Critter Update
Aunt Fanny asked for a Critter Update, so here you go...
Noah's ark has a few less inhabitants now.
First, Daisy our hamster died about 3 days ago. She was fine the night before, and I have no idea what happened (other than hamsters have a short shelf life...and her cage hadn't been changed in, well, a while). She wasn't the type of hamster you could handle without getting bitten, so no one here is taking it too hard. Worst was disposing of her. How can a little critter STINK so bad?
Second, our cat Mittens (yes, he's ours now...I was living in denial thinking he'd be anything but ours) had adopted another cat. Or kitten to be precise. And she was semi-feral (read that as "she was happy to eat our food, but not so happy with any human contact"). Not my ideal pet, but Mittens was quite smitten, in a caregiving, nurturing sort of way. They slept together, ate together, walked together. It was really touching to watch. But a few nights ago Tabby, as the kids had taken to calling her, was no where to be found, and we haven't seen her since. I suspect she made a nice meal to an owl or fox or some other predator whose suddenly found it's habitat encroached upon so much that neighborhood cats fill the void in the food chain.
Tabby and Mittens
And Riley is on the endangered species list. He's growing everyday, mostly in leg length. Tonight's capers include using his new found height to reach the plates on the counter and knock Sari's dinner (waiting to be taken to the table to EAT) to the floor where he promptly set upon it. Of course it was fish, and there was not any extra (good that my kids aren't big fish fans). I was frying the rest of the fish, so had my attention focused on the stove. He then PEED all over the floor as icing on the "disobedient dog" cake. ARGH!!!!!
Look Ma, I can reach the countertop. YUCK!
Here is his idea of redecorating. The carpet used to actually TOUCH the metal threshold. He's unraveling it strand by strand. Nice.
Oh, and the floor? He did that too ;-).
And the wall? Yep, you guessed it.
And here are my cabinets. Who knew they made good chew toys? The garbage on the floor is compliments of him too. I just mopped (since he had PEED) 2 hours before I took this.
My new plan is to make him an outside dog and bring sweet-as-pie Mittens inside. Who can resist a cat who let's their 3 year old do this?
Sadly, the daddy isn't buying into my toss-out-the-dog, bring-in-the-cat plan. Pray for me...or the dog ;-).
Noah's ark has a few less inhabitants now.
First, Daisy our hamster died about 3 days ago. She was fine the night before, and I have no idea what happened (other than hamsters have a short shelf life...and her cage hadn't been changed in, well, a while). She wasn't the type of hamster you could handle without getting bitten, so no one here is taking it too hard. Worst was disposing of her. How can a little critter STINK so bad?
Second, our cat Mittens (yes, he's ours now...I was living in denial thinking he'd be anything but ours) had adopted another cat. Or kitten to be precise. And she was semi-feral (read that as "she was happy to eat our food, but not so happy with any human contact"). Not my ideal pet, but Mittens was quite smitten, in a caregiving, nurturing sort of way. They slept together, ate together, walked together. It was really touching to watch. But a few nights ago Tabby, as the kids had taken to calling her, was no where to be found, and we haven't seen her since. I suspect she made a nice meal to an owl or fox or some other predator whose suddenly found it's habitat encroached upon so much that neighborhood cats fill the void in the food chain.
Tabby and MittensAnd Riley is on the endangered species list. He's growing everyday, mostly in leg length. Tonight's capers include using his new found height to reach the plates on the counter and knock Sari's dinner (waiting to be taken to the table to EAT) to the floor where he promptly set upon it. Of course it was fish, and there was not any extra (good that my kids aren't big fish fans). I was frying the rest of the fish, so had my attention focused on the stove. He then PEED all over the floor as icing on the "disobedient dog" cake. ARGH!!!!!
Look Ma, I can reach the countertop. YUCK!Oh, and the floor? He did that too ;-).
And the wall? Yep, you guessed it.
And here are my cabinets. Who knew they made good chew toys? The garbage on the floor is compliments of him too. I just mopped (since he had PEED) 2 hours before I took this.
My new plan is to make him an outside dog and bring sweet-as-pie Mittens inside. Who can resist a cat who let's their 3 year old do this?
Sadly, the daddy isn't buying into my toss-out-the-dog, bring-in-the-cat plan. Pray for me...or the dog ;-).
Comments
Do you crate train your dogs? I am a huge fan and a big believer... it reduces the chances of the puppy being unsupervised when he can get into mischief. We've had great success with their use in the training of our dogs...
And I am right there with ya... I have no room for an untrained/
disobedient dog in my life :o)! But they take A LOT of work...
amost as much as kids...that is, if you want to actually enjoy them :o)!
Heather
We currently have a trio of rabbits. My dd raises them for 4-H. SO much easier than dogs .... :-)
As for the sweet kitty, you better bring him in before he makes some coyote very happy! I can vouch for the fact that it is very unsafe for cats to be outside at night!
Dog out, kitty in!!!