Meet Ferdinand. He’s a Siamese fighting fish (a.k.a. Betta). We picked him up from Petsmart a few weeks ago. The name Ferdinand came to mind because he looks like a primped, puffed up Spanish conquistador. Granted his namesake (Ferdinand Magellan) was Portuguese and more of an explorer than conquistador. But he did sail under the Spanish flag, so hey.
In the store they keep the Bettas in little cups with blue-dyed water. I’m not sure why they do that. The dye gave him a blue tint. When we got him in the bowl, we found he was multiple shades of purple. We’ve got a hydroponically-grown Pothos and he seems to love it. He was making a bubble nest in the first few days. We initially got flake food for Bettas, but he never seemed to eat it. We switched to Betta Bites. They’re little floating pellets. He digs them.
Meet Sunny. She is our Lilac Point Siamese. She was given to Debra six years ago as a kitten. Like most Siamese, she’s got a quirky personality. She was shy when Daisy was still around. Now she’s much more active. She loves to get under foot in the morning. I’ve stepped on her more than a few times in my pre-caffeine haze. Sunny lounges with us before bed each night. She has no fear about standing up to Dulce. We found a pretty nice gash on her neck from one of their brawls. One of her less appealing habits is to meow at our door at 5:30A (or earlier). Sunny’s a good cat.
Debra and Kat spent last week packing up the condo. This week she’s been unpacking and getting her stuff settled. Now that her pantry is added to mine, we have enough food to feed a small army. We’ve both got too much ‘stuff’. I think we’ll slim down on the stuff we don’t need as we reorganize the house. As you can see, the baby’s room is coming along nicely (bottom right).
We made good progress yesterday. I’ll start cleaning out the nursery this week. View the whole photo set.
Daisy passed away last night. She’d been suffering for several years from kidney disease.
Daisy was found at her friend Tracey’s church behind a dumpster. Tracey knew she was looking for a cat and sent her home with Debra about 14 years ago. Although I never met him, I love hearing about Debra’s dog Doodle. Doodle and Daisy were quite close. Daisy would curl up with Doodle in his bed and lick his ear. If he tried to get up or move away, she gently grabbed his ear and held him there until he stayed in place to finish his bath. She definitely didn’t have that relationship with Dulce.
She was a tenacious cat. She always wanted to sit on your lap. If you told her no, she would sit and stare at you, making you so uncomfortable you would eventually relent and give up the lap. She also knew how to put Dulce in her place. Their evening battles were more entertaining than television.
Daisy was a sweet cat. We’ll miss her very much.
We’ve been blogging about our soon-to-be nuclear family, but never really introduced everyone to our current family. I should admit up front that I wasn’t much of an animal lover before I met Debra. We always had pets back in Merced (cats, dogs, birds, rats, etc.), but as an adult I’ve never had much need or patience. Enter Debra and her band of wayward critters. (Clockwise from top left: Dulce, Sunny, Mabel & Daisy)
Three of the four were strays found at or near Debra’s school. She took them all in and gave them a home. Now from the start the three non-canines and I got along pretty well. Daisy has a peculiar habit of wanting to drink from the faucet when you’re brushing or shaving. Turns out she has a nasty kidney problem which means she’s always thirsty.
Dulce and I had a rough start. One day I showed up at Debra’s with scones from Trader Joe’s. I love scones and was so looking forward to one the next morning. Dulce had other plans. She made quick work of the scones while we slept, leaving only a wrapper. We had a few other minor run-ins, but now we’re getting on nicely.
During our San Diego trip I was reluctant to admit to Debra my concern for the critters back home. What if the A/C breaks down? What if Dulce gets away from Christa during their walks? They were fine. I was just worried about them because they’re part of our family.
