Eric and the Furry Menagerie

I realize that I have written about my cats several times. I have two dogs, too, they just aren’t as much trouble drama effort of a novelty to write about. I do love all my furries, though, and will be writing more about the dogs, I am sure. Here is how we came to be a family. (You can hum the “Brady Bunch” theme, if you wish.)

It all started innocently enough, I was living in a small town in northern Arizona at the time, working at the local ski resort. I went to the grocery store, because that’s where they kept the food that you could take home and cook to not starve. There was a farmer there with two of the cutest little Border Collie puppies. His dogs had these and he couldn’t keep them all, so he was selling them. He had already found a home for all of them but these two. A family took one and I came home with Tadji. The first dog I had ever owned since moving out on my own. We lived a happy bachelor life for about three years.

Then came Annie, my Border Collie/Corgi mix. She had been rescued from a shelter by a co-worker of mine, but in the short time she was with my co-worker, she was assaulted by the co-worker’s obnoxious Jack Russell Terrier, chewed him a new face hole and was evicted. (In Annie’s defense, she is obnoxious, but my co-worker’s dog was worse. The dog used to bite her husband whenever he tried to get into bed with my co-worker. She always defended the dog. They are divorced now. Anyone surprised?) Anyway, Annie was faced with having to go back to the pound. Luckily, I know dog people. I told my co-worker I would find Annie a good home, rather than risk her going back to the pound. That was almost seven years ago.

Again, life was mostly good. Annie was…a challenge. I had gotten spoiled with how easily trained Tadji was. Annie was…a challenge. This should have been my first clue.

A few months ago, (More than it seems.) I had another co-worker who had kittens she had to get rid of find homes for before she moved out of state. (I need to quit working with people.) So she brought this box of teeny, tiny cute little baby kitteners to work. I took one. My boss took one, another co-worker took one, and so on until the box was empty. By the end of the weekend my boss discovered that she was allergic to cats. (You see where this is going, don’t you?) So now I have two cats.

In case you lost count, I am beginning to gather animals two by two. If it ever rains in AZ again, I may build an ark.

I realize, in retrospect, that I am a sucker for tiny, cute fur balls in need of care. But it is proof of my belief that puppies, kittens and babies are cute so that they aren’t killed when they chew your favorite shoes or barf on your rug.

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Random Fact: A fly got into the house yesterday. Cats went absolutely batshit.