A Dog, A Cat, A Fish and A Bird

When I was younger I always wanted to have a huge plot of land and rescue every single animal. I would even cry when my little brothers would step on the ant hills - mind you if an ant is in the home then its open season because they have the whole outside to live in. Anyhow we used to live in apartments who the only pets we had were beta fish (so that we could only have 1 at time - since betas are agressive fish you are only to have 1 at a time) one jumped from his bowl in a kamakazzi frenzy to escape his captures and live a free life but didn't plan it too well since he landed on the floor and nobody was home to rescue him. Yup - that was a fun day. Or the time our sweet daughter put her fish bowl a bit too close to her space heater because she heard that it was going to be really cold that night and snow (we lived in Colorado at the time) and she wanted to keep her fish warm. Yup - that was a noisy day. Or when we came home and the hampster got out of his cage and was never found - for all we know he ran off with a squirrel and lived happily ever after. And all this time there is one pet that the kids have always wanted - the one that has eluded them even with persistant pleading. That is right - a dog. Well about 11 years ago our daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and almost died (like would not have made it through the night) well what was the thing she asks for in the hospital - body covered with I-Vs - that bloody dog. Well we chose a Beagle (wow you better not have neighbors that mind the baying) - this dog was a full breed & had all sorts of neurosis (attachment disorder, epilepsy and had a fear of spaces - mostly crates) anyhow his name was Arnold. (From Life Goes On) He was a good dog when we were all together - poor thing would pace from room to room if we were not in the same room - just checking up on us. So our vet suggested to get him fixed and maybe a companion so that he had another dog to play with when we were gone or he would need to be medicated all the time. And so down to the pound we went & got him...

Rio - I was standing by some cages looking around when the dog behind me gave out 1 woof. I turned and smiled and cont to look around. Then she gave another woof so I turned and she came closer and stood by the cage as if she was standing by me not as a dog wanting to get out but one wanting to be just by my side. So we take her out and look at her papers and she was just turned in - that was her 1st full day - she didn't have to spend the 2 night there. What a blessing for that dog right? Well this mut was twice his size (rot, shepard, lab mix) and when he would bounce around she would take her HUGE claws and klunk him one in the head - like if she was playing that arcade game with the mallot. After about a week Arnold would look at us all depressed like "when is she going home". After a bit my Mr. nic-named Arnold     Harpo - after the character in the Color Purple. Well - about 3 years ago Arnold died. We still have Rio and I do have to say I will never ever buy a pure breed for any reason - this mut is the most awesome dog ever! She is great to walk, doesn't mess up the house (ruins her toys but my couch is fine - well it does have her hair but I can live with that) she doesn't run away if the gate is even the tiniest bit open (Arnold would take off and almost break the sound barrier he ran so fast) she doesn't leave my side (which can get alittle annoying but I can live with that too) and that is where she is at right now.

Now Jawz belongs to our son and so we moved him out to our diningroom so we would remember to feed him. Not that he needs to be fed, this fish (like all our pets) could withstand not eating a few meals. He was to be a medium goldfish and we got him with 2 other companions. Well they died and he grew -  maybe he is compensating for the loneliness. LOL. But when I clean his tank I'll put my hand by him and he'll swim on it so I can put him in another bowl. I don't even use a scooper - all I do is put my hand in. And once in his temp. tank I will pet him and he just enjoys it. People think that is weird - fish are friendly creatures - go on pet your fish just make sure you washed your hands after.  ;p  Now are neighborhood has stray cats and when we saw this one just relaxing under a bush one day we thought it was

a stray but after about 2 or so months of feeding and petting the darn thing come to find out it was the neighbor's cat (we didn't get to see to much of her - she was always working) Well our neighbor had to move back East to live with her daughter but couldn't take the cat since her daughter is allergic to cats. See where this story is going. And aparently nobody else in the neighborhood could take the cat and since the cat is getting comfortable with us could we take him. Well the Mr said absolutely......

NOT! We don't need anymore pets ... blah blah.... but we will take care of him you don't have to do a thing. Well guess whose cat he belongs to? Yup the Mr. - So that is how Bob came into our family and Rio doesn't mind him as long as she gets fed the samething and gets the same attention as him. She's fine. Now that is it no more pets. We are done. Don't care if they need a home - no more pets. Then came Angel.

The Mr and I came home one day and our son comes out to greet us with this bird on his shoulder. Out of panic we yell at him thinking it is our daughter's betrothed's bird but it isn't. He was just wandering the backyard (instead of doing school) and this thing lands on his head. It ends up being the bird. He already knew how to say 'pretty bird' so we figured he belonged to someone. We put out flyers but nobody claimed him -it has now been about a year - so now he sits in the diningroom too on the otherside so he can look outside when we are gone and flys all over the house when we are home. I taught him to whistle on cue during a song - I'll sing "The pretty bird goes..." and he'll whistle a tune I taught him. It is super cool especially since when I was a kid we owned a parrot and this bird HATED HATED HATED me. I was so super afraid of birds ever since. But this one eats from your mouth (hold a pretzle with your mouth he'll eat the otherside) likes to bath but only in the sink. So there - no more pets - unless you have a camel.  I might talk my dear Mr. into a camel. LOL  ;p