New Pets

For the first time ever in our 15 years of being a family, we have pets. (Well, if you don't count the goldfish.) Our kids, like any other normal, red-blooded kids, have been begging for pets almost since they were born. And we always said no. (Other than those aforementioned, ill-fated goldfish.) But see, Bryan is allergic to anything with fur. And I put my foot down on anything reptile or amphibian. That leaves birds and fish. I could do a bird. I had a bird growing up. But Bryan can't stand the annoying, loud chirping. Personally, I think that chirping is kind of cheerful but yes, they are loud. And fish? Well, did I mention our luck with fish? So our kids were destined to be pet-less. But then Bryan's sister and bro-in-law, Carolyn and Treg, bought their kids two dwarf hamsters. Those two hamsters got together and had babies even though they had been assured that the two were both male. Ooops. This led to Julianne asking if maybe we could take one. "Yeah, right! You just go right ahead and ask your Dad!" was my response. So she did. And he gave her an official "maybe." Whoah! That was pretty huge. So Julianne got on the computer and researched anything and everything to do with dwarf hamsters from how to take care of them, how to tell if they are sick, down to how much cages and food cost. Bryan was quite impressed with her research and the next thing I knew I was going out to buy the cage the two of them had found on-line together. I asked about Bryan's allergies but Julianne even had an answer for that. Apparently dwarf hamsters are not as bad for allergies as normal hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. would be. In fact, Carolyn, whose family has more allergies than anyone I know, took all her kids to the pet store and basically rubbed their little faces in dwarf hamster fur to see right off the bat if anyone would react. No one did. I guess that convinced Bryan that he would probably be okay as well. Arrangements were made for Carolyn and Treg to bring the baby hamsters to Wyoming. (See post below.) We'd bring our cage prepared with bedding, food and water and we'd do the swap. We ended up with three...one each for Julianne, Rebekah and Brandon. Bryan figured that if you're going to have one, what difference does it make to add a few more? So, please welcome Cheddar, Hammie and Custard. All boys, we've been told. If not, give it a few months and I may be offering dwarf hamster babies to anyone who wants to take them.