Fun Monday~Let's see your furry family members!

This week's Fun Monday is hosted by my friend Lisa (http://lisaschaos.blog-city.com/). She posted the following assignment:


Let’s meet your pets. I think most of us have at least one pet and I would like to see your fluffy or scaly pal. If you don’t have a camera you can tell us about him/her/them. If you don’t have a pet tell us about a pet you had or a pet you want. If for some weird reason you hate all animals we want to know why gosh-dang-it.

I've had quite a few pets over the years...some furry, some not. The first pet I had was a gray and white cat named "Duke". Duke was the coolest! I used to dress him up in doll clothes, and for that he would pay me back by attacking me from behind when I least expected it...usually when I was sitting on the floor watching TV. He used to like to sit outside under the clothesline and torment the mocking birds. They would dive bomb him and he wouldn't move...just laid there pissing them off. He got a few good gashes from those birds that required medical treatment, but that never stopped him. He was a character.

I had a couple cats when I lived in Texas - Sonny and Rico. Rico was a dumpster kitty that I adopted...full of worms and half starved. After lots of $$$ and TLC, he turned out to be one of the funnest cats I ever shared a living space with. This cat acted like a dog. He would fetch bottle caps. Really...if he spotted on laying on the coffee table, he would reach up and swat it down, then go chasing it all over the apartment. He would then bring it to me and drop it in my hand. If I'd throw it, he'd go fetch it and bring it right back. We didn't teach him that, either. He was so much fun. I don't know whatever happend to him and Sonny. I had to leave them with my ex when I left.

Enough of the past. Right now, I have a black lab, Indiana. "We named the dog, Indiana." Do you recognize that quote? If not, google it. We call her Indy for short. She is a sweetheart, but doesn't mind me at all. She had obedience lessons, too...they did no good. Stubborn thing! But we love her just the same. She is getting old now and has arthritis and occasional seizures. She loves going to our place in Lake Placid where she swims and has run of the entire place. She's a good pup!

This is our cat, Taylor. She has mental issues. Lucky for her we love her so much, or she'd be looking for a new home. See, when she gets mad, she pees on the floor right in front of her litterbox. Oh, joy. I could wring her neck when she does that! Other than that, she puts up with alot and has finally even quit attacking the baby. She's declawed, so she never hurt him, just scared him!

Harley...our deceptively slow moving sucata tortoise. This picture is an old one, she's quite a bit larger now. Sulcatas are the third largest tortoise in the world, after Galapagos and Aldabras. She'll probably top out at around 150 lbs.! When we got her, she could fit in the palm of my hand. She has escaped a couple times, causing extreme panick. The last time was because my oldest was cleaning her area out and removed the dog house she sleeps in, not thinking she'd walk out of the huge space left behind! Well...d'uh! She hauled ass!!! We search and searched, finally posting signs with her picture on all the stop signs in my neighborhood. I got a phone call that night from a guy a block away. He had her in his garage where she was safe and sound, gorging on a variety of veggies. Whew! Lesson learned: torts only appear slow. When unobserved, they can attain mach speed!

I also have a couple of snakes. A snow corn and a pueblan milksnake. Both have their own characteristics and neither have ever bitten me. They are beautiful! Snakes get a bum rap. I love my snakes.

Now, here is a list if the other critters we have either owned or raised:

Other cats - Benson, Fonda, KC and Odie.

Other snakes - 2 Ball Pythons, a desert kingsnake, 2 more corn snakes

A baby squirrel, Icky, that was found by my SIL after hurricane Katrina. We raised him until he was big and strong and ready to bo on his own. He was alot of fun.

Two baby cottontails. We found them in a burrow in our yard in Lake Placid. unfortunately, Indy also knew where they were. Since we were going to be up there for a week, we decided we couldn't keep Indy out of the yard, so we had to go ahead and take the bunnies and care for them ourselves. We did and they grew into beautiful rabbits. When they were old enough, we released them back into the wild.

A chicken, Peckerhead. No doubt Peckerhead was an escaped Santeria sacrifice. The maintenance guys found it where I used to work and brought it to me. What the hell am I going to do with a chicken??? They're not allowed where I live! Ah, geesh...it was kinda cute and I felt bad for it, so I brought it home. Peckerhead turned out to be pretty cool. He'd perch on my arm and let me walk around with him. I could hold him like a baby. He come runnin gup to me whenever I went outside to see him. Life was good....until he crowed one morning at 6:00am. That was it. That night we drove out to the Redlands and tossed him over a fence at a home that had a few chickens already. Sorry guy, but we had to do what we had to do. It was either that or have him for dinner...yuck.

Let's see...what else? I kept a scorpion at work for a while, just to study it. I've had various fish. Birds, too...a couple of adorable parakeets and a cockatiel that my husband gave to his sister one day when I was at work. She was kind of an alarm system and tended to drive us all nuts. Now she drives my SIL nuts. We get to babysit her alot, so it's ok. We adopted a rabbit one time. He was old and we took care of him until he passed away. A couple of Tegus...um, what else...I think that's about it. I'm sure I'm leaving someone out, sorry.

Needless to say, there have been times when my house has been a literal zoo, but we love out animals and there's always room for one more, be it furry, feathered or scaled!

Thanks for a fun assignment, Lisa!