Hamsters and Gerbils and Skunks! Oh, My!

True story. When construction of the Sturbridge Hill house was finally complete and we moved in, my Dad thought it would be neat if we came up with a name for the house. Many stately homes and estates were named, and I think my parents knew that this house was about as grand as we would ever have. He suggested our house be named "Kinder-Berg" meaning Children's Mountain in German. Nice, but a little too high-brow for us kids. Someone suggested "The Shoe" as in "the old lady who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do". My mom objected to that one for obvious reasons. Tommy thought "The Zoo" better described our habitat - and it went downhill from there. We never did settle on a name for the house. 

But speaking of zoos, this post is about the pets we had when we were growing up. Of all my brothers and sisters, I'm probably the least suited to write about this subject since I am not a pet person. Don't get me wrong - I love animals. But I never got that feeling that animals are part of the family - if they are, they sure create a lot of work without contributing much. But that's just my opinion. 

I had a pet fish when I was about five. Her name was Isabelle and she was a rare black goldfish. She was the size and shape of an angelfish - in fact I always thought she was an angelfish until I was much older. She was graceful and beautiful. She lived in a fishbowl and I had her for a long time. 

With so many kids in our family, it's not surprising that we had our fair share of dogs, cats, birds, guina pigs, hamsters and gerbils. We acquired a few dogs because the back boarder of our yard was a cinderblock wall, and over the wall was a busy highway. My mom kept the playpen on the back porch, amid our tricycles, peddle cars and other toys. So people who had puppies that they couldn't keep would sneak over the wall and place a puppy in the playpen. I'm sure the owner thought, "this little guy will have a good life with all these kids." Two dogs we got this way were named Fritz and Freckles. We didn't have them at the same time, but in my memory they were like one dog. I think they were both beagles, and my mom said they were very smart. All I know is that we owned one or both of them when I was going through wearing corrective shoes to fix my knock knees. Those shoes were expensive! And it never failed - if I forgot to put my shoes in the closet before bed, I'd have chewed up shoes (and a stern scolding) in the morning. I went through at least three pairs of shoes that way!

We didn't have Fritz or Freckles, or any other pet, for very long. I'm not sure where they went. If I felt anything when they disappeared, it was relief - no more chewed shoes. 

We adopted a stray cat the summer before we moved from California. My mom named her Lady because her markings looked like she was wearing a strapless ball gown. Lady became sick with feline leukemia, so when we moved we couldn't bring her. My dad said he brought her to a farm for sick animals, so it was OK. 

Cherie is a natural animal lover and there wasn't a tadpole, turtle, butterfly or small animal she wasn't fascinated by. Through the years she had several guina pigs and maybe a bunny? Dad built cages that were kept in the side yard of our house. Again, these creatures were little interest and a little scary to me, so I don't remember much about them. Only that one of them was named Snowball. And Cherie had a skunk (de-scented) and a ferret at different intervals when she was in high school. Those little furry friends guaranteed I wouldn't go into her room! 

About the time we moved to Illinois, Rick was given a pair of gerbils as a gift. He named them Venus and Jupiter. It was not long before they started to multiply, and multiply, until there was a whole wall of cages in the basement. The local pet store took some of the offspring, but not all, so there were gerbils at our house for years! 

There were other small pets that one or another of us had, but I don't remember anything that could be considered a family pet until we got Gaylord when we lived in Connecticut. Gaylord was a basset hound and always had the saddest look. My dad brought him home one day as a surprise. My mom was not amused for several reasons, but that's another story. All of us thought he was wonderful and bonded with our new dog quickly. We immediately started searching for the perfect puppy name.  We didn't like Ferndog, as he was called at the kennel, and when Gaylord was suggested, it just fit.  

Gaylord saved Kitty's life when he darted in front of a oil truck that was headed down our street toward Kitty. He suffered a broken front leg, but recovered. 

Then, within the blink of an eye, the oldest kids in our family were starting to move away from home. No one was paying attention or caring for Gaylord,  so a new home was found for him. 

I'm sure there were other pets and special stories that I've forgotten. Let me know what you remember in the comments box. But right now, I've got to go feed the cat.........