Dogs and cats, horses and fish....OH MY!!!!!

I just thought I would share pictures of the critters that share my life. There is a lot of them. And each has its own story and personality. So here they are in no particular order. Some you have seen before, some you have not.

This here would be MY Tator Tot. He is without a doubt my favorite of all the outside dogs and maybe of all the dogs. He is a Tennessee Walker, a coon dog. A rotten dog if I do say so myself and I have made him that way. He stands a little over waist tall on all fours and he is the clumsiest looking dog I have ever seen. When he runs, both front feet go back and both back feet go forward. I watch him run waiting for him to trip over his own 4 feet. I ruined him, I will admit it, he dances for his food at dinner and just wants to be loved. I hear tell at one point BEFORE I ruined him, he was one of the best coon dogs around! Now of course he just sits at your feet wanting to be petted. My husband calls him the Sissy dog. Ain't he gorgeous?

This is the newest addition to our happy little family. Bailey Elizabeth. This dog has a better blood line than most people I know. Also a walker, at 6 months, she will already tree with another walker. Of course she only got here on Sunday, so I haven't had much time to make her rotten. She pays no mind to other coon dogs, but other types of dogs send her into a tizzy! She has a "bawl" mouth. In other words she has a LONG howl to her bark. I understand that this is a good thing in the woods, in my front yard, not so much. I spend a good deal of the day yelling, "Hush Bailey!!!" out the front door. Tator also has a bawl mouth and so she gets him started and it moves around the yard. It gets quite noisy here sometimes. Of course the cats drive her crazy, something about a cat and a coon smell the same.

And our Nana, she is between 9 and 15 years old. Depending on who you talk to, our best guess is close to 15 anyway. She came to us with another dog. A matching set of sorts. Kinda you want that dog, you take the old girl too. We don't expect her to live much longer, of course when she came to us, she was skin and bones and we fattened her up and she perked up. She went MIA for about 3 weeks some months ago and when she came back, she looked worse than before and this time she just won't gain the weight back. She gets extra feed and scraps, but I believe she is just to old to come back. I promised this sweet angel when she came up, she had a home until the day she died and I intend to keep that promise regardless of what hubby says. He doesn't want Little Miss to have to go through her death, but she knows Nanner is old and doesn't have much time left here on earth and she has accepted that Nana will be gone from us soon and hopes that she gets to hunt coons all day in heaven. I am told she was the BEST coon dog in her day!

This is Rebel, this one is The Boys dawg. You can't tell it from this picture, but he is cock-eyed and I think retarded. He has a look to him. He is the dog that Nana came with. These two were the first coon dogs we got. The boy has decided he just can't spend enough time hunting Rebel, and that a friend of his can, so Rebel will be leaving us tonight. I will miss this one. He is a sweetheart, if you scald him, you hurt his feelings and he will do whatever he can to please you. I think The Boy will change his mind before he actually gets rid of him. He loves this dawg and I used to think if we made him choose us or the dog, the dog would've won. He says Rebel deserves to be hunted often and have someone who has the time to do it and he just doesn't . I don't know, I think he would be happy just being a yard dog. We will see tonight.

This is Little Miss' first coon dog, Crisco. He is a mix of Blue tick hound and black and tan. Rerun gave her this puppy when his daddy told him, he was going to string Rerun and Crisco both in a tree and the one surviving in the morning got to stay. Rerun feared he wouldn't be the survivor. HA! No Little Miss fell in love with Crisco at first sight, I believe Rerun hoped for this from the first time he brought him here. He couldn't keep Crisco, he had been told NO MORE dogs until he got rid of some and he thought Dad would back down, Dad didn't and guess who was his first choice for new owner? Yes Little Miss, he still got to see Crisco and Crisco got a good home. Little Miss was told she would have to give Crisco to a good home before Bailey could come home with her, but as you can tell, Little Miss is rotten and both dogs have a home.

And you already know Misty. Our boxer baby. She is a little over 7 now and she only has like 4 teeth and the longest tongue I have ever seen. She is a big baby. People are scared of her, Bully Breed, but she truly is harmless. She has growled at a few people, she was protecting Momma's car and they thought they could just reach in the window and pet her. Not a smart move folks. if you see a dog, bully breed or not, sitting in the driver's seat of a car in a store parking lot, don't assume that they want to be petted or that they will allow it! One man was just quicker than Misty. But really she would rather sit in your lap, not nice seeing that she weighs in at about 40 pounds, or play wrestling in the floor. A big baby really. But she is nice to have around when door to door salesmen come a knockin!

This is my butter butt, Bella. Another big baby! We are unsure of her heritage! She was suppose to be 3/4 English Bulldog and 1/4 American Bulldog, uh, I don't think so! Hubby always wanted an English Bulldog but they run around $1000. and I can't see spending that on a dog. So when Red called and said I found you this puppy and its free, he said bring her on and this is what we got. I used to say she was at least part Saint Bernard, Hubby says part Pit Bull, My brother says she is the show version of a Pit Bull, I, as most others, I now say MUTT!!! She is protective of me and Little Miss. She will not tolerate any rough housing with momma! As of yet, she has only nipped in warning. But she has the hardest teeth of any animal I have ever felt! She can run into your leg and it feels like a row of rocks hitting you. She has shown some aggressiveness towards men, when she feels momma is in danger, but she has never shown any anger toward anyone in the family. I worry about her sometimes, I don't think she would hurt anyone intentionally, but she is kinda rough in her play. We do watch her close, around Little Miss and strangers, but that is just being a good parent and owner. One wrong move and she will be out of here, but I truly believe she is just a big baby and I have nothing to worry about. But if she has any Pit Bull in her, I would rather be safe than sorry.

This is Dinner. Red brought up this cat after she took home a pair of kittens and her coon dogs killed one of them. Dinner came to us named Thunder, after Rebel got loose one day and attempted to make her a snack, I renamed her! Get it? Dinner! HA! I said I would not get attached to her, because Red wanted her back once she got old enough to defend herself, Hubby got attached to her while off work for his back surgery and informed Red, Dinner would be staying with us. She has spent a good deal of days in trees. Coon dogs will tree a cat! Its not often the coon dogs get to run free and when they do I try to get her in the house before they spot her, sometimes I am not quick enough. She is though! Rebel again tried to have a snack Tuesday night when he was going out to hunt and got away from Hubby and took off after Dinner. Sunday, when Bailey came up, she too tried to "tree" Dinner. Of course, Dinner was not smart, she decided to go check out the new dog on the chain and Bailey wasn't stretched out to the chain limit. Dinner soon found out just how far Bailey could go. It is not my intention to let this cat get hurt, but I can say I am guessing she is on her, oh, 6th life.

My Socksy Moxie, He is getting OLD, about 9 or so now. He is from one of the kittens of one of the kittens of my first cat, Sheba. He came out of his momma and began playing a game with me. When all the other kittens would jump on to the couch, he would jump and not make it, he drug his hind legs around behind him. I felt so sorry for this poor baby. I was PLAYED!!!! I decided he could not go out with the others, they would make fun of him, he would get killed by some animal. He started clawing the walls, I took him and had his front claws pulled, he came home and was able to leap to the top of the door frame! No claws, NO outdoors! He played me and he played me well! I took him to the vet when he was small and they said he was underweight. He now weighs in at around 20 pounds. I don't think he is underweight anymore. Socks is a mess, he doesn't like kids, he tolerates Little Miss, he doesn't like other animals, he tolerates the others. He spends a good deal of the day laying in the top bunk in Little Miss' room. He thinks he rules the house and maybe he does, I made scrambled eggs for him this morning and I haven't eaten yet.

And everyone knows Prince Stubby. But I could not leave him out of the pictures. If you don't know him, there are several posts about him, just look for any one that has Prince Stubby or Princess Stubby in it. AS I type he is laying in my lap, like he thinks he is king. Red is responsible for this one too.

Booger, so named for the dark brown spot on the side of his nose, kinda like a big booger that is always there. This picture is kinda old, he has grown since this one was taken, but all of the recent pictures of him have Little Miss in them and I have been told NO family pictures. OK I have fudged this one a bit, but I do truly try to behave. Booger is about 20-25 pounds of pure muscle. Not an ounce of fat on this cat. He mostly stays here, but he does roam the road. He is down at my SIL's every night at feeding time. Seems he sits and waits for her cats to come out of hiding then he whips them all and eats their food and then comes home to eat dinner. He is really a sweet cat though. She just has small, sissy cats and he takes full advantage of his size. I got a call one night that SIL was going to shoot him, seems he was fighting with her Scooby and they got onto the porch and it sounded like someone was trying to break into her house and she was on the verge of calling 911, when her husband went out and found out it was them. OOPS! This was her cat to begin with, she was giving away a litter of kittens and Little Miss brought him home, SIL wishes she would have kept him. He is pretty!

This is Baby Doll. Mostly Quarter horse, if not all Quarter horse, I am told. Again she is here because Little Miss is spoiled rotten! She wanted YoYo and to get YoYo, you had to take her Momma. At almost 8, she is green broke, we have all rode her, she just doesn't mind very well. No one has rode her since she laid down on The Boy last summer. She could have hurt him, but she eased up just enough that he could get his leg out from under her and get out of her way, BEFORE she took to rolling around to get herself up. And then she stood still til we could get a lead rope on her to put her back in the pasture. Kinda his fault, he was determined that she was going to cross that ditch and she was more determined that she was not going to. His thigh was one huge black and blue bruise but she didn't cross the ditch! Hubby says if we aren't going to ride them, they should go, but no one would spoil them the way we do. They get peppermint sticks every Christmas and they enjoy these treats all year. Makes them hyper, but I love to watch them run. Gives them the farts, which in turn makes them buck and snort. It is hilarious!

This is Yokum, YoYo for short. She is a wild ass horse! She is almost 4 years old and we can't find anyone courageous enough to attempt to break her. When she got here, she was so calm and friendly, unlike any baby, I had seen before or since. She scared the hell out of people, she would walk up to them and bump them with her nose to get their attention so they would pet her. Most young ones are skittish, not our YoYo, now she is wild. You can pet her IF she is in the mood, but when she is done, she will nip you. If you can catch her, she does enjoy her day of beauty, as much as the next young lady. She is due one now, so is her momma. From what I hear YoYo is 3/4 Quarter horse and 1/4 Andalusian. A nice combo if I do say so myself. After a day of beauty, is is one beautiful horse!

This here is Skinny Minnie. She or he is almost 3 years old. She used to be solid orange now she or he is solid white with pink undertones. How do you tell a male from a female in goldfish anyway? She is a fan tail, my favorite of all the goldfish. The picture doesn't do it justice, it is a pretty fish.

Now up, Fat ass. or fattie if you can't say ugly words. Also almost 3 years old or are they almost 4? I don't know, we have had these two forever! Fat ass has survived ick twice. I have had to remove him from the tank and tend to him both times. Change his water twice daily, add sea salt and drop ick away tablets in once a day for a couple of weeks. I swear the things we will do for these animals. I pulled him through it though and I guess that's what matters. I spent hours a day tending to a fish I could have replaced for less than 2 bucks! Of course it wouldn't have been Fat ass. Who will by the way, allow you to pet him (or her) and give your finger a kiss. How many people can say they trained their goldfish. Another fan tail. Hubby says when these two are gone the tank is gone, but we will see about that. I enjoy watching the fish swim around all day. It don't take much to entertain me, I guess.

OK these are not critters, but two of the rotten ones I share my life with. The one on the porch getting pelted with snow from last night is The Boy. The one doing the pelting, my "adopted" son, Rerun. I might as well adopt him, I feel like he is one of my own. We kinda took him on after his brother, The Boys best friend, died. His mom and dad had a lot going on and we opened our house and hearts up to this one. He is rotten, but we love him anyway.

And yes, I said snow from yesterday! Go figure, here in Bama, we got a little snow. Very little, but enough for a few snowballs.

Well, there you go, our family of critters. Think we have enough? I do, the boy wants another dog, seems he found one and thinks it would make a great addition to our little group. We will see, and as you can see, I have a hard time saying NO to any animal! He wants another house dog, that I may have to put my foot down for. He claims he will buy the food and tend to it when he isn't at work, which includes taking it with him when he goes out. Sounds like Momma has another baby on the way. As Always........

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!