Some of the souls have changed, but the fun continues

I wanted to take a few moments to update the members of our changing family. We have had a couple of really sad times with the death of our oldest cat and our guinea pig (Scruffy). When Scruffy got sick, Vickie worked very hard to try and save her, but she ended up continuing to get sicker and finally died.

Vickie waited for about 6 months before deciding that she wanted to adopt another guinea pig, which after a few weeks needed a friend. We have not really named either one of them, but the cats have taken them into our family.

Finally, I could not talk about the members of our family without saying that we seemed to have unintentionally got our neighbors dog, that we now call our "step dog".

So, the list of non-humans is (in order of size):
Gracey Grey
Genny Guinea
Abby
Jingle
Recon
Shem
Jasmine

The Great Jasmin Repair of 2010

Although I was sick for much of today, Vickie and I took Jasmine to the vet. For anyone that has been around our house lately, you know that our dog has a skin problem that has continued to worsen. She has gotten to the point of not wanting to touch her and she really stinks. Finally, we decided to take some of the tax return and spend it on vet bills for Jasmine.

Today was the first visit. I was embarrassed that the vet found six ticks, but otherwise it was OK. After all the examination, she does not have "The Mange" or anything. She is just a yellow lab with skin issues. Her skin and ears have a yeast infection and bacteria that is the main reason for the smell. For the next 4 weeks we have an entire page of procedures to follow: daily bathing, lotions, and medications. After only one day of this, we feel (maybe it is hoping) we can already see a difference.

How many souls sleep here?

When we go to sleep at night, it is fun to think about how many souls are nodding off under this roof that are not Mom, Dad, or one of the children.

Come in and meet the four legged family members (smallest to largest).

Scruffy - Abyssinian Australian Guinea Pig
Basically a ball of fur that eats, makes whistling noises, and drops little raisins. I was completely against getting the thing, now she is one of my favorite pets.

Abby - Berman - Ragdoll
The internet is not big enough to describe the attitude that this cat has. You know your cat is sexy when she is missing three teeth and is two toes short of a world record. She got lost once for almost two weeks. Once found and returned, she is terrified of leaving the yard.

Jingle - Black Short Hair Domestic
The cat that most disliked me when she arrived is now that one that Vickie swears cries "Dadddddyyy" when she walks by me. She acts like a six year old girl after her fathers affection.

Lou-Lou - Tabby / Short Hair Domestic
This is the "old-man" of the house. I have had him since 1994 and as far as I can tell, he thinks he is human. He would be the only cat still having front claws, although I don't believe he knows it.

Recon - Blue Point Siamese
This bad boy wakes up for about 1 hour a day, sleeps with his face always buried in something (carpet, pillow, another cat, etc.). When he is awake and plays, he is usually upside down or chasing a moth .... WEIRDO!

Shem - Bobbed Tailed Tabby / Short Hair Domestic
When he first moved into our house, he was so big we had to install a dog door instead of a cat door. This cat even has it's own facebook page, now that is a big, fat, lazy hunk of manly fur.

Jasmine - Yellow Labrador Retriever
She is one of the most gentle dogs I have ever met, even after we brought all these cats into her life. She so loves Vickie, she brings her bones, squirrels, rabbits, and chunks of dead deer.

Here are just a few of the fun facts about the animals.

• "Love me, love my cats", Vickie Gunderson, just before we got married.
• My mother (Mattie Bostic), really dislikes ALL the animals.
• It took almost 3 months to stop the cats from sleeping all over us.
• Shem has a thing for head butting and following women into the bathroom.
• The word "Shem" can be a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, depending on how it is used.
• Jingle can jump over six feet high to the top of a cabinet without any help.

I could continue with story after story, but maybe that will be something to write in another post.