All I Wanted

I was going to write a post about our vacation, highlighting some of The Best of the Best things that happened on the trip, as far as I was concerned. But I want to include pictures in that post, and My Dearly Beloved got to our main computer (where I had downloaded the pictures) before I did, and I don't have the heart to ask him to get off the computer so I can use it. So...here's a silly tidbit, having nothing to do with our vacation, and that's all I'll write tonight.

When it comes to pets, all I ever wanted was a collie. That's it. Just one dog. One gorgeous, friendly, loyal dog. Kind of like this:

Thanks to free-extras.com for the image.

Instead, here is what we have:

~ one kitten

~ two goats

~ three dogs (none of which are collies)

~ four rabbits (three of which belong to a friend who is out of town so we're "rabbit-sitting" for him...the fourth one was returned to us today by another friend; when the rabbits we had several years ago produced offspring, we gave her one; she used it in her classroom for a while, to the delight of her students, but since she's moving away, she asked if we could readopt it...we couldn't turn her down, now could we?)

~ one rooster

~ some hens (half a dozen maybe? I haven't counted for a while)

~ fish (I have no idea how many since I rarely even look at their tank)

~ and we used to have one sheep, until Jeff butchered it

How did we get such a menagerie? I'm not really sure. I think it has something to do with the fact that we can't say no when anyone asks us if we want an animal they're getting rid of. A few weeks ago, a bunch of kittens were left on the steps of my parents' church so that the Sunday morning churchgoers would see them, fall in love with them, and provide homes for all of them. My parents were very glad we weren't with them on that day because if we had been, our current cat population would probably be at least half a dozen.

I think there's another factor at work here, too. In a classic reversal of Genesis 3, I'll just say that "the man you put here with me"...the one YOU gave me...well, Lord...it's his fault. I didn't know when I married my mountain man from California that under his beard and plaid flannel shirt, he was actually a farmer!! :)

For now though, I'll keep being thankful for a few things:

~ that Jeff loves living in the country,

~ that Josiah is old enough and responsible enough to take care of the animals so I don't have to do it,

and

~ that someday, when I'm an old lady and my children have all left home and I have time to devote to another "baby," I might actually get to have my collie!!!

A woman can dream, after all. ;-)