Introducing: The Mini-Farm

This past week we took a trip to the "Big City". Jillian had some birthday cash that was rapidly burning a hole in her pocket...er...zip-loc bag, as it were...so she was quite ready to shop. She had asked us a while ago about purchasing a new little critter to add to our collection. Our "mini-farm" we have named it. Hubs and I discussed whether we wanted to add another critter, more critter urine aroma and more pine shaving clean-up to the chaos. Ultimately we came to the conclusion that the critter farm is only temporary and if it makes our kids happy to spend their money in this way, we can tolerate a little extra craziness. Jillian was pretty intent on adding a gerbil or a hamster to the batch. Upon further investigation at Petco though, she came to the conclusion that gerbils look way too much like rats. She found them cute, but didn't like their long hairy tail. I concurred. On to the hamsters we went. Upon further consideration we came to the conclusion that those just aren't the critters for us. We have been through two of them in the past few years with minimal success. Actually...zero success. One got temporarily lost in the house...and then died shortly after. The other just died within weeks of being inducted into our farm. Cute as they are, we just don't have the best of luck with them. Our quest for Jilly's new pet ended at Pet Quarters, where they had a bazillion adorable baby guinea pigs. She fell in love. And before we even had him purchased, she had her baby guinea picked out, cuddled with and named. So now...I introduce to you...(drum roll please)..."Whopper".

Ain't he cute?! He's a bit of a Nervous Nelly, but fun nonetheless. And his little squeaking, "wheeking" as they call it, is too funny. This new addition brings our mini-farm to a total of eleven occupants. Which I may or may not have mentioned before. In the event that I haven't...here's a pictorial run-down of what our mini-farm consists of:

This is Jack, our Bichon-Poo. He is pretty much the best dog. Ever. Not just because he's ours, but because he's lazy, obedient and for the most part quiet. Just how every household dog should be, in my opinion. He's now five years old, sleeps in until 9:00 most mornings and jumps at the door to go potty. I pretty much think that babies should come out of the womb this way.

This is Mocha Latte, our cat. "Mocha" for short. People just get confused when we call for him by his full name. Understandably so. For the first part of his life we called him a "her" until we sent "her" in to be spayed. Turns out "she" needed a neuter instead. Who knew? He's six years old and de-clawed. Which is pretty much the best thing we ever did. (Sorry in advance to those of you whom are against that sort of thing...but either the claws or the furniture had to go. I chose the claws.) The odd part is that once we had him de-clawed he turned into the most affectionate lap cat. I like to think of it as his way of thanking me for taking his claws, yet sparing his life.

I'm fairly certain everyone has met "the girls". They're named Peep and Cheep, although we did re-name one Nasty. She's the real mean attack chicken. We're not sure why she does that. They're usually great egg layers, however, as of late they've pretty much gone on vacation. Between the heated waterer and layer feed their "occasional eggs" are costing far above and beyond what I could purchase at Shaw's. I told them yesterday that if they didn't start laying again soon we're having chicken stew.

Next we have the "bun-buns", Cocoa and Ginger. They're female lop-eared bunnies that are a little over a year old, soft and spunky. They are usually outdoor occupants, however this winter I just didn't have the heart to leave them out. And I wasn't willing to change frozen water bottles every few hours. So presently they reside indoors in separate cages. They used to be able to share residence, but it seems as though they have differences that they are unable to reconcile. They had quite a few sisterly spats that left fur flying and bodily injury. We decided time apart would be good for them.

This is Franklin, a red-eared slider. He came to us quite illegally from Florida when my brother boarded a plane with a few of these stowed away. He's been with us for about five years now, and in all honesty we really have no clue what "his" true gender is. He has a rather boring life, doesn't get fed often enough, hibernates some in the winter, and has a rather large tumor on the side of his face. He may not be with us much longer. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't notice much of a difference if he weren't. Poor little neglected guy. Or gal.

This is Freddie the mouse. And yes, he lives in a cake house with a cherry on top. I'm envious about that, actually. Freddie is Hubs' contribution to the mini-farm. He decided we needed a mouse. We actually have a free-range one living somewhere in the loins of our home. But this one we decided to pay money for and provide living accommodations and food. The reasoning of why we purchased a mouse and invited the very critter that most people try to eliminate from their homes is still a bit foggy...

This is our other guinea, Carmel. Car-car, as we call her. Lexi purchased her (and her sister) on her fifth birthday. She's sweet, happy, overweight and bordering on elderly. Pretty much the persona of me in another forty years...or so. She seems to be much happier since her aggressive, bossy sister passed away this past summer. She's even gained some weight since then. She gets lots of extra treats from all in the house. I guess that makes us her enablers.

Lastly is Flash-Dash. Apparently she was deserving of two names. She's a Beta fish. In case you couldn't tell. And yes, she is in water, in case you were concerned. Kaytlin bought her about a year ago, and she's been pretty low maintenance. Mocha Latte especially loves the way she flavors the water in her fish bowl. We find him lingering and lapping quite often. I would like to think that they're buds, however there's just something about the look in Mocha's eye that makes me wonder...it's kind of a fish-lust look.

Combine all that with three little girls and you have one full, noisy and often stinky house! But it's all good. At least that's what I keep telling myself.