The Pet Meme

http://ourlittletongginator.blogspot.com/2009/01/pet-meme.html

I was recently tagged by the illustrious Tonggu Momma over at Our Little Tongginator for a Pet Meme. Hmm...mostly, she just wanted to hear about my brother's "suicidal yet optimistic fish" named Moses.

I aim to please...so here goes nothing!

1. What is the first pet you remember?

A cat named Mortimer. A jogger knocked on our door and asked if this cat belonged to us. It didn't, but Mom told the man to come back if nobody claimed the cat. (She's nothing if not responsible!) Nobody claimed the silly little tabby, so he became ours. My sister and I named him. We were in kindergarten...and I have no idea where we came up with the name! He came with us when we moved to a new house...and disappeared about two weeks later. We were pretty sure he got into a tangle with some coyotes that lived in the neighborhood...

2. How many different kinds of pets have you owned?
I'm going to include all the pets that the 5 kids in my family have owned over the years, because it's way more interesting that way! So...*counting in my head*...
1 cat
7 fish (maybe more?)
1 dog
1 dragon
2 hampsters


3. What was your strangest pet?
The dragon, definitely. He was a largish small lizard...and his cage smelled something awful!

4. What is your dream pet?
Something that cuddles on demand, never slobbers, doesn't have stinky breath, never ever sheds and comes pre-house trained.

5. What is your nightmare pet?
The opposite of number 4. :-)

6.Your best/ funniest pet story...
Alright...here comes Moses! We used to live next to a sort of a gulley that would flood when it rained hard and flow like a stream. One day, during just such a storm, my brother was out playing in the water with a bucket. He came inside and showed my Mom what he had found - a fish! It was a largish goldfish that was probably washed out of a ornamental pond further up the gulley somewhere.

Remember how very responsible my mother is? Well, since it's very hard to find the owner of a lost fish, she pulled out an old goldfish bowl, bought some fish flakes, and we were in business! The only problem was...Moses kept growing. (Moses...my brother found in him in the reeds. Get it?) We gave him a bigger bowl...and he kept growing. We finally gave him the biggest punch bowl we had, and he kept growing. As he grew, he needed exercise. He achieved this goal by leaping...out of his bowl. Often. My mother fixed the problem by covering the bowl with plastic wrap. Well, one weekend she had to go out of town, and left those of us at home with the challenge of the weekly Changing of the Water. Umm...we forgot to cover the bowl. Oops. Thus endeth the story of Moses the fish. He went from the reeds to into the weeds!

7. Tell your worst/ saddest pet story...
This was actually my neighbor's kitten. They had a new litter of kittens, and the kittens liked to take naps on top of their car's tires. One day, her father didn't check carefully enough and took off with one of the kittens still on the tire, hidden under the car carriage. The kitty met his demise at the end of the driveway. The kitty yelled loud enough for us to hear him from where we were playing, in the backyard. It's been 20 years - I can still see it. So, so sad.

8. Did you ever have a scary animal experience?
I took horseriding lessons one summer when I was a kid. I let my horse get too near to one of the bully horses, and he reared up and scared me. I was too scared to continue the ride, so my teacher tied my horse to a tree and told me to wait next to him while he got the rest of the horses turned around. As the bully horse passed by again (ridden, incidentally, by my twin sister) my horse reared up and broke the leather thong that was holding him to the tree. I was terrified and couldn't get on another horse for a few years.

9. What was your favorite pet?
Hmm...I think it would have to be my old Beta fish. He was so pretty!

10. What did you really want to tell us about pets that didn't fit into the other questions?
My favorite experience with any animals, I think, was the housesitting I used to do. I helped a girlfriend house-sit some purebred longhaired dachesund puppies once...and I fell in love! Also, I used to housesit for a house with two police-trained German Shepherds and one seriously large Siamese cat. They were so much fun...and just enormous!

Tagging four people, as mandated...
Hmm...let's go with the last four people to comment on the blog!

That would be Weezy, Marcie, Jenn and the Wi Family! (I'm not adding links here because I think all y'all have private blogs.)