My husband, Manly, just loves animals of all kinds. (except cats!) :P
Manly helps Angel check out Aunt Mary's baby chicks on Easter
So I knew he would follow in the footsteps of his father and pick up animals of all different kinds until our house was a true family circus....a menagerie!
Right before I gave birth to Louisa, he came home with a gerbil because he said he was lonely for an animal to play with. I said to him, "Isn't a new baby good enough?" He said "No, I need a pet!"
We already had a beta fish and a frog. What he REALLY wanted was a bulldog, but since our current rental didn't allow dogs, he had settled on a gerbil. It was a cute intelligent little thing that we named "Trouble" but it did smell horrible! Einstein loved it too....he's just like his Daddy. The only family member who didn't really care about it was me....I admit it...I'm NOT an animal person!
Our fish tank is only 10 gallons, and the kids are always begging for a HUGE one with lots of tropical fish. Duckie thinks she wants her own Nemo fish. But considering how expensive those are to maintain, it's not happening any year soon!
Our fish tank is only 10 gallons, and the kids are always begging for a HUGE one with lots of tropical fish. Duckie thinks she wants her own Nemo fish. But considering how expensive those are to maintain, it's not happening any year soon!
When we moved to our new rental house in Oregon, the first thing Manly did was purchase a 10 gallon fish tank and fill it full of fish. It was his Father's Day present. We still had the gerbil. It lived in Einstein's room, and the fish tank made a great nightlight for the girls room. I discovered to my dismay, that fish can smell bad too! (yuck)
Then we moved into our first house. It came WITH a dog! Everyone was so excited. It was a well trained, adorable daschund named Neuman. We had it for two years until tragedy hit. He loved jumping into our laps, but the last time he ever tried it I was 9 months pregnant with Angel. My tummy was so big, I didn't have much lap left. So he bounced off of my belly and hit his back wrong on the floor. He injured his back really bad, and lost all feeling in the lower half of his body. His back legs didn't work at all, and he had no control over urinating. We tried for a few weeks to use medicine and dr. visits, hoping he would heal, but it wasn't getting any better. We were having a new baby in a few days, and we couldn't care for him in his present condition. Two days before we had Angel, we put Neuman to sleep. It was a very hard, heart-breaking decision.
Everyone in the family (and yes even me sometimes) missed having a dog in the house. So when Angel was 7 months old, we got a Beagle puppy, our little hyper mischevious Lucy.
A few months later, Manly came home with a bunch of New Zealand Black bunnies. That started our bunny business. We now have Californians, and some American Whites as well.
Grandma Jean holds a baby New Zealand on Easter
Here, Cousin Katie pets an albino New Zealand. Every Easter at my Mom's house, we bring our bunnies, and my sister brings her baby chicks! A fun new tradition!
Grandma Linda loves our baby bunniesOur current animal collecion includes a Leapard Gecko which is one of Einstein's prize possessions, but our menagerie is nothing compared to what Manly grew up with! Oh the stories you can hear his Dad tell!
Besides many varied cats and dogs, my in-laws have owned: an Emu, 2 baby joey kangaroos, a monkey, alligators, turtles, hedgehogs, prairie dogs, snakes, birds, pigeons and mice for the snakes, tarantulas, a black widow spider, racoons, opossums, and probably a few more that I haven't heard of yet!
I'm glad Manly's interest in animals goes more towards cows and other farm animals rather than the exotic kinds, but really, who knows what kinds of animals we'll end up with someday.
I'm not too thrilled about it all, but I'm happy to go along with the flow because it brings such wonderful learning experiences for my children! Duckie takes care of Lucy, Louisa takes care of the chickens, and Einstein feeds and waters all the rabbits, as well as caring for the fish and the gecko. I'm glad my children can learn to love and take good care of animals. I am grateful that they have real chores and responsibilities that have to be done each day.
But, I truly feel like our house has been transformed into a menagerie!
Thankfully, our menagerie currently doesn't have an octopus!
Duckie here is our fishy girl. Mention anything that lives under the sea, and you bet she'd love to have one of her very own! Even an Octopus!
This is the reason we won't ever own an octopus. *wink* This one at the Oregon aquarium thought Einstein would make a tasty snack.
