A DOG, A CAT, A TURTLE AND MORE

 Remember this from Cecil Frances Alexander?


Kit, the Turtle

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

We’ve had our share of “critters”, as we raised children alongside them. There was Mr. T, the Conure who poked holes in our curtains and made a lot of noise. We had hamsters that got out of their cage one night and chewed on our electric cables. No, they were not electrocuted, but we had to get rid of them. We also had Luther, the cockatiel. He got sick and went on to bird paradise within a month of living with us. Then there was the arrogant Mr.
Pugs, a purebred Himalayan who was pedigreed and had “papers.” He got very sick one day and was rushed at midnight to the all-night veterinary clinic. He was dehydrated and also needed blood transfusion. The following day he was transferred to the SPCA hospital
and given the transfusion. I didn’t know they had a cat blood bank. Shadow was mostly German Shepherd. We adopted him from the SPCA. He was Mat’s dog of choice. I wanted the corgi. But Mat took one look at Shadow looking back at him with those beady eyes and, it must have been love at first sight.

If you ever come to see us in our little home in San Francisco, I will show you into Don’s library where we have a 30-gallon aquarium. There reside Kit, the turtle, and his co-tenant, a nameless goldfish that is about 8 years old. Kit is named after the talking car in the 1982 TV series The Knight Rider. We gave her to Mat for his fourth birthday. Mat is now 32. Originally, there were two goldfish with her which Mat named Princess Leah and Luke Skywalker. But alas the fish did not last very long. We’ve thought Kit was a male until a young friend of Mat’s found out the “he” was a “she.” One day, I brought home a little plastic baggie of baby goldfish. They were supposed to supplement Kit’s diet. Kit found them to be more fun to play with than to eat, so for many years, they shared the aquarium with her until they grew so big that we had to give most of them away. Only one was left with Kit. I’ve often wondered why this goldfish was never given a name. Probably, because it was just one of the 13 I brought home that day. You’d think turtles are not much fun and can’t really be part of a family’s life, but Kit has become that. As to the unnamed goldfish, it is a friend to old Kit. They have bonded through the years. And there is no question as to who has the upper hand. We’ve seen Kit swim over the fish. Sometimes they would be in a little corner of the aquarium together. Kit rests on the brick while the fish is in the water right next to her. One year we took Kit to the veterinarian because she was turning pink.  The vet examined her and pronounced that she was just molting.  The following year, we received a card from the vet reminding us that it was time for Kit's annual physical.  Don takes care of these “critters.” In the mornings, you’ll hear him in the library as he feeds them. “Good morning, girls, did you have a good night?” I wonder what he’d do if they answered him!

 Shadow wasn’t quite your ideal pet. He failed obedience school and had to have extended training. He was domineering, controlling and manipulative, but he worshipped the ground that Mat walked on. They shared Mat’s room. He and Mat went through the teenaged years together and they seemed to understand each other quite well. When Mat left home, Shadow claimed his room for himself and all the other things his friend left behind. After three years, I decided to get the room back from him. It took me that long to accept that Mat was now on his own. As I started to move things, Shadow sat in one corner, eyeing my every move. When I headed for Mat’s closet, he wouldn’t let me open it, putting his 65-pound body between me and the door. When I finally succeeded in opening it, I started to take things out of the closet – some old clothes, posters, shoes, and set them down on the floor. I left for a few minutes to get some plastic bags and when I returned, Shadow was laying on top of Mat’s things, threatening me harm if I decided to take them (baring his teeth, sounding off in a low growl while giving me menacing looks).  Like me, he was waiting for Mat to change his mind and come back home. He understood that we felt the same loss. We had Shadow for 16 years. During his last few months he was so disabled, he could hardly get up. One day, Mat came home and told me it was time for his faithful friend to rest.

Hank is currently our foster cat, about 20 pounds and very affectionate. We’ve had him for a little over two years now. He belongs to Mat and Helen but we’re taking care of him for them. Hank behaves more like a dog than a cat. He will not let us out of his sight. We think he has separation anxiety as we have been gone once for a week and another time for a month. We’ve had someone housesit for us but he missed us terribly. He is very assertive and I think he thinks our special mission is to keep him entertained. He doesn’t like it when we read or do computer work. When I’m working in the kitchen, he watches my every move.  He would make a good homeland security guard working with Director Janet Napolitano! Sometimes he gets upset with us, but he doesn’t have a long memory for offenses. Something we humans can learn from.

Cecil Frances Alexander concludes:

He gave us eyes to see them, And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty, Who has made all things well.

Not only have we seen them, they have lived with us and allowed us in their world, as much as we have allowed them in ours.  Indeed they were made well, and we have stories to tell.  And He who created them in great detail created you and me, too.  Should I take a superior attitude as Homo sapiens and say, in much greater detail?