Animals, specifically pets.
I'm in a random sort of mood tonight, so while I'm procrastinating on doing my quality control at work (I loathe this one aspect of my job--it's incredibly tedious and feels suspiciously like busy-work) I've been thinking about pets.
Those of you who've known me long enough will not be surprised when I say I really like having pets. I had a dog when I was little (from when I was born until the day I turned 13--literally, my dog passed on my birthday), as well as hamsters and birds when I was a teenager. The same day I moved out of my parents' home I went to the SPCA and adopted two cats, and have never had fewer than three cats at any given time since 2003. The first thing I did when I got a house was adopt a dog.
In my ideal world, I'd have a house crammed full of pets of all shapes and sizes. If I could get away with it, I'd have the house full of cats, and at least two dogs, if not more.
I harbour a not-so-secret dream of having one of those really beautiful aquariums filled with fish. Maybe not a salt water aquarium because those are hellishly difficult to maintain, but a freshwater one would do just as nicely. I have a Pinterest board devoted to aquariums, because I love fish and it gives me great pleasure
Just before I found out that my apartment building was being sold and I decided to buy a house, I had everything in place to get myself some pet ferrets, right down to buying a cage and a few accessories after doing tons of research on whether ferrets would be a good addition to my household of multiple cats (I didn't have Sergent yet), and whether my work schedule would be suitable for all their needs, since ferrets are intelligent and very social and need a fair bit of stimulation.
In my family my mother was the bird lover, and we had canaries and finches for years. The canaries didn't live very long, poor things. The two we had each succumbed to respiratory infections (the second one got sick while it was boarding at a veterinary clinic when we went on holiday), but the finches lived with us for over a decade and the vet was amazed at how old they were when we told her. Even though the birds were my mother's love, I miss being in a house filled with bird song. Also, I have had a long fascination with all the various birds in the parrot family. My godmother used to keep budgerigars (I also had one when I was eleven) and taught them to speak and sing and whistle, and I've always known them to be active, affectionate little birds. I've wanted a parrot since I was eight years old, though we never got one, mostly for financial reasons, I think. I also never got a parrot in spite of how much I wanted one, because they are incredibly expensive, and since my job kept me away for entire days it wasn't a good idea. Parrots are extraordinarily intelligent and suffer from boredom and anxiety if they're not given enough stimulation. So my job kind of ruled that out.
There are any number of other more "exotic" pets that are on my list of "would totally have," as well. Rabbits, rats, hamsters, hedgehogs (I think they're legal in Canada, but I haven't really checked). I'm not as fond of our cold-blooded friends, so I don't think I'd ever choose to keep reptiles or amphibians, but pdaughter brought her turtle Karma to live with us, and I'm rather fond of her. She's a very sociable turtle, as far as a turtle that lives in a tank can be sociable. She tends to try to swim through the glass to be with the people in the room, which is fun. So, yes, she might be changing my mind about cold-blooded creatures in general.
It's always been a bit of a struggle for me not to respond to every post I see about a cat or a dog needing a new home. I hate the idea of any animal being unwanted/without a forever home. I'm getting better at not feeling horrible every time I see one of those posts, but it's hard. ;)
This is all stuff I fantasize about at the same time as my "if I win the lottery" fantasy. My job and current commute make it absolutely impossible to consider getting any more pets than we currently have, not to mention that, y'know, pets are now a joint decision rather than a solo one.
Not to mention, pets are a huge responsibility. Right now I'm facing a metric assload of vet bills in my not-so-distant future (tests for Sergent, medication, and all the seasonal shots for him and the cats), and that's the price one pays for having animals in one's care. You can't just have the pets for company but then not give them the care they need. It's part of the having-a-pet contract. They supply you with infinite, unconditional love, and you ensure their quality of life and love them back. That means that you can't have pets that are outside your budget. The more "exotic" your pet, the more money you're going to need to throw into the mix, both for their basic care and for veterinary costs.
Pets are a joy, but they're not toys and they're not belongings that you can simply put to the curb when they malfunction and you can't afford to get them repaired. You are responsible for making sure they're taken care of for all of their lives (which is why I was heartbroken when I had to re-home Smudge. It was the best decision for everyone, and he's very happy now, but it was a heart-wrenching decision and I still feel like I failed him). If your animal is suffering, that's on you, and it's up to you to make sure that they don't suffer needlessly. That will often mean vet bills. Now, I'm more than familiar with being faced with unexpected and extraordinarily steep vet bills, and sometimes having to make the hard choice of "we can't afford that now." It sucks. It sucks a lot. But it's one of the reasons I didn't take in more pets years ago, because I knew that if more than one animal got sick, I wouldn't be able to cover all those costs, and I wasn't willing to take that chance.
So the long and the short of it is, that I have a little mental house (like a cottage version of a mind palace) in which I keep dozens of pets. A complete menagerie. I do very much enjoy visiting my mind cottage, and maybe in a few years, when things have settled and I'm no longer splitting my time between two cities, a version of that cottage will become reality. :)
Those of you who've known me long enough will not be surprised when I say I really like having pets. I had a dog when I was little (from when I was born until the day I turned 13--literally, my dog passed on my birthday), as well as hamsters and birds when I was a teenager. The same day I moved out of my parents' home I went to the SPCA and adopted two cats, and have never had fewer than three cats at any given time since 2003. The first thing I did when I got a house was adopt a dog.
In my ideal world, I'd have a house crammed full of pets of all shapes and sizes. If I could get away with it, I'd have the house full of cats, and at least two dogs, if not more.
I harbour a not-so-secret dream of having one of those really beautiful aquariums filled with fish. Maybe not a salt water aquarium because those are hellishly difficult to maintain, but a freshwater one would do just as nicely. I have a Pinterest board devoted to aquariums, because I love fish and it gives me great pleasure
Just before I found out that my apartment building was being sold and I decided to buy a house, I had everything in place to get myself some pet ferrets, right down to buying a cage and a few accessories after doing tons of research on whether ferrets would be a good addition to my household of multiple cats (I didn't have Sergent yet), and whether my work schedule would be suitable for all their needs, since ferrets are intelligent and very social and need a fair bit of stimulation.
In my family my mother was the bird lover, and we had canaries and finches for years. The canaries didn't live very long, poor things. The two we had each succumbed to respiratory infections (the second one got sick while it was boarding at a veterinary clinic when we went on holiday), but the finches lived with us for over a decade and the vet was amazed at how old they were when we told her. Even though the birds were my mother's love, I miss being in a house filled with bird song. Also, I have had a long fascination with all the various birds in the parrot family. My godmother used to keep budgerigars (I also had one when I was eleven) and taught them to speak and sing and whistle, and I've always known them to be active, affectionate little birds. I've wanted a parrot since I was eight years old, though we never got one, mostly for financial reasons, I think. I also never got a parrot in spite of how much I wanted one, because they are incredibly expensive, and since my job kept me away for entire days it wasn't a good idea. Parrots are extraordinarily intelligent and suffer from boredom and anxiety if they're not given enough stimulation. So my job kind of ruled that out.
There are any number of other more "exotic" pets that are on my list of "would totally have," as well. Rabbits, rats, hamsters, hedgehogs (I think they're legal in Canada, but I haven't really checked). I'm not as fond of our cold-blooded friends, so I don't think I'd ever choose to keep reptiles or amphibians, but pdaughter brought her turtle Karma to live with us, and I'm rather fond of her. She's a very sociable turtle, as far as a turtle that lives in a tank can be sociable. She tends to try to swim through the glass to be with the people in the room, which is fun. So, yes, she might be changing my mind about cold-blooded creatures in general.
It's always been a bit of a struggle for me not to respond to every post I see about a cat or a dog needing a new home. I hate the idea of any animal being unwanted/without a forever home. I'm getting better at not feeling horrible every time I see one of those posts, but it's hard. ;)
This is all stuff I fantasize about at the same time as my "if I win the lottery" fantasy. My job and current commute make it absolutely impossible to consider getting any more pets than we currently have, not to mention that, y'know, pets are now a joint decision rather than a solo one.
Not to mention, pets are a huge responsibility. Right now I'm facing a metric assload of vet bills in my not-so-distant future (tests for Sergent, medication, and all the seasonal shots for him and the cats), and that's the price one pays for having animals in one's care. You can't just have the pets for company but then not give them the care they need. It's part of the having-a-pet contract. They supply you with infinite, unconditional love, and you ensure their quality of life and love them back. That means that you can't have pets that are outside your budget. The more "exotic" your pet, the more money you're going to need to throw into the mix, both for their basic care and for veterinary costs.
Pets are a joy, but they're not toys and they're not belongings that you can simply put to the curb when they malfunction and you can't afford to get them repaired. You are responsible for making sure they're taken care of for all of their lives (which is why I was heartbroken when I had to re-home Smudge. It was the best decision for everyone, and he's very happy now, but it was a heart-wrenching decision and I still feel like I failed him). If your animal is suffering, that's on you, and it's up to you to make sure that they don't suffer needlessly. That will often mean vet bills. Now, I'm more than familiar with being faced with unexpected and extraordinarily steep vet bills, and sometimes having to make the hard choice of "we can't afford that now." It sucks. It sucks a lot. But it's one of the reasons I didn't take in more pets years ago, because I knew that if more than one animal got sick, I wouldn't be able to cover all those costs, and I wasn't willing to take that chance.
So the long and the short of it is, that I have a little mental house (like a cottage version of a mind palace) in which I keep dozens of pets. A complete menagerie. I do very much enjoy visiting my mind cottage, and maybe in a few years, when things have settled and I'm no longer splitting my time between two cities, a version of that cottage will become reality. :)