Stray Adventure

I know…I know! It has been a long time since any new stories have hit the press, which leaves everyone wondering, what mischief has Jack been up to? How has Jenn been handling Texas? More importantly what has the Whiting clan been doing to make up for the lack of mountains they used to frequent before?

Animals….yes, that’s right, we have been taking on new animals left and right as a new “hobby” and I must say, I am the one being dragged along on this one.

It started a month ago when I woke Jenn and Jack up so I could get to class. Jenn’s bushy hair was a perfect nesting place for our little bear and he was loving his life just cuddling with his mom in the morning! It was all cute and stuff, but I was running late and needed to get out quick to a seminar.

Jenn a Future Firefighter, Why not!?

Say what I want, Jenn can get ready in a matter of seconds when the clock is turning in the morning. She could easily be a firefighter. In fact, she may not have ever mentioned this to anyone, but while I didn't sleep a wink the night before our wedding, she actually had audacity to sleep and was getting herself ready while we were heading to the temple. And that, is the story of our lives! I drive, she shaves, does the makeup, and when she gets out of the car, she looks like she took hours to get ready…

Stray Dogs

Well, on this particular day, she didn't necessarily have to do the whole makeup thing and since she was the driver. We were on our merry way when out of the blue, Jenn sees a couple stray dogs running down the street. At this point I am only thinking of getting to my seminar on time…well, feeling morally obligated, Jenn pulls a screeching Uey. The decision has already been made to save the dogs from utter destruction (since dogs are incapable of surviving outside of their homes for longer than a couple hours).

I am getting more and more frustrated as we chase these furry critters down. Finally they stop, and I call out to them. One of them comes over to me and roles over, but the other bolts like an escaped prisoner. I stick the dog in the back, but it obviously wants to be right on my lap where it can shed all over my pants. At this point I am 10 minutes late and Jenn is speeding to find this other dog that obviously doesn't want to be saved. At this point, the chase was turning into something that should have been filmed for the new Jurassic Park film. Jenn would be great at hunting dinosaurs in those movies the problem would be that she would think they were too cute not to keep and would want them inside the house.

The Jenn’s-Future-Pet warning signs

I was finally able to explain to her that the dog was not running away because it \loved her. She reluctantly decided to take me to class with only one extra dog in hand. I have come to learn that if I do not say explicitly from the beginning that the animal CANNOT STAY,

·       Jenn will immediately name the animal.

·       She will then proceed to feed the animal luxury animal feed

·       She will make a home for the animal

·       She will come up with a sound argument for keeping the animal

I have obviously relived this more than one time. So far, I have gotten away from it all by explaining that the animal is somebody else’s and they are really missing it. I won out and the dog was picked up by animal control (even though Jenn was arguing that he was such a good companion for our Red Heeler). Ultimately, I was able to make it to the last 15 minutes of the seminar.

Jack’s Kitty

If you think that was random, during spring break when everyone else was enjoying a long break, I was working. I decided to take Jenn and Jack out for a little German dinner and we got back later that night to hear a cat meowing. I am not a cat fan at all, so I was acting like it was nothing and telling Jenn to get in quick. I knew that almost any animal can win Jenn over.

The cat stayed outside meowing till we checked on it and found it had a collar (bingo! That was my out). Or at least I thought so, until morning came and Jack went outside only to have the cat start cuddling with him no matter where he went.

I could see the wheels start churning in Jenn’s head….and it made me nervous. Sure the cat was almost likeable, but cats are conniving creatures to never be trusted, plus we had dogs. I was completely against having anything to do with the cat until it started pouring rain later that afternoon. I decided I couldn't watch the pour thing soak out there…especially since I would have to look at the pitiful creature every time and his infernal meowing would be going on all night. I had to make some kind of shelter for it, so we made a little make-shift cat home on our porch and let it inside from time to time.

Steve could hold his own with the dogs.
One look from him kept them at bay

Jenn got some milk and some tuna fish and the alarm in my head went off—(luxury feed)! The cat was holding its own with the dogs and was following Jack everywhere he went (as you will see in the video below). I found myself starting to like the cat which was scarier than anything else. He would cuddle up to my legs rather than barrel into my legs, he was not clumsy like my Red Heeler who only yesterday tried to clear the baby gate and rammed straight into it only to wake up Jack; lastly he didn’t bark. And that is when I decided we needed to call animal control. That little thing was getting into my head and I wouldn’t have it. Jenn had gone on to phase two and named it “Steve”. I would never give it a name in order to stay detached.

Then came Jenn’s argument, which is still going on today… “It would be easy to take to Germany with us”, “The cat is so cute with Jack and really likes him”, “The cat won’t cost that much more”, “The owners probably didn’t even check, we could always go back and see if he is at the pound still”.

Jack keeping the dogs back while the "baby kitty" eats

Call it maintaining the sanctity of my home, or simply call it warding off a would-be infestation of mangy chupacabras that Jenn will also one day think are “cute and cuddly”. There must be standards! And I must keep down the fleas! This is a home, not a zoo!