My Animal Life

I enjoy animals in my life, although I have not spent a great deal of time around horses. Cats, dogs, hamsters, fish - I have had them all. The fish did not do too well - maybe they are not the right pets for me.

When I worked at Netscape, we were allowed to bring pets to work. My brother bought me a Cube Hamster (not a square animal, rather a pet for the office). Buddy was a big hit in the workplace. After he passed, I had gotten my dog, Vinyl.

So Vinyl started to join me at work. He actually grew up at Netscape. It really helped to socialize him and to keep him engaged throughout the day. My new company does not allow this, so I have to sneak home at lunch to take him out for a cruise around the neighborhood.

Vinyl is a rock star. Large, beautiful and with an attitude to match. He can literally stop traffic. When he was a pup, I took him for a walk to downtown Palo Alto. As I stood on the corner of Cowper and University, people came up to tell him how beautiful he looked (he gets that a lot). Within minutes, there were 20 people gathered around, pressing for a glimpse and to pet him on the head. Amazing.

There is also Moon - a sweet little old lady dog that was a rescue. My roomate Terri volunteers with a Samoyed Rescue organization and brought her home as a foster. Moon is such an incredibly sweet dog that we ended up keeping her. Moon is deaf and has athritis, but you would never know it - she has a big smile for everyone. And she hoots with delight when you pet her. How anyone could give a dog like that away, I will never know.

And then there was Lou.

Lou is a true tornado of a dog, a chocolate Lab that explodes into a high speed 4-legged Watusi dance whenever there is a human present. His owner moved to CA from the east coast to take over my job as Band Director at Leigh High School. I offered to house them, and he brought Lou to live with us.

Lou was into everything, stealing food, jumping on the furniture, barking at anything that came within eyeshot of the house. But, he is a true sweetie - just never gets enough attention. He and Joe have moved into a place of their own, which has made my house quieter. But we miss his energy.

My two cats, Reno and Spink, recently became one cat when Reno was struck by a car and killed. We had a nice ceremony in the back yard, burying her in a nice shady spot. Spink walked around like someone who had put their keys down somewhere and couldn't quite remember where - looking for something and not finding it. So sad. But she got over it. Spink is currently living with the mad Canadian, Eric Boudreault.