Meet Our Critters

For a fun post I thought I would introduce you to the Critter Population at our house. Growing up I always loved animals. I am not really sure why because my Mom was not overly fond of animals and most of my siblings were not as well. My brother Doug, however, had a love for animals. This must have rubbed off on me. He never really had a pet of his own, but his roommates animals seemed to like him better than their owners. He brought them over often and I really enjoyed that. Doug was 12 years older than me and he used to drag me around like any good brother would.   He always was a lot of fun. He passed away in 1993. That is another post for another day, but I still miss him a great deal.

One year for my birthday when I was probably around 9, Doug brought me a part Persian kitten (of course with the permission of my Parents). I was so overjoyed. This kitten was just beautiful and very sweet. I loved this kitty so very much. Unfortunately one day he got ran over right in front of my house. I remember my dad saying " You all will never learn!" This was because any animals we had usually got ran over.

When I was in high school I did go on to get another kitten. He was a bit feisty, but he loved me. I still had him when I met Mike. This kitty did not like Mike. He always would try to bite him. Mike did not like my kitty, so when we got married he stayed with my parents. After that, he was not all that friendly to me anymore ( The cat, that is! ).

Since getting married, Mike and I have had a few dogs and a cat. Right now we have 1 dog, 1 goldfish, and 5 turtles. Our dog is Tessa. She is a Border Collie. We rescued her from an animal shelter so we do not know if she is all Border Collie. My guess is that she is part Lab. She seems a bit broader than most Border Collie's I have seen.

Tessa is 7 years old. Soon after we got her I found out I was expecting Luke, our 9th child. She is very sweet natured. She loves people and gets very excited when we have visitors.  The house that we had at the time we got her had a fenced in back yard.  It was so much fun to see her run out and fly around the yard. She ran so fast. Unfortunately we do not have a fence now, so we have to take her out on a leash. Sometimes we let her loose so that she can run and play. She loves to play fetch and she enjoys catching frisbees.

Tessa has a very naughty side. At night time after we all go to bed, she likes to get into the trashcan in the kitchen. She has made a very big mess many times. UGGH!!!  What a mess! We are trying to come up with the best solution to this problem. We have thought of locking her up at night, but I do not like doing that. The other was sticking the trashcan in the bathroom near the kitchen, but anyone using the bathroom would need to remember to shut the bathroom door when they are done! Around here that can be a big issue! REMEMBERING!

Another one of her bad habits is finding used tissues from the trashcan in my bathroom and then shredding them up all over my bedroom! Double UGGH! We need to find a way to keep her out of the trashcans.

Tessa is dreadfully afraid of thunderstorms. We usually lock her up in her crate which is in the basement during a thunderstorm. She seems to prefer that anyway. In the basement she cannot hear it so much and cannot see the lightning. She has been known to poop on the floor out of anxiety over a thunderstorm.

It was hard to take her picture because she would not look at me. She seemed a bit intimidated by me wanting to take a picture. Hubby asked me later if I was using a flash. Well , yes, I was! She is afraid of the flash too just like lightning! Oh well!

Tessa

Our next pet is Mr. Fishy. He has had several names, but I just refer to him as Mr. Fishy. He has had a lot of friends come and go but he still seems to hang on. We used to have a barrel outside that we made into a little pond and had goldfish inside it.  Mr. Fishy survived that and has been indoors now for at least a year. We turn the light on in the tank when we feed him, so now when you turn the light on he immediately gets excited.  Usually he does not come to the front of the tank except when you feed him. I had to turn on the light so that I could get a picture of him!

Mr Fishy

Meet our turtles

Zach

Shelley

Rory

Lane

April

Zach and April

Most of the turtles were found here right in our yard. Our backyard backs up to a small wooded area and they seem to like it there. Zach was rescued from the middle of the road. I was driving the kids somewhere when I saw him in the middle of the road. I stopped and my son jumped out to save him, We took him home and put him with the other turtles. We were late for our event that day because we were already running late and then found Zach and turned around to take him home. Zach is the only male and also the largest turtle.

April was given to my son Jeremy from a friend. They had found her and kept her for a little while, but since Jeremy had built a habitat for the turtles they knew he could take better care of her, April is a bit smaller than the others. We call her a teenager. She likes to hide most of the time.

Last Spring Jeremy found a baby turtle in the habitat. That was before Zach, so we were a little confused, but later on found out that they can lay eggs that are fertilized for up to 2 years later. A few weeks ago our baby turtle died. We all were so very sad. Jeremy would not name the turtle because he knew that there was  a strong chance it would not make it. We had it inside to help give it a better chance. We never knew if it was a boy or a girl.

As you might notice, all of the turtles except for Shelley have names that come from a certain TV show. I would have not known unless someone had told me. I do not watch much TV. Jeremy's girlfriend named them. 

Shelley is a bit special because she was our very first turtle. She was found close to 4 years ago. The kids named her. This was before Jeremy had a girlfriend. We were keeping her in a recycling bin while Jeremy was working on the habitat. One evening a storm rolled in and knocked over the recycling bin and Shelley had escaped. We did not see her again until last year. She was found once again! Jeremy is absolutely sure that it is the same turtle. He recognized the markings on her and has pictures form 4 years ago that he can compare it to.

So currently that is all in the critter department! We do have a few dogs from the neighborhood that like to visit us on a regular basis. One is Ginger, a Miniature Dachshund that I really like. She is so sweet. I would like to keep her for my own, but I do not think her owners would approve!

Update: I wrote this post last week and a few nights later we had a thunderstorm. It was 4 something in the morning and Hubby heard Tessa whining. He got up and let her out thinking she needed to go potty. Well she ended up running off. He was too asleep to realize that it was lightning outside. He called for her for awhile and she never came. He finally came and woke me up and said I think she is gone for good! I had no idea what he was talking about. After he explained, I got up to try to find her. I ended up jumping in the car. I drove around the neighborhood a couple of times and finally she came out of hiding and jumped in the car. I was so relieved! I knew there would be some broken hearts in the morning if she had not come back!