Pets

The Rest of the Family

The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made. ~Psalm 145:95 (ESV)

I have a few other members of the family that are very important to us.  I'd like for you to meet them. 

This is Lady.  She joined our family about two years ago.  We had another Golden for about five years and just fell in love with this breed of dog.  When we lost Buddy, our first Golden, I knew that Goldens would always be the only breed of dog for us.  I have a friend who runs Midland's Golden Rescue and contacted her to see if she had any Goldens for adoption.  She introduced us to Lady, who was about seven years old at the time, and we instantly fell in love with her.  She is an incredible dog and very well trained.  Lady is a bit old to chase balls.  She will fetch a few but after a couple of runs,  she is ready to lay at your feet and just soak up any attention that she can get.  What a loving, devoted dog she is. 

Meet Mouse.  He joined our family about eight months ago.  I was just surfing through pictures of animals in need of rescue when I ran across this darling picture of this gray fur ball of a kitten. Mouse was on the short list for the shelter and was about to be put to sleep.  I called the shelter and asked if Mouse was still available, praying that I wasn't too late.  The lady that answered the phone said that he was, and I asked that she please hold him for me that I would be there the next day to get him.  I then had to let the Colonel know that we were going to pick up yet another pet.  Now the Colonel loves our dogs, but he wasn't too thrilled about having a cat roaming around the house.  I have caught them sitting together on the couch a time or two, but Mouse is clearly my cat.  He sleeps at the foot of my bed and lays on the bathroom rug every morning while I am getting ready for work.  I must say that Mouse is a bit upset with me tonight.  You see, I had him neutered today.  He is not a happy cat and has been giving me the evil eye all evening.  

Now this little fella is Scruffy who found us.  Scruffy has been with us for about nine years.  We found him one summer day when we were leaving the water park at Ft Jackson.  He was under our car.  I honestly think someone dropped him off there.  We took him to the post vet to see if anyone reported missing a dog and to see if he was microchipped.  Nothing.  Took him to our vet to have him checked and see if anyone reported missing a dog.  Nothing.  We ran an ad in our local newspaper to see if anyone would claim him. Nothing.   I figured we had done all we could to reconnect Scruff with his original family, so he then became part of ours. 

 

When we had our first Golden, Buddy, Scruffy and Buddy and a cat named Ashley were the best of friends.  We always said they looked like the animals from the movie The Incredible Journey except they were different breeds.  Scruffy is another reason we got Lady.  Scruffy grieved for Buddy and we just felt he needed a friend again. It took some time for the two to warm up to each other, but now where one is so is the other. 

 

We love our pets.  Today after I picked the Roosters up from school, I had to stop by the pet store to get a special treat for Mouse.  I took a few pictures of the boys talking to the parrot they have there. 

 

Nick was really trying to have a serious conversation with the bird.  The parrot can say "hello" and "what's up?"  After being greeted like that, Nick started asking the bird all kinds of questions and then turned to me and said, "Momma, he isn't talking to me anymore."  I had to explain that the parrot had just learned a few phrases and that he wasn't able to have a conversation with him. 

Notice that I could not get a shot of the cage with the boys at this angle.  That is because the parrot moved to the front of the cage, and the boys decided that his beak was a bit too big and too sharp. 

"Hello!  What's up?"

I had to get a picture of the rabbits.  I bought a Rex rabbit for my classroom one year.  He was all black.  The students named it Olive because it was black like one.  However, we had to change its name of Oliver once we realized he was a boy.  Oliver was the best class pet ever!  He was potty trained and would hang out around the students.  He could often be found asleep on someone's foot or under a student's chair.  He was not a perimeter bunny at all.  When the students would have book club meetings, Oliver would join their groups.  Sometimes he would lay on a notebook or next to someone.  His favorite place was on the back of any student that was stretched out laying down him/herself.  Oliver lived about six years. He loved all the students.  Oliver is buried in the courtyard at the school where he spent most of his life. 

 

On another note, the azaleas are absolutely beautiful.  I'm planning a post on these fabulous southern flowers.  Hope you'll join me again soon.