Bad, Bad, Blogger

Well, I made this blog six months ago and this is only my 2nd entry. At least that means I must have been busy! (Well, that is what I am telling myself anyways).

I figured I would use this entry to talk about my personal zoo at home. It takes a big heart and bigger patience to spend 12+ hours a day around noisy, stinky, sometimes angry animals, only to come home to 7 of your own. Luckily, I could never imagine my life any other way! There is something about those furballs that just warms my heart to bits! Maybe it is the way they cuddle you when they know you may be a little chilly, or maybe it is the way they bounce around, trying to entice you to chase them or throw their favorite toy. Whatever it is, I am hooked!

First up is our German Shepherd mix/mutt/Prozac needing dog August. When Jeremy and I lived in Tallahassee while I was in college we had 2 cats and 2 ferrets. We lived in a one bedroom tiny-ghetto apartment with barely enough room for ourselves, yet somehow Jeremy convinced me that we (he) needed a dog. I find it very difficult to say no to a furry friend so off to the Tallahassee Shelter we went. The Tallahassee shelter is very nice (for a shelter) and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to rescue a new friend. I can't remember the month, but it was probably around March-May, Jeremy and I walked into the shelter to find a dog. After searching run after run (runs are the large kennels that dogs are able to walk around in) we finally came to one that was holding 4 puppies. 3 of these puppies looked like rottweiler pups and boy were they crazy! Jumping around, biting, playing, bascially being puppies. Off in the corner was one little german shepherd mix puppy who was sitting all by himself looking very sleepy. We immediatly decided we wanted the "quiet, reserved" puppy. Then after bringing August home he showed us his true colors. Hyper is not even close to describing him, but he has still brought lots of love to our household (especially now that we own a house with a big enough yard for him!) He loves Making new friends at the Dog Park, his little sister Zelda, toys he can destroy, and our spanish-speaking elderly neighbor Martha.






The next furry-face I can talk about is actually the newest addition to the Stokes' household. Miss Zelda! After purchasing our first big beautiful home, Jeremy and I decided 6 pets would just not do. We wanted 7th heaven when it came to our animals, and Zelda is just that, HEAVEN! When I was younger, we had a Border Collie mix named Chucky who is and always will be the best dog I have ever known, so I have always been a little biased for Border Collies. I started looking on Craigslist.com for border collie pups or mixes, and let me tell you, people really do not know what a border collie is. I saw chows, pits, shepherds, and even terriers being passed off as border collies, but I knew what I was looking for thankfully. Finally I saw a post with a picture of two little border collie/Aussie mixes and immediatly responded. The gentlemen who owned the two puppies gave me very thourough information with plenty of pictures. The male looked very aussie, but the little girl looked just like my childhood dog chucky, and I knew right away I had to have her. The guy selling her owned the mom (a bord. collie) and the dad (an aussie) on the farm he and his wife lived on. His wife was due any day to had a baby, but their dogs beat them to it, so he had to get rid of the tiny litter ASAP. The male was already spoken for which was perfect, and he agreed to give us Zelda for $200 (a bargain in my opinion). We met him at a Petco in Daytona Beach and the rest is history. Zelda is very protective, but loving all the same. She loves toys, herding our cats, sleeping in weird positions, learning new tricks, and her big brother August.



The third pet to be described is our lovely little ferret Ivy! Ivy is our third ferret we have owned. Our other two Lily and Holly Jeremy had already owned when we first started dating. Holly developed Adrenal Disease twice, she made it through both surgeries, but shortly after the second one she passed away at about 5 years old. Lily lived until the ripe-old age of 8! Which is really good for a ferret. She developed Insulinoma and lived for a long time with that disease, but it eventually claimed her. After Holly died, Jeremy (who is the ferret fanatic of the household) was sure that Lily needed a playmate, so that is how Ivy came along. When Lily passed we decided that Ivy gets along so well with our cats, that a playmate is not necessary for her, so she is content just being our only little critter. Ivy loves to eat, poop, attack the cats tails, wrestle with the cats, and snuggle in her canopies.




The next pet I will tell you about is Isobel Stevens (yes named after the character on Grey's Anatomy!). Isobel was one of those impulse pets. I went to the SPCA in Titusville just to "look" and came home with a kitten. Isobel is almost 4 years old. She is a very fat cat. We knew she would be a fat cat after a very funny incident. When she was a 8 week old kitten, we put the cat's food out like normal our other cat could free feed and didn't need to have measured bowls of food. We noticed the large bowl of food was gone rather quickly and soon heard a very very tiny hiccup in the kitchen quickly followed by a very very large WHOOSH!. We ran out to the kitchen to be greeted by a tiny kitten and the largest puddle of vomit I still to this day have ever seen (and I work in a vet hospital). After that, we knew our poor little Isobel was doomed to the fate of fat cat. Isobel likes to spread out on the couch, eat, sleep on the couch, eat, play in catnip, and eat.




The next two pets I will talk about at the same time, because we got them at the same time! We call them "The Kittens" even though they are both about to be 3 years old! Their names are Colby Cheese (who is also loveingly called Bitty Boy) and Edelweiss (like the flower that is sung about in the Sound of Music). They were from the same litter. I came across these two during 2007 Memorial Day weekend. I was working at the Spay and Neuter clinic in Tallahassee and offered to help out on the weekend to get some extra hours. A cardboard box with two very tiny (maybe 4 weeks old) kittens with GIANT tick collars wound tightly around their necks was found at the backdoor at work. We brought them in and I cut those collars off and proceeded to bathe them. They looked very tired and sick and so I took extra care of them that weekend I worked. At the end of the weekend word was spread that they were going to be sent to the shelter. I had created such a bond with them that I couldn't bear to not see them again, so with much convincing Jeremy finally caved and we brought these two buggers home. Colby loves Strangers, wrestling with his sister, cuddling his sister, and drinking from the water bowl by dipping his hand in and licking the water off his hand. Edelweiss loves her Dad (Jeremy), Meowing for no reason, cuddling, being pet, and catnip.






The final pet I have not mentioned is my secret (not so secret) favorite! My cat, Jenny. I got Jenny before Jeremy and I even moved in together in College. She is the oldest of all our animals, at a resounding 5 years old!. I was working at Publix in college, my roommate Ally and I were about to find other places to live without each other, and I wanted a pet. I was leaving work at Publix one day, and at the front of the store was a young college girl with a cardboard box and a couple was standing in front of her. I walked over because I was curious, and low and behold, 2 Kittens! The couple who was already there was holding the kitten who was Jenny, so I picked up the other one to inspect. The couple very nicely asked if they could look at the one I was holding and when I switched with them they instantly fell in love and took it home. I couldn't just leave that last little kitten in that box after she was cast away for the other kitten, so I took her home. Jenny is my BEST FRIEND. My brother calls her my lesbian lover, because she follows me every where and tries to kiss my cheek whenever possible. She is very fluffy, calico, and makes the cutest chirping noises in the world!! My husband frequently gets jealous of her, and we have an ongoing joke that Jenny hates Jeremy (which is not true). Jenny loves Me!, playing with Zelda and Ivy, playing in grocery bags, giving kisses, and trying to sneak into our bedroom to sleep with us!