Seth
The Girls
With great pleasure, we announce the arrival of Seth Rivera. Patty has him sleeping in bed with her, so I will start doing the same here.
We celebrate the life of Tyler Rivera- June 11, 1996-December 9, 2011. Ty-Ty joined our family at the age of 8 weeks and never left our side until today. She is running with her sister, Sidney Rivera. We pray they are waiting for us when our time comes.
The OPs, Original Puppies aka The Girls or The Puppies. When we wanted them both we would normally call, "Girls!!" and they would both come running. They also knew other words like, "daddy", "mama", "walk", "outside", "treat" and "t-r-e-a-t." So, for instance,when Patty said, "Go find daddy!", they would come looking for me. Or when Patty would say, "You should give them a t-r-e-a-t!", they knew what we were talking about and would get all excited.
This picture is circa 1997 in our kitchen in California during their first year of life. That's Sidney on the left and Tyler on the right. We lost Sidney to illness about 3 years ago. I cried as I saw the life leave her eyes. Tyler will be 14 in June and is not in a great hurry to leave us.
Their personalities were interesting. Sidney would get embarrassed, almost offended when you scolded her. If you kissed her face, she would move it so you could kiss her in another spot. We worked hard to manage her allergies. Ty-Ty was a sock meister. Patty would yell, "Yaay" and applaud when she grabbed grabbed my socks. She still does it from time to time today, although that job has mostly been taken up by Domino.
The Babies
Their First Days | |
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One day in January of 2009, Patty calls to ask me if I wanted to go to lunch with her. I said, "Yes." I had been lamenting about losing Sidney and pre-lamenting about losing Tyler as she got older. When she got here, she carried a pet carrier and I could hear puppy whining. "Oh, you got me a puppy!!!", I said all excited. "No, I got you two-a girl and a boy. I picked the girl and the boy went crazy crying, so I got him too!" We went directly to Petsmart and bought up all the things we needed for them. On the left, they are sleeping at about 3.5 pounds each. On the right, they are eating from Tyler's bowl (you can see her legs in the background.) I bought the babies this great immunoenhancing puppy chow and they made a bee-line to the big bowl. That's Dom-Dom with his face in bowl, and Baby Girls watching him. Notice how new those collars look?
My beautiful Domino R., aka Dom-Dom. A wonderfully loving boy. His thing is taking socks and underwear into the backyard. That's why all my socks have holes in them. I have now taught him what the phrase "leave it" means, so when he goes out I he will drop it-but if you open the door he sticks his head in fast and grabs it!
And another picture of Onyx aka Baby Girl. She so is a daddy's girl.
The Cats
First I have never really liked cats. Patty had a Mexican Red Headed Parrot called Pepe since she was a little girl and that was not very compatible with cats. (I will cover more on Pepe later)
Patty found a feral kitten we named, Bella. Somehow she'd gotten into the engine compartment of the Expedition-so she rescued it and brought it into the home. This cat is nuts. Don't believe me? Ask Patty or Mel, or my nieces and nephews which at times were so scared to come inside. There is a story that Charlie came into the house was attacked without provocation.
Bella's Family
Ms. Grey
Ms. Grey is Bella's firstborn. We lost her sister to an accident. Now that Bella and her babies are gone, Ms. Grey has moved in. She is way too malnourished to do anything with yet. So I am feeding her and making sure she has water. Of course, like Bella she considers hissing at me a term of endearment.
Any you wonder why my home is always such a project in transition...
