1. Laddie 1 - a
blue budgie, the most tame budgie my family owned. He died of old age.
2. Laddie 2 - a not so tame blue budgie that flew out the back door once while my Mum was cleaning his cage and we never got him back
3. Laddie 3 - our third blue budgie who lived to be very old so that he couldn't even fly anymore but used to walk around on the carpet (the red carpet I have referred to before) and sadly got killed / eaten by a neighbour's
dachshund when she came in for coffee and didn't realize her dog was following her. Those were the days when dogs ran outside loose all the time.
4. Tiger - our first dog as a family when I was a child. I was about 11 years old. She was a
Doberman / German Shepherd mix. She had the colours of a doberman but the hair and body more like a shepherd. She was a good dog but also a bit of a nervous Nelly. She would bark at the motor on the boat whenever we went water skiing and was a real nuisance for that.
5. Kerry - She came into my parent's household when my youngest sister brought her home. She was a great dog and very nice looking. Sadly, she and Tiger got into a big dominance fight once when she was about 2 years old. It was a nasty fight and Tiger was badly injured as a result. She had to be nursed back to health and from thereon in Kerry was the top dog. I always felt sorry for Tiger after this. When Tiger was about 13 my Dad had her put down when my Mom was in Ireland because she wasn't able to walk or hold her bladder or bowels. He waited until she went away because he knew she didn't have the heart to do it. Kerry got sick suddenly and died when she was about 10 years old. Very sad. She was such a great dog. My parents had two more dogs after those two, but this was after I was no longer at home. One was Carla - a
Belgian Tervuren mix. Sadly she got hit by a schoolbus when she ran out the front door on my parents street. The last one was Mr Black, a
Belgian Shepherd Dog. He outlived my Mum but he was getting old and Dad had him put down last fall. Here's a picture of my Mum with the sweatshirt I got her that she loved so much. I still have the sweatshirt. Couldn't bear to part with it.
6. Cliff & Norm - my first pets when I moved into my own apartment. Two budgies. Cliff was blue and Norm was green. Very pretty. I learned afterwards that having two budgies is not a good idea if you want them to be more sociable with you. If they have each other, they tend to bond with each other. If you just have one, then they tend to interact with you more and talk with you. (
more pictures of people's budgies)
7. Clancy - my cat. I adopted him from someone at work. He was my first
ginger tabby and he was a domestic short hair. He was a great cat. Orange cats tend to be very friendly. Did you know that? He got sick and died suddenly when he was only about 8 years old. I was devastated and it took me months before I was ready to replace him because I thought he was such a perfect cat.
8. Daisy - another budgie. Sadly, Cliff died from fright after a trip to the vet's office. He had something wrong with his eye and I took him to a special bird vet who put on ointment and prescribed it for me to put on him. Anyways the whole vet trip and ointment applications became were too much for him and he died from stress the next day. I replaced him with Daisy, another budgie but a yellow green one. She got along with Norm fine. He was an olive green colour. Sadly Daisy died after being attacked in the cage by Clancy (the cat). After that I didn't want to risk it anymore and Norm went to live with my best friend where he lived to be a ripe old age.
9. Magoo - This was Pool Boy's dog. When we met and got married we had a blended family. His dog and 3 kids and my cat. Magoo was a poodle maltese mix, sometimes referred to as a
malti-poo. He was chocolate brown and a good dog. He was pretty old. He and Clancy got along with each other very well after the first getting used to each other time period. He died at home one day when the kids were at school / daycare and we were at work. DQ Girl found him when they came home. It was quite a shock to the kids, though they knew he was getting old. We went out for supper as a family that night to get over our grief.
Click
here for pics of the following pets.
10. Phoebe - Phoebe was the replacement cat for Clancy after he died. As I mentioned before, although Pool Boy suggested that we get another one, I was not ready for a while. Clancy is buried in our backyard and I would go out to visit him often in those days. When I was finally ready, I did not want to get another ginger cat because I didn't want to seem like I was trying to replace Clancy, so instead we got a Calico one, some orange, white and black. Seemed like a good compromise and very pretty combination. True but she is cranky! She has permanent PMS Pool Boy declares.
11. Jasper - After a year with Phoebe, we decided to add to our family and go with the tried and true ginger tom again. This time we went with a long hair. We adopted him from the paper as a kitten from a low rent part of town. We joked that he was getting a better life with us. He is a good cat. True to the ginger cat disposition. I was not disappointed, even if he was long haired and I wasn't sure if I liked that, but it made him different from Clancy so life was good. Enter
12. Winston - Nurse-a-baby's cat. Nurse-a-baby's friend's cat had kittens. This was the last one left. It didn't take Nurse-a-baby long to get me won over, now we had to work on Pool Boy. Once he saw the kitten the deed was done. Winston is also a ginger and white male. So we went from no cats to 3 cats in 3 years and they're all still at home!! Winston has an eating disorder. He eats too freakin' much. He's fat and big and jolly and lazy. He does not care. He's really laid back. He's actually quite a sweetheart! People can't believe how big he is. He's a back sleeper too so when you catch him in his sleeping position he looks huge and funny.
13. Fergus - my baby. I've already blogged enough about him!
14. Daisy - my granddog. I've already blogged about her too much too. I know it's number 14 but how could I leave her off?
Have a great Thursday!