Only at Wal-Mart

I turned down an aisle at Wal-Mart the other day and my path was blocked by a family with a skunk. I think I said "Wow!" when I noticed the animal. The family proceeded to turn toward me and the lady brought the skunk closer. She assumed that I wanted a better look at the thing. It was brown and white, not black and white, so I verified that it was indeed a skunk. I was completely stuck on the aisle with this family and they weren't moving anywhere but closer to me. So, I asked if skunks made good pets. I was told that they made great pets and that this skunk was a year old and slept with the woman holding it every night. She continued to hold the skunk near me, and told me that it wouldn't bite. I didn't know what to do but pet it. So, I did and then they moved aside so that I could get to the light bulbs I needed and continue my shopping.

I am convinced that the above would only happen at Wal-Mart. Never at Target. Two completely different clienteles. But, that's a whole other post.

On a side note, my kids are crazy about animals. I went to the web to find a picture of a skunk like the one I saw to show them. There I found out that pet skunks are illegal in 30 states, including Maryland. Hmmmm.

Year of the Dog

I had Chinese food today for lunch and brought a fortune cookie home for Rachel. She loves them. I left the cookie in my purse, and sat my purse on the floor when I got home. We came in from playing outside tonight and saw the empty cookie wrapper lying near my purse. Annie (our dog) had found a little snack. The slip of paper with the "fortune" on it was on the floor beside the wrapper. Rachel asked, "So, what's Annie's fortune?"

I picked up the paper and read this:

"Today it's okay to make a few choices by going with your instincts."

More Crabs

We upgraded to a bigger "Crabitat" and returned the two dead hermits for live ones. So far, so good. We've had Fuchsia and Trusty, the new crabs, for two weeks now. And, Hannah's crab, Shelly, has been with us for about a month. They seem to be doing well.

Crabs

Our girls have wanted hermit crabs for a while now. They are continually checking out the book Keeping Unusual Pets: Hermit Crabs from the library. They've read it so many times that they pretty much have it memorized. Saturday was the day. We went to PetsMart and invested in the crabitat, food, snacks, and other accessories. Then the girls picked out their crabs and named them - Shelly, Sunset, and Sasha.

We came home and got everything set up and were ready to let the crabs check out their new home. When moving them from the PetsMart container to the crabitat, Sasha (Chloe's crab) lost a leg. I don't think this is supposed to be life threatening for a crab, but Sasha didn't make it. Sunset (Rachel's) began waning today, and I think he/she (?) is gone too. Shelly (Hannah's crab) is looking good though. So, we're 1 for 3.