Thursday, July 30, 2009

Farm Life, Episode...28?

I've been strangely silent on the topic of farm fun and animals lately. There have been things going on but...nothing interesting enough to take up an entire post - at least until this weekend.

Let me start by saying despite the fact I haven't posted about it, we've gained several animals this summer including 4 birds, some turtles, frogs and the latest addition, guinea pigs.

The birds are small, cute, yellow, blue and white. I'm not entirely sure what kind they are but possibly canaries? They reside in the little house which for those not familiar is a smaller replica of our house detached from the main house that has been turned into the man cave. When we purchased our home the intention was to turn it into a play house for the children...Zilla got to it first. Anyway, because the noisy, smelly things are not in my house they have not bothered me. The girls enjoy holding them and therefore I didn't complain when they simply showed up. We had a bird a long time ago and therefore had the cage. I just assumed Zilla cleaned it up one day and decided to make use of it.

We also gained some frogs (I might have mentioned Freddie at some point...the toad who showed up on Sweet Pea's floor one night). Freddie lasted longer than expected, long enough for us to acquire a frog habitat and therefore when Freddie went to the big pond in the sky we had the equipment and the means to fill the habitat again. Frogs are thick on the ground where we live so we've had several occupants since then.

Joining the frogs has been a succession of turtles - including several snapping turtles. I have expressed my concern to both Zilla and Sweet Pea (who seems to have no fear) that they are going to SNAP her fingers, hence their name. Neither of them seem worried. I expect that will change the first time one of them takes a bite at her fingers. They currently reside in a huge Rubbermaid tub and seem rather content. Joining them are several box turtles - in separate enclosures. Actually, Zilla recently built them a beautiful pen complete with pond, small tree and plenty of grass and shade. However, the little devils keep disappearing. We're not sure whether they're escaping or being carried off by birds as they are out in the open. Either way, like frogs turtles are thick on the ground in our neck of the woods.

The final, and newest, members of the family are guinea pigs. Two of them. A male and a female. And yes, this was done on purpose. I went to sleep on Sunday afternoon and woke up to excited squeals of joy that we now had guinea pigs. Funny, I didn't even know we were in the market to purchase rodents. My response to this development was to glare at Zilla. His response was to say, "We had the cage." Seriously? I have yet to come up with a response.

Sigh. The silver lining in all of this is that these animals all live either in the little house, the storage overhang or the yard. None of them are in my house. They make my girls smile and I suppose that's worth quite a bit. All I can say is I'm not bottle feeding guinea pig babies when they're born...and they will be.

Apparently, I'm a sucker (not to mention a push over). Have you ever been a sucker about something? Your kids end up with a pet that you said they couldn't have? Anyone want a guinea pig...or a turtle? I will say this, Zilla might not be abiding by the animal restriction but there is one thing he'd never think of bringing home - a snake. I've put my foot down and he's agreed not to cross that line. I'm thankful for that at least.

Instigator

P.S. I suppose I can't complain too much as when my parents told me I couldn't have a puppy I just asked Zilla to buy it for me for Christmas. Smile. I got my way. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree I suppose.

6 comments:

Problem Child said...

I'm guessing Zilla had some rodent envy going on. Our gerbils just pushed him over the edge... :-)

I let "mom-guilt" make me agree to the gerbils. Since DG is allergic to cats, dogs, bunnies -- you know, fun pets -- poor AC was so deprived and pet-less. (Fish, which we do have, aren't very cuddly.)

So when AC started lobbying for a hamster, I buckled and somehow we ended up with two gerbils. They look like mice. Like I should be setting traps. Ugh. I hate the nasty things... (But AC adores them, so I keep that to myself.)

Playground Monitor said...

We had woods behind our old house and a creek down the road. My boys came home with crawdads, turtles and even a chipmunk once. But like you, I drew the line at snakes. I also put my foot down on an iguana even though Scott down the street had one.

I think it's the plight of mothers to have to tolerate at least one animal you don't want.

Happy guinea pig breeding! ;-)

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

Bless your heart. :) At least they're stinking up the little house instead of yours.

And for the record, no I would not like to adopt guinea pig babies. I'm good, thanks.

Lynn Raye Harris said...

I have a snake. Not on purpose, mind you, but he lives in the weepholes of my house. He's a black snake, and I've quite gotten used to him now. We ignore one another for the most part. If I happen to stumble outside near where he's sunning himself, he disappears back into his hole very fast.

If he were poisonous, I'd be doing something about him. But at this point, I figure he's eating mice and stuff and keeping them out of my house.

We coexist peacefully. :)

I don't know how you handle all those pets, but I suppose the fact they aren't in the house and you aren't required to take care of them helps.

I have two cats on purpose and a resident snake. That's enough.

Linda Winstead Jones said...

"Can I have a dog?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"It's in the car. Just look at her."
{{Sigh}} "OK." (followed by presentation of a tiny, cute, cuddly puppy.)
"Can we keep her?"
"Of course you can! She's adorable!"

Story of my life. I'm such a pushover. :-)

LJ

Anonymous said...

No, no pets at my castle. My son had many pets, operative word "had" as none of them have survived Me. God bless those little critters, I really tried to care for them when my son wasn't at home....
robertsonreads
word verification - dediansi - very appropriate