This is an ever-strange little community. Nice to be included. We have had
many pets: dogs, gerbils, hamsters, parakeets, cockatiels, turtles (for whom we
shelled out for hernia repair) and snakes (one of whom disappeared into the
walls and floors somehow for 3 months and then reappeared in the upstairs
bathroom). That was all along with children. Now, I’m trying to age
gracefully with my lovely, but also aging, springer/lab cross. The dog is not
aging gracefully, but then she was always kind of a galumphy thing.
Ursula
In the land of -18 C this morning
Happy spring, eh?
On Apr 5, 2018, at 11:13 AM, Torgeir Fjeld <t.fjeld1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Nature isn't always pretty. But then, what is pretty?
We had a long talk on the topic of getting a second animal. It's the labour:
the necessary alterations to beddings, the filling up of food bowls, the
refilling of water, etc. And then there's concern. When one already has an
animal in the house there is always the question of how the present animal
will adapt to a new fellow.
Besides, we weren't going to duplicate the species. Our present animal, a
cat, if you mustn't, already has some species concerns. It picks up balls and
carries them back to the person who threw it. It makes barking sounds at
strangers. When he stomped his paw in a pool of pink paint wife declared he
was in a transition period // possibly becoming a new species altogether.
On the other hand there is the unmistakeable sense of company. With a cat one
is never alone. With two animals in the house we should be twice as communal?
After a long gestation period wife started to insist on a rodent. Would it be
a hamster? A mouse? No, she preferred something that rhymed with a cat, and a
hat wouldn't do.
So a rat it is. Next week he or she will arrive. We have food and snacks
ready. All we need now is to prepare the cat. And make sure he isn't hungry.
Mvh. / Yours sincerely,
Torgeir Fjeld, PhD
http://torgeirfjeld.com/