Since we live in a normal neighborhood in Upstate New York, we're limited to owning pretty normal house pets.
At least one of my cats, at all times, had to be a Tortoiseshell. I got Sassy for myself but my daughter was at the age of needing to own something for herself. So, Sassy became her's. The differences between Tortoiseshell & Calico cats are the colors in their fur. Calico's are mainly white with brown/orange/yellow patches. Tortoiseshells are usually brown or black with patches of cream/tan/white/orange. 
We've always had a dog. The one we have now is by far my favorite! "Ralph" is a mutt, his mother is full boxer and his daddy is a St. Bernard/Collie mix. Ralph is medium build with all the Bernard colorings and markings. But the Boxer comes out in him when someone is playing with him and his favorite toy -- a tennis ball or rubber ring!
We take him outside on Sundays, when traffic is almost nil on our street, and we throw his ball down the road. He runs after it and once he picks it up, he runs over to the sidewalk and trots back toward our house.
Ralph is also a great guard dog! I never had to worry about letting my daughter outside to play as long as he was with her. He doesn't like anyone coming near our house. He barks and jumps on the door as soon as we open it so he can see who's there. If we're friendly with the person, then he calms down, but if it's someone we don't know, he continues to stand at the door. We've only had a handful of people that we knew that he won't allow in the house. So we put him upstairs or the person decides to stay outside. There's only one thing he won't allow from anyone other than his owners... You could rough house with him all day long with no problems, but try putting your face near his and he lets out a low growl. If you persist, he gives a "warning" nip. It doesn't come into contact with you, but it's enough to make a person back off and take the hint that you're invading his space.
He's full of personality! If I'm crying about something, he looks at me with his eyebrows cocked and comes over and lays his head on my lap. It's a good feeling. They say that animals improve your life. I totally agree!
This was "Crystal Blue". She was a Syberian Huskey. Crystal passed away in 1996 at the rip old age of 13. She was a beautiful dog but she had the annoying habit of running when she got loose. She'd make a game of it, and my husband would end up the fool of the game! :)
Crystal was very loveable, especially toward our daughter. Gen would lay on Crystal or go for "horsey rides" when Gen was a toddler. Crys had a very good disposition and never once turned on anyone. We'd joke that she'd drown a burglar in her saliva before she'd protect her home. hehehe Crystal's shedding was a major problem for me. No matter how often, her hair still shed in "clumps". It looked like sheeps fur. In the summer she'd be skinny with hardly any thickness but then once fall came around, she'd shed majorly again and she'd become real stocky. Her fur was 4 fingers deep before spring shedding came about.
I think it's safe to say that Crys was Jim's dog because he'd always wanted a Huskey. We all miss her very much....
Another pet we've always had at least one of, is cats. Right now we have three. Sassy, a Tortoiseshell, Brandy, a dk grey & blk tiger striped Tabby and Beelzebubba, our black Tomcat.
From the day my daughter took over as the cat's owner, she became the cat's "mommy". The things this cat does with our daughter are unbelieveable! When she comes home from school, Sassy will be waiting for her. She runs up to our daughter's feet and stands on her hind legs, "reaching" upward, waiting for our daughter to pick her up. Once she's in her arms, the cat nuzzles her face then "hides" in her hair.
Like other Tortoiseshells & Calicos, Sassy has very weird personality traits. One of those traits is the unfortunate fact that she cannot have normal litters. Sassy has had only two litters that survived, each had only 2 babies that lived. Otherwise, she's had miscarriages, or live births that have resulted in the death of some of them. Needless to say, I wasn't happy being referred to as "Great-Grandma" by my then-7yo. Beelzebubba was from her first successful litter.
Which brings me to him. Beelzebubba. It's because of the way he acted when he was a kitten that he was named this. Of course, my husband being from West Virginia, he HAD to add the "ba" on the end. So his name, in short, is Bubba. He's an all black cat, which is something else we've always had. And up until Bibba, all of our black cats were named Shadow (because of our name).
Since Bubba was able to amble around on his own, he had a warpped pleasure in watching things fall. Yes, fall. He would sit on the coffee table where an ashtray was. He'd look between the ashtray and down at the floor, and back again. Then he'd swipe at the ashtray, knocking it to the floor. Then he'd get up, stretch, and walk away. He did that to books, papers.. anything that could be moved, he moved.
He also likes opening doors by head-butting them. He's a huge cat, especially in the winter. When he was just a tiny kitten, he had gonads made of brass. A friend of our daughter's brought her Rottweiller dog in our house. He was about 8 months old then, and Bubba was just barely past feeding on his Mama. The cat sniffed the dog, then hissed and the dog crapped right where he was! He tried getting out of the house and away from the "Big, Bad, Bubba Kitty"!
One day I was resting on our waterbed and he was laying with me. I was petting him, per usual. But I made the silly mistake of trying to get up. Bubba put his front paws on my shoulder. I laid back to gently put him down and I stayed with him a little longer. I was on my stomach and went to roll over. He must have thought I was trying to leave again and he jumped on my head! He wasn't hurting me but he did have his claws tangled in my hair and he started to bite my hair. His behavior startled me more than hurt me. I guess he didn't want me to get up and leave him. hehehe
Brandy is our "special" cat. Since we'd already had two cats, my husband wasn't happy when I asked if we could take her home. He quickly changed his mind when he realized what kind of life she was living where she was.
My husband was working at a place that was attached to the owner's house. The owner had 3 cats, all of them lived in the basement. :( One was almost hairless (I've heard there's a flea allergy that causes this?), another was real lovey and then there was Brandy. She was byfar the most beautiful cat of the three. I started bugging, playfully, the owner of the shop, and the cats, to take her home. My husband's main job kept him at the workbench in the basement most of the day. He was the only contact the cats had and he was always running very loud equipment down there. I helped out the owner by correcting his books and meeting with his lawyer for certain things (over a two week period). When I went to the shop, if there were no customers in the main showroom, my husband would bring Brandy up to see me.
She was so scared. She would shed just by coming out of the basement, into the light and around people. That didn't seem like much of a life for her.. it was more of an existance. She had no human contact except my husband and whoever was "unlucky enough" to have to put cat food on the top stair for the 3 of them. I've always had a soft spot for kids, animals and older people. This made my heart ache. The owner finally gave her to us, under the condition we took the lovey one. Changing a kitty box more often is a small price to pay to get Brandy out of that place!
The lovey kitty didn't last long with us. :( She refused to use a catbox and I couldn't handle the urine and such outside the box. We took her to a friend's farm where there were other cats. Brandy had a difficult time adjusting to our home. For the first 6 months, she hid under the bed, refusing to come out except to eat and use the litterbox.
That was 3 yrs ago. I'm happy to say she's very loveable towards people now! Sometimes too friendly. She'll be gone for days before she comes back for a night. She spends alot of time with the seniors citizens nextdoor. They aren't allowed animals, or kids, in those apartments, so they visit with Brandy, pet her, feed her, and love her. And when she wants to, she comes home for her family's lovin'.
<-This is Enki, a Ball Python
