Secret #21 - Critter Keeper

I love animals. Almost all of them. Not bugs... Animals - preferably ones with fur, but I can also find attraction to those reptilian and avian.

The entire reason I named my blog what I did was a tongue in cheek reference to the fact that I have quite the zoo going on behind these walls.

There are horses in this zoo. I can't say I really count them as part of our zoo, although they do reside here and are part of our everyday life and livelihood. So I guess they have to count. I do love horses - to look at. I have had only one horse in my life and he was absolutely the bomb! He is gorgeous and sweet and was a bit of a rescue case so he will always hold a very special place in my heart. Girl also has a horse of her own that she sometimes shares with Boy. Sadie, the horse, is not as sweet and wonderful as my pony, but she is safe and that is a treasure to itself when allowing your children to ride.

There are dogs in this zoo. I love my dogs. They are people in fur and deserve the utmost respect for putting up with me. They don't run away while I stump to the coffee pot in the morning, they lay by me when I am sad, they run to me when they are scared and they run after anything that might threaten my sweet existence. There are two that are mine and one that belongs to Shane's riding assistant. We have met Jewel in another post here, Kitty will have to be posted about (as she shares Queen of the Everything status) and Duke... Well, Duke is struggling to get back into my good graces after killing Girl's bunnies with an accomplice. (Very sad indeed!)

No domestic zoo would be complete without cats. We have quite a few at the moment, as Scout, the barn cat has dropped 5 kittens into this lovely summer. There are two house cats, de-clawed and sassy as ever, James and Bubba. Lest you think us terribly racist and crass, Bubba was not named Bubba because of his color but because my daughter has an affinity to old situation comedies (read: back episodes of Mama's Family). James was also included in an earlier post. Bubba? Well, we having a saying in our house, "And then there's Bubba..." He is just not what you would expect from a cat! More on that later...

Boy has had a pet of his own going on two years now and he is getting quite adept at caring for the critter. This would be a reptile, a species masculine Hubby finds "creepy". We first acquired a Bearded Dragon when Boy was just 9 years old. He earned the privilege by keeping his room clean for 4 weeks straight! I was so impressed! At first he wanted a frog. But frogs don't take kindly to being handled so we decided a Bearded Dragon would suit our needs to "cuddle" and care for. I had to learn a lot about these guys to make sure he lived. So far, so good! (First try ended disastrously as James, the cat, wanted to play too...)

Just last week I would have added bunnies to the mix. But sadly, Duke and an unknown but highly suspected accomplice did them in. It was a tragedy, and Girl is not ready to make any sudden moves in the new pet department.

And don't forget the buffalo! We have three. Hubby uses them for training his horses to watch cattle. Buffalo are very useful and much less expensive to keep around for this purpose, if indeed you can keep them around! That can be a little challenging, to say the least. We refer to our girls as Charlie's Angels. There is Jaquelyn, Farrah and Kate, and each seem to do their job just as the show depicted. One is rather smart, one a bit silly and one is very quick and athletic. Funny how names work...

We are a varied and interesting pet zoo here. I love them all. I would have birds as well, and many more dogs, maybe a Guinea pig or hamster for Girl, and I NEEEEED a Chinese pug... Hubby keeps my Critter Keeping tendencies to a minimum. All for the best, I am sure. He usually knows my insanity runs deep and how best to curb my destruction. I just wish he would give in on the pug... sniff.