Archive | Pets & Insects RSS feed for this section

The Other Senior Citizen Pets

6 Oct

I confess… Rooney is not the only senior citizen pet that we have. In fact, there are two others, one which is much older than him and another, about the same age as him.

Unofficial pet number one is actually our green terrapin turtle. We have had Todd for the longest time. In fact, he is much older than M1 and M1 is 19 this year. And being a senior citizen, Todd also has his fair share of issues. Unlike Roo, his issues are health related. 

Several years ago when hubby and I were leaving for London on a business trip, Todd had floating issues and the girls, along with Grandma had to take him to the vet for a week for his daily jab. Fast forward to now, it looks like this problem has recurred.

Poor thing. When we put him in the community pond to chill with all the fishes in there, he just floats and cannot submerge. We will have to monitor his well being.

Then we have another senior citizen. Our regal Arowana. If memory serves me well, Miao-Miao came along before we adopted Roo. Miao-Miao? Another time for the story behind the name. He is one pretty fish. Thankfully, Miao-Miao does not have any issues also, only an occasional diet preference. Definitely nothing compared to the Roo.

Maybe these two are harder to interact with because of their need to be in the water, hence Rooney became official pet number one. Nonetheless, we love them all.

Sigh… Pets. What would our lives be without them?

   
    
 

Tags: , , ,

Antics of a Senior Citizen Pet, Part 2

29 Sep

The OCD-ness in official pet number one has surfaced yet again! Two nights ago, we changed the drainage pipe of the washing machine and he totally lost it. Roo just cannot stand the sudden change because it’s something new and out of place.

As his little abode is just next to the washing machine, he can see it and irks him to no end. Hah! Such an OCD but annoying (for us) at the same time because he keeps barking at it. And it’s insufficient to just raise the pipe over the machine to be out of his reach because it’s still there and he can see it.

So what did we do? We had put the pipe away and instantly, there was peace until the next wash and the pipe has to be fixed back. A very inconvenient situation but I hope this is temporary until we find a permanent solution for we cannot allow him to be a Little Napoleon in total control of us. 

Tags: , ,

Antics of a Senior Citizen Pet

27 Sep

Rooney, our English bulldog, affectionately called ‘Roo’, was recently elevated to “Senior Citizen” on top of being official pet number one because of the food we recently bought for him. And with his recent change in status, we suddenly see a lot of the picky pot’s idiosyncrasies. It has always been there but now being a senior, it becomes more obvious and here’s some of it.

Idiosyncrasy #1: He does not like drinking water from his water bowl. With the weather sometimes so hot, I suspect water left in there tastes flat and warm. He prefers to drink off the tap, kind of like having draft beer, only this is water of course. And he makes it known (by barking obviously) he’s gotta have his draft water at every opportunity when we are home.

Idiosyncrasy #2: He cannot stand that once he’s done eating, his bowl is left there, unwashed. And he makes it known he’s gotta have his dish washed and put away. Like immediately. Now, this instant.

Idiosyncrasy #3: He insists on being escorted to and from the garden when clearly he can do it himself. Sometimes we feel it’s just plain silly, a brave bulldog needing someone to escort him in broad daylight and at night in semi-darkness for the short walk.

Idiosyncrasy #4:  He cannot stand the fact that when we eat, he does not. Every time when he’s out in the garden, he can see the dining table and there we are having our meal whilst he is just standing there, looking longingly. Half the time our meals, dinner especially are very hurried and hardly relaxing because of the constant noisy interruption.

Idiosyncrasy #5: He also cannot stand his poop left there for even two minutes after he’s done. Obviously he makes it known until we have to go clean it up.

Idiosyncrasy #6: We all sincerely believe that Roo has OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). He just cannot stand it when something is not put right in its place. Irks him to no end and he makes it known insistently. I don’t know how many dogs are like him. If a towel fell on the floor or the kitchen mop is not put right, we will surely hear from him.

I wonder if there are any bulldogs out there like our Roo? Hmm…

  

  

Tags: ,

The Snickerdoodles, Part 3

26 Sep

Just when I thought the little aquarium was fine, disaster has struck. Early July when I last posted about them, the community had eight Bettas and rather unhappy. As I sort of left them alone hoping they will change their mind, suddenly we find the Snickerdoodles down to three! Dear oh dear…

Hubby thinks the poor Bettas just expired their shelf life, hence the demise. Whatever it is, I think we will not replenish the aquarium anymore. It’s morbid to think that it’s a waiting game now…

Tags: ,

Pretty Creatures, Part 2

13 Sep

I thought the pretty bug episode would last awhile until the next pretty thing came along but I was wrong. It was a Friday night and M2 has just gotten home from her tuition class.

Puttering around downstairs to clear her staff before bedtime, a moth came around and startled her. Despite being terrified, she somehow managed to take its picture when it perched on the window! 

It’s quite large, probably palm size and sure is beautiful, terrifying or not. Her iPhone 5C was definitely able to capture the fine details. Breathtaking I would say.

So another pretty creature to add to our ever growing list of visitors.

   
 

Tags:

Pretty Creatures

9 Sep

We get all sorts of visitors to our home all the time, from the friendly to the not so friendly. We have had intruding cats and squirrels, unwanted snakes and rats, welcomed birds and even an unexpected owl!

And recently, to add to our list, we now have a pretty bug! 

 

Tags: ,

Senior Citizen Food

5 Sep

We were at a pet shop over the weekend to buy official pet number one’s food Proplan but there was no stock. We then had to make a decision to buy something else or go back to our regular store when something caught our eye.

The Eukanuba package listed Senior Adult with ingredients suitable for dogs seven years and older. I did a quick mental arithmetic and came to realize our poochie, Rooney will be nine this year! 

Oh my gawd… Nine years old. And since he qualifies age-wise (I am not sure about the behavior though), we bought the package.

But he doesn’t like the new senior citizen food! Maybe it’s tasteless or unappetizing. For two meals he did not finish his meal. So we still have to go buy his usual Proplan diet. And probably mix up the two brands to mask the taste. Otherwise, what do we do with the senior citizen food?

Tags: , , ,

An Unlikely Conversation

15 Aug

It was a hot Sunday and we were home because M2 had to study for her exams. So best to stay put for her to be focused. I was trying to garner steam again for my virtual games whilst hubby was outside gardening.

Suddenly we heard a long conversation and thought he was talking to Rooney, who was also out being a busybody in the garden. Both M2 and I thought it was rather long and muted. A lecture for the pooch for meddling in the gardening activity? M2 looked up from her books and realized it wasn’t the case. Hubby was actually talking to the neighbor, who showed up out of the blue! Chortle…

We have never seen much of our neighbor ever since they moved in, what more having a conversation. I thought it was funny that we assumed he was talking to official pet number one…

Tags: , ,

Should We?

1 Aug

We were intrigued by this new venture of a friend and decided to visit his home to view it – his setup of rearing stingless bees and harvesting their honey. After hearing about it from our previous meets, we took a drive to his home yesterday afternoon to see the real deal for ourselves.

There were two tree trunks, shaved on the sides to reduce their overall size without affecting the hives inside. And each has a honey collection box attached and along with what I assume would be several hundred bees. Pretty simple and that’s it; you don’t have to take care of the bees. They know what to do and where to go. 

What is done then is just to collect the honey whenever the pods are filled and this process is repeated. Just be sure not to totally drain the pods empty as this will make the bees think the pods are spoilt and they won’t fill them up again upon this realization. With trial and error, our friend discovered this interesting trait and six pods remain unused. Amazing.

Consuming the raw honey made by stingless bees has a ton of health benefits. One should google up on this.

We drank the harvested honey as is, without adding water. It was watery, not thick like the typical commercial honey. It was also not sweet but rather tangy and almost apple cider vinegar-like. I never knew and thought all this while, honey is generally sweet. But no.

Now the stingless bees or meliponines are quite a species. They do not sting, hence the name stingless and although they do have stingers, the stingers are so tiny they are useless for defense. The bees can bite though, if threatened. Later after the visit, I googled up on them and learnt some new and interesting stuff that I never knew about honey and bees in general.

Question now is should we also invest in a trunk that comes with the little hard-working meliponines churning out honey?

 

Honey home one

  

Honey home two

  

Lifted cover reveals the inside

  

The harvested honey for drinking!

 

Tags: ,

The Snickerdoodles, Part 2

7 Jul

Of late the happy looking group of Bettas does not look too happy. They don’t seem to swim in a group and looked very separated. Last night I was observing them and took some pictures.

Some were at this corner and that corner and even resting on the pebbles. Sleeping? I hope they are fine.

   
 

Tags: ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →