Remembering Catalina

Okay, this is pet number seven. We didn't count her in our previous post because, as a fish, she does not really intrude on our life like the others have done. (There is another such pet -- Maisy the Mouse -- that will be blogged about later.)

Catalina became, hands down, the greatest pet of our married life. She did eat her roommate -- another Beta fish -- but after that she turned very docile. She would sit at the edge of her fishbowl and watch us go about our day. And she would even come over to us if we put our finger near her bowl. She was more than just a fish... she was the only pet to actually complete its life cycle in our home. And if you read the previous post you know that this is a great accomplishment.

During the recent ice storm we were without power for six long days. We put her in our basement, which was the warmest part of the house, but when the lights came back on she was never the same. Two days after regaining electricity, Catalina went to the fishbowl in the sky.

We will miss you 'ol girl.

Six for Six!

Many of you know our history with pets... and some of you may have had bets on how long our current pet would last. Well, today we sent Pip to live with a friend. The girls were afraid to walk around the house because Pip wanted to play/scratch their feet. Not to mention the fact that ACD was almost abusive to him (in love, of course). JRD, who got Pip for her birthday, begged that he "go back to the pet store" -- a very ominous and real concept in our family.

With the exit of Pip it seemed appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the SIX pets we have had in our SIX years of marriage. (NOTE: the numbers in parentheses are not ages, they are the various lengths of time each pet stayed at our house.)

1. BLUE (1 week): he was a green parakeet we had our first year of marriage. We basically had to take him back because I was jealous of how Lee Ann doted on him. (This would only happen to newlyweds!) - no picture exists of Blue
   
2. BUZZ (1 month): he was a very high-maintenance cockatiel we had in our third year of marriage - named after Buzz Lightyear. Note-to-self, if you do not like having a $10 parakeet, don't go buy a $75 cockatiel -- there is just more to hate! We are not bird people and will never own one again. A bird is what happens when you live somewhere you can't get a real pet (sorry to any bird lovers).

1. ANNIE (1 month): Annie was my dream dog - an Australian Shepherd. Things started well but as Annie grew she decided she was above our 1 year old in the family pecking order. It was not the sweet match between little girl and a puppy - ACD got bad scratches on her face. But Annie went to live on a friend's big farm where she was very happy until she was run over by a truck. JRD was fascinated with the news of her death but was convinced that Annie had "died on a cross."
2. DARREN MCFADDEN (1 week): This cat was named after the Arkansas running back during his first Heisman campaign. We are not cat people but our eldest daughter is, so we thought we would give it a go. D-Mac might have made it had he not come with a bad case of ring-worm. The vet told us not to touch him for 10 days without thoroughly washing our hands -- you try to do that with two toddlers.
3. NELLIE (3 months!!!): Nellie was cute enough to be in commercials but the vet's analysis was telling. After just a few minutes she told us "this puppy is ornery." She almost destroyed our air conditioner and certainly all kinds of wooden things around the house. Many months later, we still get calls that she has been "found" - I wish her new owners would put their info on Nellie's collar!
4. PIP (6 weeks): he was a good little cat we got for our cat-loving daughter's birthday. His only sin was that he loved to play, but he was too young to be declawed and was scratching the snot out of our daughters. We'll miss having another man around the house, even though the girls made him wear a pink "necklace" and referred to him as a girl.

Tis the Season for Breaking

ACD is a bit of a bull in a china closet. We love her enthusiasm and her reckless love of life, but sometimes things get a little excessive. Christmas is affording her ample opportunity to break things. Here is a quick list (in order of a occurrence) and we should mention that our Christmas stuff has been out for FOUR DAYS!

1. Kissing Angels - one of Reed's favorite childhood decorations
2. An ornament made by Lee Ann's grandmother
3. An ornament someone made Lee Ann when she was one year old
   
4. An ornament that was Lee Ann's favorite from childhood
   
5. A Christmas coaster
6. A fun Christmas decoration we got as a wedding gift