PETS

For some reason I always have to own something different...

Here's Chexx, our Guinea Pig...

I love his coloration... he could win at the County Fair with those colors.

We had Squeaks for about a year.  We got him when he was only 3 weeks old, just barely weaned, and he arrived just in time for Easter 2005.  He grew amazingly bigger in a matter of weeks -- he was nearly a foot long, and he lived up to his name!  He squeaked incessantly when he knew there were people or food around, or when he wanted attention... actually, just about all the time...  Guinea pigs, like humans, are quite social... and like us, they require Vitamin C, so guinea pig food includes stuff like orange slices, romaine lettuce and apple chips.  Unfortunately, Squeaks passed away near the end of 2006.  My guess is he and Chexx did not get along as well as we thought they did.

This is our red-eared slider turtle, and he's almost five years old now.  He lives mostly underwater but gets out to sun himself every so often. He lives in my backyard in a 20 gallon tank.  He is as-yet un-named.

My history with pets... my very first dog, Peaches, got run over by a car when I was about 3... I had a wonderful golden retriever, Jessica, who came along with me when I moved from Beverly, MA to Tucson back in 1986, and lived with me until her passing in 1993 at the age of 12.  Actually, my son wants either a golden retriever or a ferret.   Not sure if either of those is going to materialize.  The problem with a puppy is my backyard, which is more or less open to the desert, and there's too much risk of a coyote or wolf jumping the fence and nabbing the puppy.  Don't know if I could face my kid after that!

My ex-roommate, Megan,
owned this beautiful Siberian Husky, Sundance, for years - she finally had to have her put to sleep this past summer (11 years old).  This is Sundance, and she stayed at my apartment for the better part of a year.

Here's Nikki....I had her from 1994 until December of 2001, when she got out of the yard and Animal Control found her before I did.  I'm still really ticked at them for reasons I won't elaborate on here.  Let's just say they promised me I could pick her up in the morning, and I arrived to find out she had been euthanized. She was an aussie sheepdog mix....at least that's what we 'thought' she was...  Could have been more of a chow-mix, she sure resembled one, with that proud tail :).  I miss her!! 

My son picked out a kitten years ago at a local pet shop - Tiger grew FAST!  Here he's lounging on the bed.

And here's Gypsy...she's a mutt... I had her from her 8th week (1990) until 1998, when allergies forced her into a move to a nice family's home downtown.  Also my dining room suddenly had developed a terrible cat odor... She's an indoor cat, though she did manage to sneak out once - I didn't even know she'd gotten out, and I went to Disneyland for a couple days.  She was nowhere to be found when I got back.  She was officially lost for 3 days.  When I finally found her, she was hiding in a palm tree in the backyard.  How she lasted out there (no front claws) I don't know, but since then, she got the royal treatment around here!!

Rest In Peace.....sadly, Mickey the turtle met with a rather ugly demise in October, 1999....