fish, a spotted puffer.  Beautiful fish.  He had a white belly and a yellow back with black spots.  He didn’t actually puff, so not sure why he was called a puffer.  I named him Puffer, because remember, I’m very clever with the names.  For fun I sometimes called him Puffy.  He had personality, too.  Whenever you walked into a room, he would dart over to the side of the tank and follow you around.  And he would eat from you hand.  He was great.

Then, there was Coco, my chocolate lab.  I could write a book about his dog.  I loved him with all my heart.  And I still miss him every single day.  He’s the reason I want another dog.  He’s the reason I don’t want another dog…I’m afraid no dog will ever measure up to him. 

Finally, Sonny.  Our black lab.  Sonny was tough.  I miss him, and I wish we had done better by him.  But he is very happy now, and very well behaved.  And a beautiful, beautiful dog.   

3. What was your strangest pet?
Strangest…I’d say Dieter was strange in the sense that he just didn’t fit the bunny mold.  The whole growling, licking thing was quirky. 

4. What is your dream pet?
A big ol’ dog.  A big ol’ sweet dog.  Coco.  If I could have another Coco, that’s what I’d pick.  He had his little problems, too, like the hair…the hair was just, well, hairy.  But he was really something special. 

5. What is your nightmare pet?
I don’t really know…

6. Your best/ funniest pet story…
I could tell you a million stories about Coco, I really could. 

When we used to go to all the Hokie games (before we had kids), we would come home from work on Friday night, pack up the car and head out of town.  Coco knew we were leaving and he would run and jump in the car and wait.  He would sit in there for an hour, or however long it took us, just waiting, watching us pack.  He was always so excited to get in the car with us.  He would go everywhere with us.  We actually had to use words like “automobile” and “vehicle,” because if he heard the word “car” he would freak out and start barking and jumping and running around like an animal possessed.  Good times.  For real. 

7. Tell your worst/saddest pet story…
Too painful.  I watched him go out of this world.  But I wouldn’t have let him go alone. 

8. Did you ever have a scary animal experience?
Yes.  Once, when I was in elementary school…maybe 12 or so, we had gotten our Frisbee, and hade her spayed.  Well, I guess it was a day or two after, stitches still fresh, and she yanked them right out.  Her innards slopped out, and thank goodness my dad was home from work for lunch.  They took her to the vet, stitched her back up and she was fine. 

9. What was your favorite pet?
I guess that’s obvious.  Coco. 

10. What did you really want to tell us about pets that didn’t fit into the other questions?
Right now, we don’t have a dog.  I can’t remember a time in my life, other than this, that we didn’t have a dog.  I want my kids to have a dog.  I want that presence in our house.  I really do.  It’s just not the right time, and I’m not foolish enough to think I can pull it off.  In a couple years.  The kids ask all the time, and each time I try to explain to them that it wouldn’t be right to get a dog now.  It wouldn’t be good for any of us, even the dog.  I don’t think they understand how much it takes. 

What I’d really like to do is surprise them one day.  That would be awesome.

And now I must tag four people…so the lucky four are:

Lisa

Rebecca

Marcy

BM

Reminders

They are always there, and they creep up when you least expect it. 

Twelve years ago, we got a puppy.  A chocolate lab puppy.  A big, hairy, floppy eared, clumsy, slobbering fool of a puppy.  He was awesome.  We named him Coco.  I fell head over heels for that silly old dog. 

One day while I was at work, Coco took it upon himself to rearrange all of my cookbooks, and give them a fresh new look.  He tore most of the covers to shreds, and scattered them about the living room.  I came home to a carpet littered with quarter-sized shreds of cardboard.  And a dog that was mysteriously absent from the cookbook carnage. 

Mm-hmm.

Well, I LOVED my cookbooks and we couldn’t afford to replace them at the time, so I kept them.  The recipes weren’t damaged, just the covers.  There are recipes in the books that I go to every holiday, or special occasion, but other than that, I don’t open them much throughout the year anymore. 

It’s always kind of a surprise when I do pull them out, and they cause me to stop and remember that dog.  And that always makes me smile, but it also leaves me with a little bit of sadness.  He wasn’t here with us nearly long enough. 

Part of me really wants another dog.  And part of me is afraid that no dog is ever going to measure up to that Coco.        

 

Cookbooks, slobber, dog hair and all.

The Fish

On Saturday, the man took the kids on a walk to the river, where they collected some oysters (one of whom William affectionately named Pearl) and snails and such in their little pails.  They brought them home and watched them and made little habitats for them and in a moment of brilliance, I said something like “we should set the fish tank up for them so you can keep them.”  It was one of those moments where you can hear the words as they are coming out of your mouth, but, like a freight train, they are moving too fast to stop them.  I was sitting in the sunshine drinking lemonade, and I think I was on a sugar high or something when I said it.

So in my neverending quest to make life more difficult for myself my children happy,  I set up their tank.  Then I figured the kids are probably desperate for a pet, considering the fact that they’re bringing oysters and snails home and naming them, so I bit the bullet and got the kids a real pet.  No, it’s not a dog.  I’m not that dumb.  (The first time I typed that last sentence I typed ‘dum’.  So maybe I am that dum.  Anyway…)  I figured I would get some fish for the kids.  They could each have their own, they could name them, and they’ll each get to take turns feeding them, and who knows, maybe they’ll learn something. 

So we went to the fish store, and we decided on guppies.  They were pretty, and it said they were hardy, and they were not expensive, either.  We got four of them, one for each of the kids, and brought them home.  The fish were named Feather, Lep, AAAAAh (read that as a yell, because that is all Ella says, other than Mama, and no one thought Mama was a nice name for a fish except for me), and Fish (Henry said he didn’t want to name his, he was just going to call it Fish).  Alrighty then.  

So we brought them home, acclimated them and did all that stuff, and watched them swim around in their new residence. 

And here we are, 48 hours later…

1.  Guppies, despite what they tell you at the fish shop, are not hardy.  Fish is dead.  AAAAAh ain’t lookin’ so hot, either.  Feather and Lep continue to hover around the rim of the tank, not sure of their physical or emotional state at the moment.

2.  I have hidden the fish food.  The children have asked me about 15 times within the last 18 hours if it is time to feed them.  We chose a random method of who was going to feed them.  Henry threw a mini tantrum over the fact that his turn is Wednesday, and not Tuesday. 

3.  I’m pretty sure Pearl is dead, too.

4.  Ella no longer has a fish.  I guess that’s just how it is when you’re the littlest one and can’t defend your rights.  Henry has pirated her fish, and he renamed it ‘Fish.’  He’s very clever in the naming department, no?

Stay tuned, because there will be more to follow, I’m sure.