Son and I.

Ricky giving Gem a pat.

I just recently bought her from a friend of mine who was selling off most of her horses (she owned a riding club).  Gem is a gorgeous 4 year old mare.  She is a very willing and gentle horse.  She is super smart, and eager to please.  I have just started working on ground manners with her as she had non when I first got her 3 months ago.  Soon, I will be breaking her, hopefully she won't be breaking me!  She's a HUGE horse, gets bigger daily it seems.   I just started working on breaking her in...  rode her for the first time Sept 10th, 2003.

Sophie enjoying the sunshine outside on her perch.

Sophie enjoying one of her favorite meals... oatmeal.  YUM!

A little about Sophie...  I got Sophie at a local bird show from a breeder in the SF Bay Area in 1996.  Sophie was 6 weeks old when I got her.  She had to be handful from a syringe several times a day.  She has grown up to be a whiney, clingy, super cuddly bird.  She is very sweet, but she has a horrid scream.  She says quite a few words, "Hi Sophie", "Fatboy", "Kiki" (my mom's cat), "Get out of here", "be quiet" (she never practices what she preaches), and a few more.  She gives kisses on command (makes the little kissing noises with it that actually sound like Popeye's laugh).  She loves oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, chicken burritos, and mashed potatoes. 

Baxter as a pup and Baxter now.  

About Baxter...  Baxter was born to Tobee and Lacey on May 14, 1998 in California. Baxter was last attending advanced novice, his fifth(?) session of dog training with Town and Country Dog Training Club.   In his spare time Baxter likes to play with his animal friends or lately it's been sleeping on the couch or under the computer desk.   Baxter lives with his Aunt Ima and his little kitty friends. He even gets my Goffin Cockatoo, Sophie to play sometimes.  Baxter follows everyone wherever they go.  Anytime a door opens he is out quicker than lightning.  Sometimes we don't see him, so we have to retrace our steps to see where we locked him.  Any time someone opens the front door he thinks he's going bye bye.  When it's not a giant mud puddle we take him to the ranch in the mornings when we feed.  He has a great time running around with the neighbor dogs and running through the horse paddocks and pastures.  He's not real horse smart, but he'll figure it out.

ok kids, don't try this at home.  Whatever possessed him to try to fit through a pant leg?  

Was a real joy trying to get him out.  Of course we had to stop for a picture.  :)

Fatboy on, yes ON his favorite cat, Georgi.

A little about Fatboy...  Fatboy showed up one day on my front porch when I lived in Oregon in 1994.  He was a healthy little kitten about 8 weeks old.  I had a heck of a time catching him.  Finally I just opened up a can of tuna set it out in front of me, about 20 of my roommates cats crowded around the can (she was heavy into cat rescue).  Fatboy never even noticed I was there (I don't think he could see me through all the cats).  I reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and he started to fight to get away, I had to catch him on my knee and he bit 4 little holes in my knee.  I fed him a can of cat food and he ate the whole can.  He looked like he had swallowed a baseball.  I brought him back to CA with me and he's grown into a friendly cat that likes to be petted, but not picked up.  He has a super purr and is always happy clawing.  He has claimed my 10 month old daughter as his baby.  He's always where ever she is.

Caught Georgi about to yawn.

A little about Georgi...  Georgi showed up at a pet supply store I worked at in 1992.  He was a tall skinny kitten about 8 weeks old that had his whiskers cut off.  He ended up going home with me, at the time we had 3 dogs and no cats.  He went to work with me everyday.  He raced around the store modeling and selling tons of cat furniture and Max Cat kitten food.  He is very friendly, will tolerate just about anything, except he'd rip your hand off it you pet his stomach.  He has grown into a great big 17 pound cat.  He's a little overweight, his ideal weight would be about 15 pounds.  We believe Georgi to be part Russian Blue as he has a lot of their characteristics, and a cat show judge told us he was.  Georgi has since passed on to kitty heaven.

Pretty with her favorite kitty, Fatboy.

A little about Whisper, better known as Pretty...  Pretty was born on Rosebank Equestrian Center (which was originally Whispering Hope Ranch) in Los Gatos, CA to a wild cat mother.  She had one other sibling, a little tortie kitten.  We tried to control the cat population at the ranch by trapping and spaying/neutering the cats, then releasing them.  Apparently, her mother was one we had been unable to catch.  I caught her sister (Mimi meow) 2 weeks before I caught Pretty.  Pretty was about 5 weeks old by the time I caught her.  We raised them and tried to place them into a new home, but we were unable to find a home that fit our criteria.  So...to this day we still have them both.  My mother has claimed the tortie kitten (Rosie, after Rosebank who we call Mimi) and I took Whisper (who I named after the ranch).  They are very attached to each other and very much still wild.  Every once in a while we are able to sneak up and pet Pretty.  When we do she is the absolute sweetest cat and would never intentionally harm anyone, except flies...  those are tasty.  So she says.  

 Really, on the cactus is the female.  The male is Lizzie 

he's on the rock.  The other critter is a Russian tortoise, his name is Solid.

My son has 2 Bearded dragon lizards he got for Christmas 2002, they are about 2 months old in the top picture.  My son named his Really, because right now she's really tiny, but later she'll be really big.  The other FATSO lizard is my lizard, Lizzie (it was between the names Lizzie and Barbie).  Luckily it wasn't Barbie, cause it turns out she's a he!  They enjoy time out with the family. They are super friendly and like to hang out with people. They are kept in a 24 x24 glass tank in our front room.   Together they eat about 30-40 crickets a day and a handful of the "fancy" bagged lettuce, the turtle only eats the greens.  They are pretty neat pets.  

Oh, we also have a little medium haired torbie kitten (she's 4 years old now) named Daphne Chipper Mittens we got from a friend who rescued her.  

Great Pyrenees dog named Hannah.  

Oh, and don't forget the pet chickens.