pets

ANDOVER

I love my animals! My gram had bought me a Siamese kitten when I was little. We named it Tinkerbell. He was beautiful! I supposedly was allergic to it so it had to live with my gram. ( I wasn't allergic to it at all-the doctor was a quack). It lived about 10 years or so. Other pets came and went through our house during my childhood. When I was in high school one of my teachers gave me a kitten. I named it Alice. She lived about 20 years and stayed at my mom's house till she died. Shortly after my daughter was born we got our first pet. A beautiful fawn and white boxer, Sir Diamond Duke II. His dad was Duke so we called him Diamond. He was both a gentle and protective dog. When he was about 10 he developed some problems and they suggested I put him to sleep but he didn't seem to be in pain or discomfort so I didn't and he lived about 3 more years.

Here is an amusing thing you can do..the address was exchanged in the CD egroup. You go and take the test and it tells you what kind of dog YOU are here are my results.Gale, you're a German Shepherd! No bones, about it, you're a loyal, hard-working German Shepherd. Dedicated and always low-maintenance, people flock to you; they know they can count on you to get any job done, and done well. That focus and attention to detail spans from your personal to your professional life, too. Although you can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the projects you tackle, you still manage to keep cool and laid-back in social situations. You get a kick out of the little things and thrive when you're constantly busy and on-the-go. Easygoing and unpretentious, you don't need constant pampering and reassurance. A genuine, carefree pup, you're a true-blue friend, employee, and partner. Woof! Here is the link at EMODE so you can take the test yourself!!!

In the meanwhile I had 4 canaries for over 10 years, the last 2 died in the past couple years. I loved to hear them singing. Also during this time my friend gave me a pair of cockateils, Sir Charles and Sir William. They must be about 20 years old now.

A year after our Diamond died I got a beautiful ChowChow. We named it Blaze (Polish-blagee). The breeders I bought her from insisted I have her spayed-which I did but it seemed like from then on she got progressively sensitive to being touched until finally she bit my daughter and that was the last draw!!! I returned her to the breeder and I don't know what she did with her. It was a sad time because I really loved that dog.

Let's not forget about the bunnies. We acquired these Alyza's 1st year of college. A friend had bought them and I took them in. They are now about 6 years old. Their names are Snowflake and Sneakers. Fortunately they are of the same sex...hahahaha. And look-another bunny courtesy of Sweet Angel!!!

I also got a pair of Lutino Love Birds a few years ago-Dorothy and Toto. I love to listen to them talk. Poor Toto has now died, I think from trying to lay an egg! ~now Dorothy has died ,too!

In the past 2 years we have some new pets in our house. My baby, D'Artagnan the Wonder Dog turned 2 on Christmas day. Ironic because that was the day Diamond died! D'Artagnan is so spoiled and smart!!! He is a Border Collie/Miniature Alaskan mix but my husband swears he is a pure breed Border Collie and the people just didn't have the papers. He'll try to round up any stray animal that comes in our yard. He even tries to round up the cats! I'll tell you more about them in a minute. He LOVES the COLD. He will lay and sleep on the snow. We are having a snowstorm (at the time I originally wrote this) and you should see him out there. He loves it! He is mostly white with a few black areas but has a thick black smile that looks like a mustache-that's why Alyza named him D'Artagnan. I call him Buddy and I think he thinks that is his name. He has a lot of energy but is a true friend.
He is now almost 60 pounds and can easily knock me over!
~Update~it's fall now and his favorite time of year will soon be here!

For Christmas this year my daughter bought me another pair of LoveBirds. I named them Alice and Cooper. They make sounds like cricketts! I think it is possible that these are a male and female because they seem to be building a nest. I am not sure exactly how old they are but I suspect 3 months maybe. I have never had any of my birds breeding before and don't know much about it but we'll see-time will tell! I also have a young parakeet Alyza named Aly MacBeal-don't ask.~ Update-still busily building!?
~ Update~Alice and Cooper are over one year old now-no babies yet!

Now about the cats. There are cats in the neighborhood. One of them laid down in a corner of my yard and had babies this summer.(2000) It was all I could do to keep Buddy away from her for 2 months. Then she picked them up and moved them just on the other side of my fence one night and one disappeared. So I kept feeding Mommie; and the 2 babies. One morning I was out there for an hour calling her and usually the 3 of them came running. The babies were no where in sight. I had to leave so I turned on the car figuring if they were under there somewhere they would come out. Still no babies- so I pulled out and ran over one. He must have been on top of the tire, I'm not sure. Needless to say I was very upset. Then there was just one baby left that I continued to take care of. One day the neighbor's girlfriend saw it and commented on how cute it was and how she wanted to take it home...then it disappeared. That was in August. In the meanwhile I have continued to feed Mommie. She's solid deep gray, a pretty cat. Her paws are somehow deformed though. Then there is Daddy the father of the kittens. He is a dark striped cat with green eyes. Well there are 3 more cats in the gang and they are more aggressive so when I put food out for Mommy and Daddy they gobble it and the Mommy and Daddy are looking at me with begging eyes for more! The other 3 are real pretty cats. One is sharp black and white, one is sharp black, white and orange, and the third is fluffy and muted white, orange and gray. All 3 have beautiful faces with black mascara and eyeliner around the eyes. Anyway I feel sorry for them that's why I feed them. Now when I go out the door they are all there all around my feet and I look like the cat lady or something. Hahhhhahhahhahha. Pictured are the entire crew. *update*the guy across the street ran over Daddy ,we found the multi colored one dead on the sidewalk and the black and white one is nowhere to be found-so there are two left. *3/19* good news! the black and white cat has been spotted!!! ~update~ 4-4-2001 Mommy has once again given birth to 3 babies...in my yard under a table. here we go again! In addition,Fluffy had kittens in the window well across the street. 5-11-2001,the babies are now about 5 weeks old and the little guys are pictured below. At this time there is one baby left, the black one, which I call Baby and she comes running! ...and I fear Mommy is pregnant again! I do wish the people with the male cats that they let out would get their cats fixed! I had been thinking about fixing Mommy but she isn't really my cat for one thing. I found out Mommy and these other cats above are children of my neighbors indoor cat! When she had these recent babies she came across the street to take a pick of the litter! Can you believe that! Not only have I been taking care of Mommy for a year and a half-this is the second litter of babies I am taking care of!
~Update 9/2001~ all is well with Baby and Mommy~
~Update 1/1/2002 Baby has not come in tonight and has disappeared! and soon after Fluffy has not been seen either!
~Update 3/2002~Mommy has had 3 kittens-this time on my backporch. One, a black one was stillborn. One is all grey, just like Mommy and tiny! This one I named Rocky.Not sure if its after "The Rock" or Rocky the Squirrel! hhahhahahh The other is fluffy and striped with cream-at first when it was born it looked like it had orange markings but now its cream. Its REAL pretty! I named it Ozzy. They are now 8 weeks old as of this writing and are ACTIVE! They both have toes on both front paws which someone has told me is "lucky" That WOULD be great I could use some good luck for a change! By the way I think I forgot to mention that the daddy of these last 2 litters is a sleek black cat tinged with auburn on the hair tips. He started hanging here last summer and I have been feeding him ever since. I named him Smartie. Also just recently my husband 'thinks" he saw Baby. The weather is warming up now so we will see. Gotta try to get a photo of the family to display!
~Update 10/2002~ long time coming! Well someone poisoned Smartie! Found him 'blown up' and dead under my ferns-his favorite resting spot! Ozzy and Rocky are growing fast, and Ozzy is huge for his age! Mommy had more babies in early July. They were all fine at first. Not sure if it was because of the extreme heat or her having 'milk problems' or maybe a bit of both but one day one was dead-the next day another! Meanwhile one was thriving-I named it Boots! A grey boy with white boots. The other was tiny so I began to hand feed it. It has gained weight but seems to have some sort of problem. I named it Peace. I am continuing to care for it and hoping for the best. Still hoping for lil baby lovebirds!

Here is a cool Flash kitty to play with-passed on to me from the Glad Iris!!