My daughter Zoe leaves for college in less than a month yet she continues to grow her collection of pets. She insists that these are her pets, not mine, but you and I both know who will be feeding them, cleaning up after them and overall caring for them come mid-July….yup—me. Do I have “easy mark” tattooed on my forehead?
The latest was introduced to me via a text pictures on my cell phone. Zoe holding a white rat. I texted back “No way.”
Then a close up photo of just his whiskered little face. “Not in my house,” I replied.
The final photo was of Zoe with a rat sitting on her shoulder, in the car! Seriously, was my phone not working? Were my messages lost in cyberspace?
She named him Atticus. (Yes, after Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird though Atticus the rat does not look like a lawyer or anything like Gregory Peck.)
Just to set the record straight, he is not living here once she goes to college. He will have to pack his little rat bags and rent somewhere, maybe closer to town. Regal name or not, I will not be swayed. I am not a rat keeper.
Did I mention she has two cats, a rabbit and a turtle that she is leaving in my care? See, I am not totally heartless.
I think pets are wonderful teaching tools for kids and great companions. We have had cats, kittens, fish, turtles, hamsters, rabbits, bunnies, birds, dogs, puppies, horses, chickens, ducks, alpacas and a llama. I have paid my pet dues. Now I would like to downsize. Let’s face it, I am tired and a rat is not “up there” on my list of favorite pets. I don’t even think it would be in the top 10. At least I can thank my lucky stars it is not a snake.
I warn you, the day a snake moves in, I move out. It’s not even a concept I can consider. Call it irrational, I fear snakes. I have never had a bad experience with a snake but I think seeing my mother run screaming from a snake when I was young imprinted on my brain. One should never touch a snake, let alone live with one.
Okay, those who knew me in my younger days might remember I had pet mice so you might think it hypocritical of me to send this little rat packing… a pack rat sent packing, ha-ha!… but if you remember my two tiny mice—Pickin’ and Grinnin’ after Hee Haw characters— grew into about 25 mice in a very short period of time. Soon I had a cage full of mice and it quickly turned into a big to-do at my house when they all escaped. We captured most of them but my mother swore she would see a spotted mouse out in the yard for years to come.
Yes, pets are great teaching tools but I am not going to risk an invasion of rodents of any kind in my home. God love my mother for letting me have all my pets, but I think she did have “easy mark” tattooed on her forehead.
You can’t be friends with a squirrel! A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit!
Sarah Jessica Parker
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on an alpaca farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of homestyle recipes.
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