1 bird, 2 bird,and 8 birds more!

Let me tell you something about my husband and myself. We both like pets. It is a great thing we both feel this way--there would be problems otherwise. We both grew up with animals around us. Since we have been married we have had more pets than some people will EVER own. Here is the long story of how it happened.

Let me just start with my apartment in Lawrence. My (at the time) soon-to-be husband and I adopted a couple dwarf hamsters, a rabbit, and a lovebird. Well, wait....maybe the lovebird came later. Oh I'm not sure. Anyways.....then we moved into out apartment and we got married. Joining us in this marriage was my cat Ice (that had been living with my mom while I was in Lawrence), the dwarf hamsters, a beta fish, and aquarium of fish, and the lovebird. Around this time we adopted our first dog, Belle and a kitten, Arthur. The rabbit did not join us--he was a miserable pet. Did you know that rabbits can growl? Well, they can my friend.

After a while the fish and hamsters died, then we gave the lovebird away (she wasn't very nice either, but I think that was our fault). A lady that I worked with was going to take her pet Yorkie to the pound because it wet on her new carpet. She owned the dog from puppyhood. It was 5 and she was just going to dump it. I felt bad for it. It was a Yorkie and I knew Schaun thought they were cool. So of course, she came to live with us too. Her name was Belle (just like the first dog) but because of her oily Yorkie hair that didn't get bathed enough, she eventually got re-named Stinky.

Now unless I'm forgetting--Oh! Mice. Let me mention quickly. Quickly because mice should not be pets. They are yucky rodents. There is a VERY funny story associated with the stupid mice and Ice. (Remember Joanne?) We also adopted a leopard gecko. That was sort of cool, but getting the crickets for it was a pain. It did not live a very long time either. Around this time is when Daisy found us. She was the cutest little Dachshund puppy that wondered into our yard. We just let her in and there she stayed.

For a long time we had the 3 dogs and 2 cats. Then something happened to our cat Arthur. Somehow this indoor cat got hepititis and died from it. That was while I was pregnant with Becca. Around that same time, just a few weeks, Stinky's heart gave out and she died too.

When Bridget was two we set up an aquarium. We never took great care of the fish tank. Most of the time you could see in it, but the water was never totally clear. When we moved this past March, the water looked like a pond--a dirty pond. You couldn't even see in it. You know what though? There were still a ton of fish still alive in it. A nice teacher came and saved them from us.

We moved into our new house this year with a very old cat and dog, Ice and Belle and Daisy. Ice didn't make it long after our move--she was 18 years old though (and I still miss her a lot). So we were down to just 2 dogs. The girls had been after me to have their own pets. I told them that as long as we had Ice, we couldn't have little critters that she might eat. So after Ice we brought home Freddy and Barney, guinea pigs, along with Lucky and Jinx, gerbils. Shortly after we adopted the girls rodents, we brought Ruby the Golden Retriever home. If ever there was a dog that should be with us--it is Ruby! Then we sadly lost Belle. I think that was in August.

Growing up, I had zebra finches. I loved them and have wanted birds ever since. Ice was a sweet cat. Totally declawed, but she was a hunter. I didn't dare have things she could kill (the pet mice were sitting ducks for her). So a few weeks ago I got some Society finches. I wanted the Zebra finches, but Schaun talked me into the Society's. I brought home 2 from the pet store. Then last week a lady on Craig's list needed to get rid of some Zebra finches. I brought home those 3 birds. The pet store said they couldn't tell what sex the Society finches were. Guess what? They are male and female. Within days of setting them up here, there were eggs in the nest. I thought that I could have 2 females. They will lay unfertilized eggs. Nope--not here. Those eggs started to hatch this week. So far there are 5 baby chicks in there (with 1 eggs not hatched yet). It is pretty cool watching them though. The first one that hatched looks double its size from Monday.

This is not the end of my very long pet story. The lady that I got the 3 Zebra finches from emailed me. The 3 she gave me were 3 out of 4 babies that her original 2 Zebra's had. She kept the 4th one because it was a mutation which is all white. Well, it seems that the parent birds were not being nice to the lonely, left behind sibling. All the sibling birds are happily reunited now in my living room.

The end. For today.