Pets

Here is my childhood pet inventory:

- 1 Hamster: lost under the fridge, never found.
- 1 Canary: "Sunny". I remember putting her in a shoebox when she died. My dad helped us burry her at a park near our home.
- 3 Guinea Pigs: All three were Jake's pets and we did not have all three at the same time. They came in succession. Each had a severe encounter with our dog and would be replaced until we decided Jake should not go through the trauma any more.
- 1 Black Lab: "Lizzie", had her forever. She was the best dog. It was really hard when my mom and I had to take her to the humane society to put her down. She was really old.
- About 30 Cats: "Blackie" was my favorite; there was also "Rascal" - who abandoned her kittens after they were born. "Blackie" adopted them and nursed those plus her own kittens. Most of the other cats we had were just kittens. We would keep them until they could eat dry cat food and then we would give them away.
- 1 Lizard: "Shades". We caught a lizard up at Jump Creek Falls and kept it as a pet. I remember buying it a cage and a heating rock. It was really fun to go to the pet store and buy live grasshoppers for it to eat. Shades died also. My brothers and I must have heard of embalmment somewhere because we stuffed Shades with rosemary and then buried him in a purple velvet jewelry case.