Observations of a Quixotic Femme Noire __One Percent - 1%__ Warrior-woman; a Valkyrie. I'll always be yours. Always...and never.



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Did I mention how much we are animal lovers in our house?
Yesterday, as the kids and I were getting ready to go to the library, we noticed a baby bird on our lawn. It was a brand-new baby bird...still had that protective "tubing" around most of its body feathers, on all of the wing area, and some areas had no feathers at all...is that normal? I dunno.

Scratch the library, we have to find worms. It's been too hot to find any decent worms, they've all gone as far underground as worms do...so to Petsmart. Bought some nightcrawlers, got home to feed them to the baby bird. The nightcrawlers are so big, and I know that "mama bird" woulda regurgitated the meal...I just cut them up (I'm not that much of a nature enthusiast!). It ate like crazy! I mean, legs fully extended, beak so wide it looked like it unhinged its jaw, and they can still chirp LOUDLY, like that too! It ate 3 worms for the whole day. As soon as he finished eating, he went right to sleep. We kept it in a basket with lots of fluffy, non-toxic paper and a nice piece of flannel for it to snuggle with. We named it Charlie.
This morning, I got up to feed everyone, including baby bird breakfast.
Charlie was stone cold.
Bren looked at it, said "poor Charlie" and then asked for breakfast.
Guin, well...it was MY fault that I kept Charlie in the closet and that's why he died.
I tried to hug her...no dice.
"Honey," I explained, "I told you yesterday that because we aren't Charlie's mama that he may not make it, but we would try, right?"
She wasn't buyin` it.
She cried.
She got upset.
She stormed off.
She came back.
She wanted to hold him.
I let her hold him.
She covered him up in the flannel and said that was fine to leave him like that.
I told her that we couldn't...Charlie should be buried.
Then she was sure that because Charlies' one eye was open that he was alive and she could take care of him.
"Baby-doll, he's cold, his heart isn't beating any longer. "He needs peace...we gave him a good life as long as he was supposed to live. "He wasn't hungry, he wasn't cold, he was loved and cared for...he was happy before he died."
She got the picture.
"Ok, let's bury him Mommy."

Then of course, we have to get another pet!
Another bird? Hell no! Those creatures shit non-stop! I couldn't believe the amount of shit that late-bloomer Charlie produced. I was truly amazed.
Ok guys, we have to think of the kind of pet that we want. A hamster? Bren wanted a mouse. Guin wanted a hamster. I wanted an iguana. Bear wants fish (he has always had fish, but it's hard to create an entire ecosystem/habitat with water on a minimal budget. It's much easier to keep critters that breathe air in the same manner that everyone else in the house does *smile*).
We got to Petsmart again. I returned the wild bird food that would have been needed had Charlie survived. We looked at hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, and rats. I told Bear that I would love to have a rat or two, being their social, chill creatures and a hamster really isn't. He got this look of semi-disgust on his face and then, out of the blue an employee of Petsmart said, "Are you thinking about getting a rat? "They are wonderful, I have 3 of them."
This woman, wasn't our age, I would hazard she was in her 30's and she didn't look "wild and crazy"; she looked like a mom that was very excited about her pets. She told us about care for rats and how great they are and how smart they are.
That was pretty much it. We asked the kids how they felt about rats...they were excited and said yeah! So after travelling to several different pet stores to browse, (but that's boring "real life stuff") we went back to Petsmart in our area and got all the equipment and two extremely gorgeous fancy female rats. We named the champagne/cream girlie Cleo, and the silvery-brown chickie Patra...Cleo-Patra....cute, yeah, I know. It was Bears idea and we asked the kiddies and they said great. (They are such cool, laid-back kids, I don't know how we ever got so lucky, but we're blessed)

Of course, pictures shall be taken. Of course, we will find out about these wonderful creatures. No they don't bite, unless they smell food on your fingers, then they nibble. I've held both of them in my hands and they love to be on one's shoulders. The kids are still gettin' used to the fact that they have little claws that yes, do dig just a bit onto you to keep themselves straight. Adults have tougher skin, but I'm also used to having mice (when I was a kid) and they do the same thing. I like that they are bigger than mice. I like that they are so curious. The kitties seem fine, they haven't tried to pounce on the cage. They are wondering what they are (they aren't killers, they find dead things and bring them home, but they don't kill themselves, the pussies!). Stuppy is curious and wants to sniff, but I'm worried that he may grab with his teeth, so I give him samples of their scent and such...same with the kitties.

Now we are a family of nine. That's not too bad...still 5 males to 4 females. Better than just Guin and I by ourselves. *grin*
holla@me posted by MobiusRazor at 00:12