Mi-chelle-share: My Carlsbad Pets

I am a pet person. Ever since I was little I've looked for a pet. I learned soon enough that Caitlin was a lost hope. So, I got a Chinese Fighting Fish named Blue Eyes. When Blue Eyes died, I tried "adopting" my neighborhood dogs that were great at escaping from their yard, but when my Dad came home he always opened the gate and released the dogs from our yard. Then I asked my mom what birds ate. She said worms and bird seeds. She wouldn't let me buy bird seeds at the store, so I got pretty good at digging up worms. To my dismay, I never found a robin that would eat a squirming worm from my hand. Luckily, a few weeks later at school we made bird feeders: toilet paper rolls smeared in peanut butter then rolled in bird seed. This time, I set a trap for the robins - I placed my bird feeder on the ground under a box held up by a stick which had a string tied around it. I waited very patiently... I never had a pet bird. We eventually got a family dog, and have consistently had one since then. Now I'm married and am currently pet-less.

But you are about to see, things with me don't change much.... Say hello to my Carlsbad Pets.

Diesel, the baby bunny I thought I could tame. This little bunny lived under our new deck. He would sunbathe in this same spot every morning and afternoon.

He got quite comfortable with Eric and I watching him and talking to him. The story behind Diesel is this: I asked Eric what he might want to name our first child. He said Diesel - I said Sorry we already know a Diesel. He said What? Who? Then I told him our baby bunny's name is Diesel.

We got grass (you can see where Diesel liked to hang out - he killed the grass!) and I fed him daily. I thought this would make him stay - but after we went to MN for a trip and were gone for 4 days, Diesel must have decided to become more independent as he grew up. He only came a few times after that and then he disappeared. I guess he has a family of his own now.

Next was Colt, the baby bird I taught to fly.
Yes, this was the second name Eric chose for our first child. Too bad I named this baby bird Colt.

I heard him chirping loudly by the house. After almost giving him a heart attack (while trying to gently catch him) I finally caught him and was able to inspect him. He had no broken legs or toes, and his head and neck were fine. I concluded he must not be strong enough to fly yet -in his attempts to run from me he would hop and fly for a few seconds but never take off. I left him alone to rest and recover under the safety of our recycle basket (which he could get out of if he wanted to). I went inside to finish cleaning the house and the next time I went to check on him- Colt was gone!

Now our most recent pets are Leslie and Lester. These are the young possums that raid out berry tree around 10 or 11 at night. Eric has learned not to tell me a name he would suggest for our future children so he named them Leslie and Lester.
Leslie is a lot more sneaky than Lester. Lester makes all the noise snorting around eating berries on the ground while Leslie quietly eats them in the tree.