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Pets
Mom was up late - a rare occurrence. And she decided to give us a call. She was chatty - also a rare occurrence. But I like it when she is.
Anyway, we got on the subject of past pets. It's been a little over 2 years since Taffy was put to sleep, and Mom still gets a bit choked up when she talks about it. So I mentioned Cruiser. We had Cruiser when I was a kid. When I was 9 years old, I watched in horror as Cruiser ran out into the street and got hit by a truck. He came running back into our yard, where I held him in my arms as I watched him die.
*THAT* gets me choked up still when I think about it...and that was 24 years ago.
*~~~*
We talked about my budgie - Blue. She was MY bird, and I named her Blue (short for Blueberry Muffin) because I was a stupid little kid and she was blue. Who the hell names a bird Blueberry Muffin? She was a nasty little thing too. She hissed and squawked and tried to bite you if you ever got your fingers near her cage. Despite that, we loved her. There was this song that was popular at the time - "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister - every time that song came on the radio, she would do a little dance in her cage. Crazy. But Mom and I always think of Blue when we hear that song.
Anyway, Blue lived to be ELEVEN years old, which is absolutely amazing for a budgie. The night she died, we noticed she was looking kind of weak and sickly. Mom awoke in the middle of the night and checked on her, to find Blue on the floor of her cage, listing to one side. Mom put her hand in, and Blue let Mom gently pick her up and take her over to the couch. Mom held Blue in the palm of her hand and stroked her until she passed away. I was asleep during all this, but I'll never forget it, because Blue would never have let Mom hold her like that normally.
*~~~*
We always had a lot of gerbils when I was growing up. There was Bonnie and Clyde. We were told at the pet shop that they were male and female. Until we woke up one morning and found that Clyde had had babies overnight. So apparently...both female. But the name Clyde stuck.
But it's not Clyde that I remember so much as Bonnie. She was an albino gerbil. One day, I was playing with her and she jumped off my lap. I grabbed her by her tail mid-air. Next thing I knew, I was holding a bunch of bloody flesh and fur in my hand and she was skittering across the floor with a naked tail. Yeah...her fur just came right off into my hand! That was disgusting. She looked like a rat afterwards, until she decided to eat her tail down to a stub.
Bonnie also died in a memorably horrific way. We were visiting my grandparents at Christmas and when we came home, we noticed an odd burning smell in the house. We eventually discovered that Bonnie had escaped from her cage, crawled into her little plastic play ball, and rolled on top of the heating vent, where she got stuck and essentially cooked herself to death.
I also had another gerbil (can't remember its name)...I was on the sofa playing with it and it squeezed between the seat and back of the couch. When I got up to try and rescue it, the shifting of my weight off the couch caused the seat and back of the couch to squeeze together, which snapped its neck. Poor thing.
And then there was Pookie - another gerbil - I gave him too many bubble baths in my Barbie bath tub. He got sick and died.
*~~~*
Good grief...it's horrible what happened when I was a kid and didn't know any better. Of course, some of those deaths weren't anything that we had control over.
Regardless of what happened, I always really loved my animals.
I'm just glad that we're doing right by Reece. She's happy, healthy, and well loved. Right now, she's sleeping next to me on the couch. It takes my breath away sometimes how much I love this dog.
Anyway, we got on the subject of past pets. It's been a little over 2 years since Taffy was put to sleep, and Mom still gets a bit choked up when she talks about it. So I mentioned Cruiser. We had Cruiser when I was a kid. When I was 9 years old, I watched in horror as Cruiser ran out into the street and got hit by a truck. He came running back into our yard, where I held him in my arms as I watched him die.
*THAT* gets me choked up still when I think about it...and that was 24 years ago.
*~~~*
We talked about my budgie - Blue. She was MY bird, and I named her Blue (short for Blueberry Muffin) because I was a stupid little kid and she was blue. Who the hell names a bird Blueberry Muffin? She was a nasty little thing too. She hissed and squawked and tried to bite you if you ever got your fingers near her cage. Despite that, we loved her. There was this song that was popular at the time - "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister - every time that song came on the radio, she would do a little dance in her cage. Crazy. But Mom and I always think of Blue when we hear that song.
Anyway, Blue lived to be ELEVEN years old, which is absolutely amazing for a budgie. The night she died, we noticed she was looking kind of weak and sickly. Mom awoke in the middle of the night and checked on her, to find Blue on the floor of her cage, listing to one side. Mom put her hand in, and Blue let Mom gently pick her up and take her over to the couch. Mom held Blue in the palm of her hand and stroked her until she passed away. I was asleep during all this, but I'll never forget it, because Blue would never have let Mom hold her like that normally.
*~~~*
We always had a lot of gerbils when I was growing up. There was Bonnie and Clyde. We were told at the pet shop that they were male and female. Until we woke up one morning and found that Clyde had had babies overnight. So apparently...both female. But the name Clyde stuck.
But it's not Clyde that I remember so much as Bonnie. She was an albino gerbil. One day, I was playing with her and she jumped off my lap. I grabbed her by her tail mid-air. Next thing I knew, I was holding a bunch of bloody flesh and fur in my hand and she was skittering across the floor with a naked tail. Yeah...her fur just came right off into my hand! That was disgusting. She looked like a rat afterwards, until she decided to eat her tail down to a stub.
Bonnie also died in a memorably horrific way. We were visiting my grandparents at Christmas and when we came home, we noticed an odd burning smell in the house. We eventually discovered that Bonnie had escaped from her cage, crawled into her little plastic play ball, and rolled on top of the heating vent, where she got stuck and essentially cooked herself to death.
I also had another gerbil (can't remember its name)...I was on the sofa playing with it and it squeezed between the seat and back of the couch. When I got up to try and rescue it, the shifting of my weight off the couch caused the seat and back of the couch to squeeze together, which snapped its neck. Poor thing.
And then there was Pookie - another gerbil - I gave him too many bubble baths in my Barbie bath tub. He got sick and died.
*~~~*
Good grief...it's horrible what happened when I was a kid and didn't know any better. Of course, some of those deaths weren't anything that we had control over.
Regardless of what happened, I always really loved my animals.
I'm just glad that we're doing right by Reece. She's happy, healthy, and well loved. Right now, she's sleeping next to me on the couch. It takes my breath away sometimes how much I love this dog.