A New Adventure Each Day

We never know what a day may bring. Today it's a cute little chihuahua that was found in our front yard. We had been thinking we need less pets so we can not keep doggy. When Laura went out to water this morning there was a cute little dog that was not moving under the water spigot next to the house. Who knows how long she had been there waiting for rescue. I think she had given up as she did not even accept water or food at first. She may have been lost for some time. I see lost dogs, especially chihuahuas, quite often. I might have even seen her on the next block when we drove by earlier in the week.

I asked a few neighbors to be sure she was not theirs as I knew at least two have chihuahuas. Then I called animal control to come for her. They will be here sometime today. I feel bad to have to do this, but this gives her owner a better chance of finding her. I already know that putting a lost and found ad in the paper does not bring the desired results. Anyway that is our experience. We ended up keeping the dogs we tried this with. We are down to no dogs, but we have too many cats so no more animals allowed at this time. We are still waiting for animal control to get here. They were real busy this morning when I called.

This has been a busy week with all of our going places with Bill. Monday we went to the mountains and the desert. We found a real interesting mountain road that was long and narrow that I had never been on before. Bill had done part of it once before. We finally had to turn around when it became more narrow and rough, but it was fun while it lasted. A number of trails go off from this road. Bill had hiked a ways on one a week or two earlier. The purpose of the ride was for the birders in the family to find a certain bird. They heard it but I don't know if they ever saw it on Monday. This trip found me without a camera due to my forgetting it. This was a picture perfect day too. I had mountain pictures recently though.

We also went to Borrego Springs on Monday. There I am without a camera and I see things I want to photograph. The large sculptures would have been a great addition to the pictures I have taken with Bill's camera. There was an article in the paper the other day about these sculptures. I had seen articles before too. We went to Borrego Springs by way of Julian and Banner grade, past Scissors Crossing and then north into Borrego Springs. Bill knows the good birding spots so we did a few of them, then we headed west to Ranchita. We did a quick trip to Warner Springs just to say we had been there. Then we looked at some birds on Lake Henshaw before continuing south towards Ramona for more birds, and then headed home. A full day, yet we got home while it was light out. We had left home before sunrise as we often do on these trips. Would have been some good sunrise pictures.

Thursday was another interesting day with the birders of the family. I remembered the camera this time. We headed to Point Loma for some birding. I read the paper while Paul, Laura and Bill did their birding. I always take something to read for those times I want to stay in the car. I was saving my walking for the main event of this trip. We went to LaJolla for our traditional walk at the cove. The birders were enjoying the day and I was taking a lot of pictures. Actually Laura and I walked together in LaJolla, enjoying the scenery along the way. Bill had his long lens camera with him so he also enjoyed taking pictures. The LaJolla Cove is one place we always like to go when we have the opportunity.

We were not quite done in LaJolla as we also enjoyed a ride up Mount Soledad to the Veterans Memorial and the cross. I always find John Moorhouse's plaque and picture on the wall there. It is honoring him and his time in the Marines. He is a purple heart veteran and has a story to tell. In the past we have found plaques honoring President Reagan and Bob Hope among other familiar names. We enjoyed a ride to LaJolla and Mount Soledad with Madeline and Steve not too many years ago. We always enjoyed our special excursions with them over the years. Steve is no longer with us, but we still have special times with my dear friend Madeline.

Yesterday brought out the adventurer in all of us, with Bill at the wheel as usual. We headed north to Del Mar where our birders know some good birding spots at the lagoon. This seems to be a new traditional place for them to spot birds. Heading south afterwards it was decided to not go straight home, but head to another scenic place. Going east to LaMesa and up Mount Helix was next on the agenda. Paul, Laura and I had been there with Madeline and Steve a number of years earlier. Mount Helix is a great place for a view of LaMesa and the ElCajon area, a great photo op like Mount Soledad. We have never done both of these mountains in one excursion. This is the first time doing Mount Helix with Bill. These are very small mountains right in the middle of the city, but are special with crosses on top of each. Thankfully I had a good camera to take pictures.

Our cute little doggy was picked up by a nice animal control officer in the middle of the afternoon. She apologized for being so slow in arriving to pick up the dog. She made sure I did not want an adoption hold on doggy, but she also realized I did not really want more pets. She noted that our cats looked well fed and admired our fluffy kitty. I hope this will be a happy ending for our little chihuahua. They will check her to see if she has a micro chip so she may have a chance to see her owners again. Otherwise I hope she gets a good home soon. I like chihuahuas and would have kept her if it had been realistic.

Originally written Friday, October 21, 2011
first picture is Paul and little Chihuahua we found
next pictures are of Caroline
last picture is Paul, Laura and Bill at Mt.Helix

A Full House

In the early eighties we had a full house with our family and plenty of pets. Our youngest son joined the Marines in 1980 while he was still seventeen years old. Otherwise all of our children were at home and my niece Elizabeth had come for a long visit with her dog Mouse. Originally she was in town to visit her grandmother, but she ended up at our house for five years.

With Kathy, Laura, Bill, Elizabeth, Paul and me plus five dogs and a number of cats we needed every inch of space in our house. It was a good thing we added a room in 1979. We managed to make room for other pets as the years flew by.

One little kitten needed a home when some children found her and brought her to us. When I took her in I said she was just temporary until we found another home for her. Well, her name became Temporary and we had her for fifteen years. She was a sweet little black and white cat. Although she sometimes had a temper so she was sometimes called Temper.

Another found kitten became Elizabeth's kitty. Raven was a pretty black cat. One time she disappeared for a while and came home with a broken hip. We took her to the vet but they didn't need to operate on her. She ended up with her signature limp for the rest of her life. When Elizabeth moved back to her home in Billings, Montana in 1985 Raven went too, as did Mouse, her dog.

On one of our birding trips to Buena Vista Lagoon in the Oceanside area we noticed someone leaving a chicken there to join all the ducks and geese. We decided to catch the young chicken and bring it home. It would not have fared well with all the wild birds. Other people have left pet ducks there and they really shouldn't do that. We got home with our new pet chicken and decided to name it Katy. It was not long before we changed it to Carl as it was a rooster. He grew quite large and would crow in the morning if we left him outside at night.

Paul worked nights so had a routine of catching Carl when he got home at night. Paul would put Carl in a box in the garage so he could not wake up the whole neighborhood in the morning. This routine worked out quite nicely. Carl got taller than our dogs and picked on them. After enough of this our dogs got even. I felt bad when I discovered that one of the dogs had snapped back one time too many. Carl was dead. I could not eat this pet. None of us could.

When Griff graduated from basic training with the Marines we happened to have a lot of family in town. So he had at least one aunt and a number of cousins as well as grandparents and our family at his graduation in San Diego. Then the next day we had a large family portrait taken with my mother and all of her children and grandchildren. Only one of my brothers-in-law was missing in the portrait. In later years we had some other large family pictures taken with different combinations of people.

In 1983 Griff was in Okinawa and life was continuing to change in our family. When Griff left for Okinawa Kathy was single and did not even have a boy friend. By the time he returned home Kathy was married and expecting her first baby. The big wedding was in September of 1983. It was a special time for our family. We had four generations in attendance. John Golden was the lucky guy. We knew John for some time as we knew his first wife and her family for years.

John's son Michael was the ring bearer despite a broken arm. He was a cute seven year old. A friend of theirs was the flower girl. Kathy had two of her cousins, Elizabeth and Debra, and her sister Laura as her attendants at the wedding. Two of John's friends and Kathy's brother Bill stood up with John at the wedding as well as being ushers. Kathy made her own wedding gown as well as the flower girl's dress. Laura and Elizabeth made their dresses. Donna made Debra's dress. There were other personal touches and we prepared all the food too.

So while Elizabeth was with us in San Diego we had a lot going on. We needed her willing hands in preparing for the wedding. Her brother Matthew was here for the wedding and was also a great help. We had friends that also added their special touch to the wedding reception. This was when we were going to Midway Baptist Church so Pastor Baize was the one who married Kathy and John.

Elizabeth was still here when Rebecca Jean Golden was born in 1984. By then Griff was back and had surprised us with his good news. Soon after he was home he shared with us that he was engaged to be married. He brought Josie here from the Philippines that summer. They went to Las Vegas to get married  and Bill went with them. It was dedication on Bill's part because he rode in the back of Griff's truck through the hot desert. We couldn't go as our car needed work done on it. I hated to miss out.

At a later date we had a party for them at Kathy and John's house. I loved my new daughter and we developed a close relationship with each other over the years. I'm sad to say that after about sixteen years of marriage they got divorced. This was even sadder for them. I still consider Josie to be a daughter. She still calls me Mom.

Early in 1985 Elizabeth's parents came to San Diego to take her back home to Billings. Five years was a nice amount of time to really get to know my niece good enough to be a daughter. While she was with us I let her do much of the cooking. Her family have cooking skills that I do not have. She also made birthday cakes and other special desserts for us. She made the cake and cupcakes for the party for Griff and Josie.

With Elizabeth and her cat and dog gone we had less bodies in the house and we missed them. But we had our new little family nearby to visit. I got to baby sit for my new little granddaughter too. That was fun. We also had our son and his bride in the Oceanside area to visit. They were all here for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Actually Elizabeth was still here on Becky's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. By the time Becky had her second Thanksgiving the Goldens were in Washington state. Boy did we miss our little Becky and her parents when they moved away.

It must be getting quiet at our house by now. We only had four of us living here besides the pets. But there are always more pet stories. Later in the decade, I think in 1988, Bill joined the Air Force. Now we are down to just Paul, Laura and me and the pets. In 1989 the Golden family moved back to San Diego so they were nearby again. By this time they had cute little Melissa Joy with them. She was born in August of 1988. They would be in town until John retired from the Navy in 1992.

There were trips to see the Goldens in Colorado to look forward to. There were trips with Bill to enjoy as he likes to travel and go birding with his dad. Each trip has an adventure to share as I put photo albums together. It is a blessing to see our children leave the nest and then continue to share their lives with us. We have more memories to make as time goes by.

first picture- Elizabeth Hamilton and her dog Mouse,
second picture-our kitty Temporary,
next picture- large family portrait with Mom and family,
then the wedding of Kathy and John Golden with four generations-
this picture included most of the family at the wedding.
fifth picture-my sister Betty with her daughter Elizabeth 
& my daughter Laura.
last picture-Michael, Becky and Melissa Golden.

Our Little Helpers

This morning when I was mopping the floors our kitty Spotty was also busy. He had to be with me every minute trying to help me with my job. Reminds me of a two year old child wanting to be involved. I could not take my work too seriously when it was so amusing to watch Spotty. This is often the story of my day. There is always one kitty or another ready and waiting for action.

When we sit there is always a purring kitty on our laps or nearby. Buddy loves to help Paul with his reading. He spends much of his time on Paul's lap when possible. Buddy is one of our orange tiger kitties. The latest is for two orange cats to share the chair with Paul. As Paul says,"We redheads have to stick together." Paul used to be a redhead before his hair turned snow white.

Little Luke spent many months living in our bedroom as he was traumatized by his move from Josie's house to ours. Spotty had originally been hers too, but he was totally different than Luke. Spotty took ownership of our house and adjusted nicely. We have had Spotty for a number of years. Luke is just now coming out of the bedroom after one and a half years. Now Luke won't even go near our room. He is enjoying the new found activity of having the run of the house. Luke is the second orange kitty on Paul's chair now days.

Some of our kitties originally belonged to a neighbor family. The neighbors have large dogs and we are free of dogs now days so the cats choose our yard. Before you know it they are in our house. Our neighbors keep good care of their cats so that is not the problem. I think we are too welcoming and we need to close the door to any new kitties. We prefer our yard to be a safer place for birds so try to keep the cats inside.

There is always another pet story waiting to be written. I'm thankful that God made animals for us to enjoy.  :)

Photo credit: Laura Marvin

A Pigeon Story

Over the years we have had a number of pigeons. Some were young ones Paul brought home from North Island where he worked. When a young one would fall out of the nest Paul is the one people would turn to to care for the bird. Just because Paul was a birder it was assumed he was an expert with birds. Though not a pro at caring for them he has a big heart and could not say no to helping with the young pigeons.

We found a pretty white pigeon on a busy highway, near the freeway, one time. We rescued it as it was in trouble. We brought it home and cared for it. We had it for some time.

We ended up with a cage full of pigeons for a period of time. Paul built one cage we used for a number of years. Later on a neighbor gave us a larger cage that we put to good use. Eventually all the pigeons flew the coup one way or other. We had pigeons in our yard for quite a while.

Since we had the cage of pigeons we also attracted other birds. We were able to catch a cockatiel that must have been someones pet at one time. Birdie flew into the pigeon coup for food and water which enabled us to catch him. We had him for a number of years in his own cage in the house. Paul named him Cockatiel Dundee. Cockatiels originate from Australia and Paul thought of Crocodile Dundee, thus Cockatiel Dundee. Our Birdie, as I called him, did not let us handle him as he was not used to handling. He got used to us being near him and liked attention. He could hear our car in the driveway and knew when someone was coming home. He would get all excited.

Cockatiel Dundee lived a good life for a bird that could have been a good catch for a cat. Other birds  have not been so lucky. We have tried rescuing others with no success. At this time we do our best to keep our cats inside. We do not want our cats to catch birds. We had one cat a number of years ago that caught two birds at once. And that is the truth.

Later on when our pigeon cage was empty we got a young pigeon from one of our neighbor children. J.J. is the child who found the pigeon and gave it to us. I named our new birdie J.J. after our little friend. We kept J.J. in a cage in the house as the weather was too cold for him to be outside. Our birdie got used to being in the house near us. But when he got older and the weather was better we put him in the large cage outside. He thrived as expected.

Eventually the door to the cage fell off and it was time to let J.J. fly the coup. After all he was a pigeon that needed to spread his wings and fly. He stayed nearby and made friends with some other pigeons. He would walk into the house if the door was open. He was comfortable with us.

We would leave the door open for the dogs to go in and out. J.J. thought it was for him. One day when we got home from doing our errands we were greeted by J.J. and his girl friend up on our bookshelves. When J.J. left the house he left his girlfriend behind and she was not happy being with all those strange people. She was in a scary place without him. She eventually flew outside to join him. He continued to visit us for sometime. Eventually the pigeons discontinued visiting our yard. We still enjoy other birds in our yard.

Got Pets

Continuing the play on the "Got Milk" ads. Earlier I wrote "Got Memories" which I had originally planned to be about pets. We have always had a lot of pets. Ever since we got our first kittens soon after we were married our home has never been without at least one cat.

Paul and I also enjoyed many pets as children. Paul's mother had a soft spot in her heart for animals. There was always a dog in their lives as far as I know. They had two bunnies when I first knew their family. One was a little wild bunny named Ozzie that came from North Island. The other bunny was a large white rabbit similar to one our children had in the sixties.

Paul's mother had a darling parakeet that she let fly around their house. Pedro learned some words and could sing, or whistle, "Take me out to the ball game." He got out one time and she was able to call him back into the house. But when he got out again, probably on someones shoulder, they did not realize he was missing in time to get him back. Mom was very very upset about losing her little friend.

My sisters and I had cats that we loved as well as other assorted pets. I had parakeets and a favorite little turtle. We also had a pet hen named Susie Q that traveled from Coronado to Washington state with us in 1949. Mac, my turtle made the trip with us too. We left Susie Q on the farm when we came back to California later that same year. My turtle made the trip south with us along with a kitten. Then in 1950, after moving back to California, we got a puppy that my mother named BeBop. We had him a couple of years. We continued to have cats all through my teen years.

There were always farm animals when we lived with our grandparents on the farm. Besides the cows and chickens there were pigs and one work horse. I remember Grandma warming newborn piglets next to the old wood stove when the mommy pig couldn't care for so many little piglets. There were cats in the barn and on a rare occasion we had a pet kitten on the farm. There was always a farm dog. I remember my parents taking Buddy for a ride when we went to get ice cream cones. They bought the dog a cone too. That would be an amazing treat for a farm dog.

On the farm as young children we accepted that animals were mostly for the survival of the family. Cows were for milking, mostly. The chickens were for eggs or a good chicken dinner. I have always hoped Susie Q didn't end up in a pot of stew, but times were tough so who knows. The pigs were also used for meat. That is the way it was. The cats and dogs were not usually house pets.

I remember one of our first pet cats we had when I was ten years old and living at our grandparents' home in Coronado. He was a pretty fluffy kitty and my sisters and I loved him a lot. He died unexpectedly and we cried and cried about this loss. We went on to have more special kitties over the years. We continued to be sensitive to their needs.

My children grew up with a lot of pets, mostly kitties. It would take a book to share about each pet. We also had birds which doesn't always work with cats. We had Henrietta our first cute little dog. She was part Dachshund. She had one litter of puppies, and it was a difficult delivery for her so she ended up having surgery to have the final pup. That one did not survive. One other pup also died during her labor. She had four healthy pups and we found homes for each of them. Their daddy was a Dachshund which was appropriate.

I can't begin to remember all the kittens we had. But we got to where we were able to have all of our cats fixed so there were no more litters of kittens. Charlie was one of our earliest cats. Charlie ended up having kittens so we obviously gave her the wrong name. After her largest litter she went out and got hit by a car and ended up with a broken hip. She had surgery for this injury and we had to bottle feed some of the kittens. We eventually got her spayed so she got a reprieve from nursing kittens.

Other pets included guinea pigs which are a favorite of ours. There were hamsters, mice, rats and a chipmunk. We originally had two chipmunks but one got injured on their wheel and did not survive surgery. It was not illegal for pet shops to sell little wild animals in those days. Charlie the Chipmunk lasted a number of years. He was part of our collection when Bill's second grade class came to our house on Olive Lane to see our zoo. We also had a large white bunny that we got for Easter in 1966. He got into the neighbors yard and mated with their bunny so they had little bunnies. Several years later we had a little black bunny that we named Happy Hare. He ran around the house playing with the cats.

After we moved to our present home in 1973 we got a cute little dog that Griff named Nipper. She could have been a cockapoo. Later on a little poodle got into our yard and mated with her. She had three sons and we kept them all. We named them Doug, Sheldon and Herschel (Hershey). They lived a long time, especially Hershey who lived fifteen years. We had other dogs along the way too.

In 1980 my niece Elizabeth came from Montana to visit us after she graduated from high school. She ended up staying for five years along with her dog, Mouse. With Mouse added to our dogs we had five dogs in the house at that time. Actually her dog was the most well behaved of all the dogs.

Other dogs we have had over the years are Susie, Sam, Bear, Mandy and Sammy. I could be forgetting one. Each pet has a story to tell. We have not gotten any at the shelter as they seem to find us. The pups, Henrietta and Nipper, were acquired on purpose. The others found us in various ways.

We also had turtles at various times. Two turtles that we got while we lived in Coronado moved with us to our present home. They were originally very small turtles that lived in a bowl, but ended up in a little children's plastic pool in our back yard. We had them for more than thirty years until a raccoon came into our yard and injured them. We did not know there were raccoons in our area until then. We had to have them euthanized due to their injuries. We had box turtles when we lived in Coronado. We had a desert tortoise, that was found walking down the street, after we moved here.

One of our kitties was named Phantom as Paul found her at work where the Phantom jets were. Our Phantom was a tiny kitten when Paul found her. We had her for nineteen years. Griff now has a large kitty named Phantom. He is named after our original Phantom. We also had a kitten we named Temporary as we were not going to keep her. We had her for many many years. Early on we had a kitty named Goldwater that we had for many years. We had him when our boys were babies and moved twice with him.

If I forgot any pets they will be another story for another day. We only have kitties at this time, but there are more than I care to admit to.  Got pets!!  :)

images from Marvin family album

A Tub Full of Trouble

When our children were little we always had an assortment of pets. We always had cats and sometimes had turtles. We also had a little dog for a number of years. No home is complete without a purring cat or other favorite pet.

When I cleaned the turtle bowl I would often let the turtles swim in the tub for awhile. One day little two year old Laura decided to add some kittens, toilet paper and more water to the tub of turtles. Thankfully I found the kittens before disaster struck. But one of the kittens had a cast on its leg and did not need any more trauma in its life.

Children and pets are quite an interesting combination. You will never be bored with this mixture. When our son Bill was in the second grade we had so many pets that his whole class came to our house to see our zoo.

image credit: abcrumley