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Hop along to conversations with the Kaz sisters, Ashley and Angela. You'll find a mix of silly, serious and everything in between. 🦘
This is sisters Ashley and Angela. And this is sister Rooy.
Today, right before. Literally right before recording, we're at Ashley's house and.
Hey, what up?
And we are getting rid of Ashley's Kovu kitten. Who I affectionately call this lion of a cat that Ashley owns.
He's large.
Large. He's extra large for a cat. anyway, Ashley is about to let him out of her kitchen into this little lovely screened in porch area and calls me in to say that there is a walking turd.
Guys. That's because it looked like a turd and then it started walking.
So I get out and it is a very large, decent sized cockroach.
It was huge.
The length of my thumb. Now that we have caught it and was, able to compare measurements.
Yeah, keyword caught it. We did not squish it. Which was kind of crazy. But also, if we did squish it, it would have just been huge and nasty.
I'm not a squisher of that big of a bug. I know our husbands will all both be disappointed, but I am not a squisher.
Ye.
If I can feel the squish, I don't kill the bug.
That thing would have crunched like. I feel like I'm thinking of in that scene with Timon and Pumbaa and the Lion King when they're eating bugs.
Yeah, the grub.
This thing was huge.
Anyway, since my sister is not super brave with these bugs, I am a.
Wuss when it comes to bugs. I hate squishing them. I hate catching them. Like, if Justin has gone on a trip and a lizard gets in our. It's not great. And a lizard's not even a bug.
No, but Ashley gets me the cup. I get a lovely piece of paper to also scoop underneath and capture this thing. Throw it out in their backyard over the fence to make sure that it's not gonna come back to her house.
It's gonna haunt me. And it's gonna come back. I know it.
But anyway, the things that I do for my sister Rooy.
You're just the best little sister Rooy. And by little, I mean big, because you're old.
So, on that note, talking about lovely bugs and things that you could catch the pet, we figured we'd talk pets in this episode.
But also, we talked about Kovu.
Oh, yeah, true. Can't forget about Kovu. But we're mad at Kovu right now because of, an incident.
We'll get there.
We'll get there.
Let's take it back to Our childhood. And I saw that. That's a dead bug.
Okay. Yes. I got distracted and just saw.
Ah, I have also looking at this thing, it's like waving.
I thought it was maybe a waving ant.
Yeah, no, there's a dead bug on our wall too. So we're just gonna acknowledge that now since we both saw it.
But enough about bugs.
For real. let's take it back to our childhood real fast. Because we didn't really have pets growing up, per se, until. How old were you when we got the cat?
I always get conf. I was in a class that was a mix of fourth and fifth graders. So anytime anything happened between either fourth or fifth grade, I'm really confused because it was a blur together.
Would it make a difference if Jeremy was in like what grade he would have been in?
Do you know what grade he would have been in?
No, but he's how many years older than you?
Three. I mean, either way, he could have been in eighth or seventh grade. Yeah, not helpful.
If it was like high school or something, then we would have known fifth or sixth. But it was not. Anyhow, only we'll say why we bring up Jeremy later. But, actually Jeremy is a perfect person to bring up because our older brother is really the only person that did have pets growing up because he had lizards galore.
You're forgetting about some of my pets though, before, uh, fourth grade.
We'll get there. My brain is a little scattered, which is just par for course But we basically ever only had reptiles or amphibians.
Yes.
Up until Angela was either. Oh yes. Or fish, which until Angela was apparently in fourth or fifth grade. Yeah, yeah.
Which I had turtle though. And one. And I had one leopard gecko. That honestly was the ugliest color for a lizard. Jeremy, our older brother, had the cooler colored like rainbow, like the spotted pretty looking leopard geckos.
Yeah.
Mine was a type of leopard gecko, but it was brown.
I don't remember this brown gecko.
You don't remember Angel?
No. What? But I will say that Jeremy, funny enough, actually brought up you the other night when he had dinner with us and was like. Can you say beside? the cat. What animal Angela had growing up? And I was like, no. And then he told me turtle. And I was like, oh, yeah, I totally forgot turtley You forgot?
Oh my gosh. But I actually had two. You forgot about my leopard gecko.
Yeah, I did forget about your leopard gecko. I wonder If Jeremy knows about your.
Leopard gecko, I'll have to bring it up with him. Yeah, he did bring up the turtle thing to make sure I remembered I had a turtle, but, yeah, I find that funny that you didn't remember.
I did remember once he told me. But yeah, he was, like, surprised mom didn't remember, which, honestly. Are we surprised? M. No, mom doesn't have the best memory.
I did forget who we gave the turtle to when we got rid of it, which I guessed it was Pete's pets.
Oh, Pete's Pets.
Yeah. But it was actually a bowling alley.
Oh, right. He did tell me this, and I was like, did not remember that. But Pete's pets, that's where we would go get the crickets to feed the lizards.
Oh, yeah. And the mealy worms.
Oh, yeah. That was gross.
Yep.
That was so funny.
That was really gross.
Anyway, fun fact to really, you know, embarrass myself.
Cause that's why we're here.
I don't know if this was ever a dare, but I feel like when we had fish, you might have dared me to try the fish food flakes.
Oh, you're gonna bring this up?
Does that sound familiar?
No. Duh.
So was it a dare?
Sure. We just both tried fish food because.
We just were just curious on how it tasted.
I mean, kids are kids. We were kids. What can I say?
Let me tell you guys. We tried fish food flakes. Cause there's like pellet stuff too, but. Flakes. Yeah, the flaky stuff. It was just like sea salt. Yeah.
It didn't really taste like much. It wasn't terrible.
Yeah, it was not the worst thing I've ever eaten.
Didn't make us gag So. Thanks for bringing that up.
You are so welcome. Just wanted to see if you remembered and if you were part of it. Because I couldn't remember if it was just something you had me do as a little sister or if it was, you know, something we shared. It seems like it was something we shared.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we were just like, let's taste this. Uh, I don't know. I don't know how it started, but we tasted it. It was fine.
So besides the lizard and turtle, which what did we name. What did you have that turtle's name?
Flipper. My soft shelled turtle was Flipper.
Flipper the soft shelled turtle. And then,
And then I had angel the leopard Gecko. Yes. And then all the others were just fish.
Yeah.
So before the real pet that we all consider the real Family pet.
When did you have fish, though? Because I know I had fish. I had a 10 gallon tank in my room in high school, I think.
I mean, nerd alert.
I was super cool.
It was a tank that was in the basement.
It was just like a communal family fish tank.
Yeah. And I remember, I thought it was so cool. I had two molly fish that they were clear and you could see their bones, but had a tint of pink on one and a tint of blue on the other. Those were cool. And then I had.
Also nerd alert.
Then I had, shark that was like a tiny, weird baby shark. It wasn't like what you envision, a very large baby shark. Doo doo doo, doo, doo, doo. Oh, my gosh. and then I had black molly fish, which basically looked like the other fish, but they were all black.
Could you see through them still?
No, they were all black.
Well, there could be like a translucent black.
No, these were pitch black.
Okay.
I don't know how else to tell you I couldn't see through these fish that they were black.
Well, I remember that I had these. This 10 gallon fish tank in high school and I had a shark that I bought as well, but it literally died within a day. And I'm sure that it had some sort of of price guarantee or something, but I never. We never did anything about it. Yeah.
Did your shark have a tint of red on the tip?
Okay, not that I remember, but it literally just kept running. It was really sad. It kept running into the wall of the tank, like it was just running into its reflection and it died a few hours later.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah. But it was found in a communal tank, so it should have thrived.
But let me tell you, it wanted.
There was a point in time where I'm like, I am done with these fish. And I had a betta fish that was also. Typically, betta fish are not communal in communal tanks because they're pretty, territorial. Yes. And so this thing lasted forever. Way longer than the shark. I eventually, once all the other fish died from this communal tank, I had to move this betta fish to a vase by my bed. And it stayed alive for forever. I mean, not really anymore. It's gone. Rest in peace. But it stayed alive for a long time.
To your chagrin.
And I kept feeding it. Obviously I wasn't gonna, like, let it.
Starve, super neglect it, but I was.
Just like, wow, still swimming away as.
You went to bed, looking at it every night, wishing it died.
I didn't wish it died. I was just more impressed, like, wow, this thing is still alive. After everything else died in this tank.
And I literally.
I didn't even. Once I moved it to the vase. It literally was just a vase with a, with water and a fish. I didn't put any rocks. Nothing.
The fish didn't need much, huh?
Uh, it was a really. I mean, you see those things in the store, they're just in a little Tupperware container. But yeah, she did not m. Need much. And it was a she. She was not. She was pretty colors, but she didn't have the really pretty tail. I think the males have the pretty tail and the males are probably what are territorial. And, since she was a female, maybe that's why she was in a communal tank.
May.
That was the most I've ever wanted to talk about a Betta fish.
That's the most I've talked about a betta fish in a while, that's for sure.
So that brings us to fourth or fifth grade.
We don't know for the Angela, where I really, really wanted a pet. And I was asking my mom. I remember in our yard, our backyard, near our apple trees, and I just asked her if I could have a dog or a cat. I think the dog question was like a flat out no. But then I worked on them for the cat.
Um, mom could be swayed for the cat.
I think deep down she might have really wanted a cat because she was like, if you can convince your dad, then maybe. And then the whole dad conversation. There wasn't really much of a story to it other than it was a no. And I just remember being so upset and I sadly can really hold a grudge. I'm not proud of it, but she.
Knows this and won't change her ways. But no, she's gotten better.
I have gotten better, I think. But anyway, more stories on grudges later, I suppose. But, uh, for this pet grudge, I don't remember how long I held it against my parents or I felt like I was holding it against my parents.
I'd be curious the timeframe of, uh, when you asked them when this happened and when we got the cat.
All I know is I went to church while I was upset and it was at the. It was near the end of church that I was just like, standing there locking my knees, upset, mad. And, I mean, my parents, our parents probably would laugh about it, that it didn't really affect them too much. They might have not even known that I was doing this in church, but I was so Upset. Who knows if I was praying to God or what. But all I know is I'm seeing the priest at the end of mass walk down the aisle, and next thing I know, I'm laying on the ground looking up at this older gentleman who was probably 70 years old or older, and he's just yelling, she's coming too. She's coming too. And I'm this embarrassed, fourth or fifth grader waking up on the floor of a pew.
Yeah. I don't, know if I was standing right next to you, because I feel like I would have since we were close in our childhood. I just feel like we were standing next to each other in church, and I just remember. like I maybe have broken your fall and maybe being like, why are you leaning on me? Get off. And really, you just, like, fell to the ground. but, yeah, something must have broken your fall because you didn't hit your head or anything.
I know. Yeah.
And I just remember the priest walking by because it was the end of mass and your feet are just, like, out of the aisle, sticking up. Yep.
It is a memory that really is vivid there still. Still to this day. But I don't know after that how much. How much conversation they had with our parents. But ultimately we were allowed. I was allowed to get a cat. And somehow we found out through Jeremy's girlfriend at the time. I think they were dating at the time. But our mom knew if he was.
In seventh or eighth grade, then probably.
Yeah. So either he shared or somehow our mom found that she had barnyard kittens. Yeah.
Barnyard cats.
So we go visit the farm, and I'm looking at all the kittens.
They were just all running around.
They were so cute.
There were so many kittens just all over the place in that barn.
so cute. And I end up going for the smallest kitten. Definitely the runt.
The runt of the litter.
And she was this gray tabby cat. And we ended up naming her Contessa. But the whole family fondly always called her the Chubs.
Yeah, Chubs.
Chubs. She wasn't even that chubby. She was just.
She's like the smallest cat probably we've ever known.
It was just after vacation one time. She definitely gained a little weight. And I think, yeah, that's what we told ourselves.
I don't know.
I think, So she was just called Chubbs.
Yeah.
And we all. We loved Chubbs. She was supposed to be an outdoor cat because our dad always told us he was allergic to two pets, even though later on we found out he owned dogs growing up.
Yeah. Well, the thing is, is he's also. I don't know, Dad. I don't know about those allergies.
No, we think they are made up.
But we have plenty of pictures of you cuddling with all of our pets.
Yeah, but she was supposed to be an outdoor cat, and Jeremy would always sneak her in. I remember under a blanket in the living room cuddling with the kitten at the time. And, he did that for at least a week. And we were like, we don't. Dad's allergic. Because this cat has been inside for a week or two. Oh.
I remember when we first brought her home as a kitten and we had her in your bed and we were doing like, a little, you know, sisterly sleepover where I was in your bed and she was like, attacking our toes.
Oh, yeah, yeah. We have many memories of the cat attacking us, attacking our feet. She really loved to chase us. Yeah.
Like, even when she was an outdoor cat, we had her in an out of the garage, essentially, so that she had a place to be warm and have a little bit of shelter before we brought her indoor. And, yeah, We would, like, turn off all the lights and she would come attack our feet.
Oh, yeah.
But it always seemed like such a playful way.
It was always fun. But then we think, really our oldest.
Brother, she said, we're looking and pointing out you didn't know how to put.
A cat down when she really just didn't want to be held. And I think that ruined her wanting to held a lot of the time.
Yeah. She truly really only had respect for our mom. It really became Mom's cat.
Yeah. rightly so. I mean, she fed her.
Really standing true to the kid, asking for a pet and then not taken care of. Really.
The what? Yeah, I mean, I cleaned that litter box.
She was an indoor outdoor cat. She mostly went outdoor in the soil.
I. No, she went in that litter box a lot.
I guess we did have a litter box downstairs in our work room.
In the workroom? No, it was in the garage when.
She became indoor and we would have people. I'm pretty sure we had a litter box in the workroom.
I have questions if Mahter remembers this or Jeremy and Jason, because that's why, she also loved Mahter. She would meow at the garage door to get out to go to the litter box.
She would go wake. Yeah. But there was a time when we just got rid of the litter box and she would just go to mom at like, six in the morning, meow at her, to wake her up, to let her out, and she would go outside and do her business.
No, it was to go to the garage.
No, she went outside.
Outside your. I'm sorry, sister. It is not.
She was an indoor and outdoor cat.
Yeah, she totally was. But she used a litter box still.
She did use one, but not her whole entire life. Mom was not cleaning a litter box when you were in high school or college.
We're gonna have to. I have questions for Mahter. I.
Yes. I also have questions on how it really came to be that we got this cat, because I want to know how much say mom, which I'm assuming had a lot of say to get this cat.
Yeah, we'll have to see.
I really think Dad's only qualm with pets is the upkeep and maintenance of them. And, you know, he's not wrong.
No.
Which brings us to our pets.
Current pets. The love.
the love, yes. We did only have this one cat growing up, and maybe that's why we all sought to have pets. The only person who hasn't had a pet is Jason, which is funny because he. Maybe it's because he loves to smother pets. Although, you know, they have a. They have a gecko or. No.
Oh, yeah. They both.
A lizard.
No.
Our niece and nephew have a lizard and a hamster.
Yes. Yes.
But that was literally within the last two years.
They're starting. It's a. I forget how. Like 10, 11.
Yeah. I feel like Joanie would totally have a dog.
Oh, yeah. She would take Stella in a heartbeat. Oh, for sure. She always says so.
If she did, good luck to her. but Jason, I don't know if he's ever really had any interest of having a pet.
Yeah, I don't know.
We'll have to ask him.
We will.
Um, but Jeremy was the first to have pets out of any of us.
He had two dogs. I do remember, though, Jeremy telling me, even after he had these dogs, he Hadge because they call me Hadge. Don't ever get a dog, Get a fish. If you want a pet, get a fish. I just remember when I was in my condo living by myself, considering I wasn't even considering getting a pet. I think it just was a conversation of somehow he was like, don't get a dog.
He must have had. He must have had some situation that a dog did something, and he was like, don't do it.
But I think I might have been watching pets at that point or helping watch pets or going to their house. To watch pets. Cause sometimes I would fly to their place and just hang out and work from their home.
Yeah.
While they went on vacation. Because that's probably my biggest gripe is how expensive it can be to travel and need pet care for pets that you trust outside of putting them into a kennel or something. I don't love that.
Yeah. Which Angela does love a side hustle of helping all dogs Or not even just dogs. All animals.
Cats too.
I'm pretty sure we've mentioned in previous episodes.
Oh, yeah. Ah, there's a whole episode we could do on the pets that I have taken care of with my husband.
Yeah. current pets.
Ashley.
Yeah. So then I was the next after Jeremy.
Yeah. You got your first cat.
Yeah. I was dating Justin at the time that we got our first cat, Kovu.
Kovu kitten.
Yes. So we call him Kovu Kitten. Kovu Cat. He is an orange cream tabby.
He is a lion.
He. We do call him a saber tooth lion. is that even a.
How much does he weigh currently?
I think, you know, I just weighed Girlie but I haven't weighed him. I, want to say between 14 to 16 pounds, but he used to be 18 pounds.
Oh, my gosh. So I was gonna say a 20 pound cat. guys
He's a large cat, but he's not fat. No, he's just big.
Yeah, he looks like a natural very large cat.
And he is the biggest baby. he is also the oldest. And with that old age, he is becoming problematic. so his whole thing right now and why we're bringing up the pets is because he, I believe, is the one who peed on my favorite chair. And it has taken me, weeks and many attempts to get the smell and everything out of this chair.
Yeah. I was gonna ask how. How is the latest attempt gone?
I need your nose. Because Justin and my nose, I feel like, are immune to it now. And I know everything I've done to it and the order I've done everything. And so I can smell the chemicals or the, detergents and all the things I've used that I outsider that won't judge me. To smell this. This chair.
But guys, I love this chair.
And I'm. I, I, don't think that he did it. I don't know why he would have done it, but because he typically uses the litter box, as far as I know. I don't know. The only times he hasn't used the litter box are when we did automatic ones and we learned our lesson and found that he was actually too big for these automatic boxes and literally couldn't side. And so, Now we actually have a huge cement mixer tub from Home Depot as our litter box. because we do have three cats. so Kovu. Yeah, he cries and meows all the time, either to let us know that they need food or water, which is good, or he'll tell us that he used the litter box. And so just the fact that he peed on this chair is weird, but it definitely was the. Not the other cats, because he is the only one that sits on this chair. Oh, yeah. Or he has been the only one in the last five months.
Yeah. And it's a beautiful chair. It's a bright blue, beautiful circular reading chair.
Reading chair that I love.
It's great in Ashley's library.
It does. Thank you. So that's Kovu Cat. then I have Tibbs. Sergeant Tibbs, So all of our cats are named after Disney characters. Kovu is from the second Lion King, and Sergeant Tibbs is from 101 Dalmatians. It's the only cat.
And Girlie is named after.
Uh, no, Girly's name is actually Jasmine.
Oh. Uh, yeah.
Okay. But she's the only girl, and so we call her Girlie
I see. I see.
Her and myself are the only girls in this house. And so, yes, I got Tibbs after I graduated college, and my whole entire family was mad at me that I got a cat instead of a job. And, you know, worth it, because this cat is my dude.
He is your, um. Ah.
He is me in cat form.
Ashley in cat form. Just the problem.
Problem child of. Yeah. So he just has anxiety. He, what we call, has diarrhea from the mouth. Like when we first.
Ashley does not have diarrhea from the mouth, though. Let me be clear.
Thank you. I do not.
Ashley just says that he is Ashley in cat form.
Uh, he is me in cat form in the sense that he. He is always sick. Yes.
Medical health issues. Just.
And has anxiety.
Yes. Yes.
actually, when we first brought him home, funny enough, because I did have a job, it was a server. And that just didn't suffice for my family, which I was looking for other jobs, but I got this cat instead. And funny enough, we had to spend so much money on this stupid cat because he had legitimate diarrhea. Just regular, diarrhea. Not from the mouth. And we ended up finding out with testing and continuously going back to the vet. So like I said, expensive that he had clostridium, which is highly contagious, especially, especially for cats using the same litter box. And we only had him and Kovu using the same litter box. And Kovu is such a tank that he never got sick. And he's never been a problem child because I think he's just this big giant cat who has the immunity of a tank.
Amazing.
So anyway, literally took up to the last day and last, last pill giving this stupid cat medicine every single day, twice a day for this clostridium to literally poof and be gone. And he's never had an issue since. And yeah, now he's just my guy. He over grooms because he has anxiety. He gets, overstimulated super easily with visitors coming in and out of the house, but like constantly wants the attention. You can do anything you want to this cat. Literally. Ace, my three year old child, has dragged this cat across the kitchen floor by the tail. And I will remove him from the situation. I will yell at Ace, I will take Tibbs and take him away and he will just come crawling right back. And literally, it's like he'll put his tail in Ace's hand and I'm like, why do you do this to yourself?
We'll never know.
I think he knows that he came from me and he just loves me.
Yeah, we love Tibbs.
So that is Tibbs. And he, like I said, just he vomits disgustingly from the mouth and we had to get a specific type of vacuum cleaner to clean it and you know, knock on wood. But he hasn't had any explosive vomiting for a while.
You know, I'm not, I, I don't think you're doing justice to the description of his vomit.
Diarrhea from the mouth isn't descriptive enough? No, it.
You needed to add the description explosive of explosive. Because guys, I have had to watch these cats and approach, approach all of the rooms to just hope and pray that there's no mess that I have to come across.
It was always a good time if he happened to vomit on the tile floor because that was an easy cleanup. Oh my gosh.
It was a grace. If you vomit on the tile. No, I will just tell one story. this happened during the week that I lost my job.
Oh, yes, we were in Ireland.
You were gone. And it was probably good that I had something to clean up and focus my energy on.
Honestly, rage cleaning.
Rage Cleaning, emotional cleaning, whatever you want to call it. But I come into Ashley's house, and I, don't think it was just one cat mess that I had to clean up. But I will just focus on Tibbs. I went to go feed the cats, and they have a little cat staircase.
Up to a table because I haven't gotten to her yet. But our third cat, Girlie she's fat.
So I am looking.
We have little stairs.
Yes. So I'm looking at how much food I have to replenish. And across the wall is the explosion of, Tibb's diarrhea out the mouth, all over the wall. I wish I took a picture because.
It looked like a murder scene. It was that artful.
Oh, no, just dripping down, you know, into the carpet on the wall, on their, baseboard. You know, I. I had to. I had. I had spent some good time cleaning, making sure that my sister wasn't coming back to a mess.
Honestly, though, I'm glad that it was you watching the cats in that moment, because I don't know if anyone else would have cleaned it as well as you or I. Probably not you or myself, but.
But we also are unclear on why your cats tend to create more mess when I am the one watching them versus, uh, sometimes when you have other pet sitters, they tell you they had nothing to clean up, and I'm like, what?
They just. They love you a little extra?
I don't know. anyway, yeah, I had to just give some. Some detail on. On that.
On Tibbs, who we also call the tub.
Yes, we love him, but, goodness gracious, the mess.
Yeah. So that brings me to Girlie our third cat, who, is just so fat. She's so beautiful. She is.
She's such a pretty cat.
So I forgot to mention Tibbs is a tuxedo. So they are really known to be super, good personalities. Just super sweet. And literally, I tell everyone he's kind of like a dog. He will come here, greet you at the door, and be the first to say hello. Yes, Girlie will be at the door as well, but that's because she'll want outside. And she looks for any opportunity and any person to let her out because we found her on the streets. Justin and I were taking a lovely walk after one of my night shifts that I had gotten home late one night, and it was a colder night in a February. And this cat just came running up to us. We didn't even see her. I think she saw us first, came running up to us, meowing at us. And she looked like a Siamese. So we have actually found out that she is part of the Siamese family. And she's called a snowshoe. And snowshoes are very personable as well. they like to be in your lap. They're like a lap cat. And she is very much so like that, but only on her terms. so she is the mean one of the family. Which is funny because she was the third. Good for you. I'm proud.
Right, right.
But it's funny because she was the third and last one in. So it's funny that she's so territorial. because she hates Tibbs. She'll get of a lot along with. Kovu does not tolerate Tibbs whatsoever.
I know. And he doesn't even do anything. And all of a sudden you hear hissing.
He will literally just enter the room and she will growl. Yeah, but she is, she is fat, she is beautiful and she is mean. And that is our fat Girlie cat. Oh, yeah. And you've all seen the, the picture, the painting that we have painted.
Mhm.
So, with all that said, Kovu is the tabby, Tibbs is the tuxie, and Girlie is the white Siamese looking. But is known as a snowshoe.
But also, fun fact about Girlie is her favorite fast food treat.
Oh my gosh. This girl, because she came from the streets, is such a rat. She can sniff out a McDonald's french fry from the other side of the house. She could be upstairs, I'd be downstairs. We will be cut off by a wall and a window with her being in the porch. And she will be meowing at the door like, let me in and get some of those fries. She'll put her whole head in the bag. So funny. Loves that girl. Loves a McDonald's french fry.
So funny. but yeah, Ashley, always says, well now she says that after these cats go, she doesn't see herself having a cat. But I have said, yeah, right.
And I will say I have rescinded a little.
Yeah.
I think we will always have at least one. I will never have three again. Three is too much. It's too much.
She is definitely a cat lady lady right now.
Definitely. and I love all of them, but again with the puke. Diarrhea from the mouth. Luckily my carpets are disgusting brown. But I can't wait to get rid of these carpets in the entire house. So when these cats go,
The carpet's gonna go the Carpet's gonna go.
yep. And I can't wait to downsize my litter or just not even have a litter box for a little bit. We'll definitely be taking a break.
Yeah. I think with my dogs. Yes.
Let's do a lovely introduction to the lovely pooches of Angela.
So, we have two dogs. The first is Bailey. And she. She's probably, 13 years old.
Yeah, she's about the same age as Kovu. Kovu's 14 or 13, so she's 13. Ish.
I just know she's older. Jake keeps telling me how much more white we're seeing in her face, which it's true. Since I first met Jake. Bailey is actually Jake's dog, and he already had her when I met Jake. So. Always loved Bailey. And Jake said she was always a great judge of character on who people that she liked. Like, apparently, she ruined some shoes of one of his ex girlfriends. That was, like, really not a great person, I guess. But Bailey loved me always from the beginning.
Well, that makes me feel better that she loves us, too.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
She. She can have some judgment, apparently. I haven't seen it a ton, though. But anyway,
Just like you. I'd say. Just like her mom.
Does that mean that I. What?
Have judgment?
That I am judgy?
Yeah.
Oh. I don't know how I feel about this, about people.
You don't think that you're judgy?
You think I'm judgy about people?
I just think you're a judgy person.
Interesting.
I think it goes hand in hand with the grudge, the grudginess, I guess.
I mean, I try not to judge people right off the bat.
Again. You've gotten better.
Oh, my goodness. Okay.
Love you. This is new.
Oh, I don't know how to respond to this. My sister is serious. I think I'm slightly saddened.
Like I said, you've gotten way better.
Thank you, I guess. Back to my pets. so Bailey. We love her. And when I met Jake, he always wanted to have Bailey have another pet.
A friend.
A friend. A sibling. A pet sibling. A pet sibling. And at the time, I had just met Jake, we were, like, just talking about moving in and living with each other. So I was like, I don't want to just get a pet right off the bat with you. Took, things slow.
Uh, I did not know that.
Yeah. That's how we got into the rover and pet sitting business. Though it was a compromise of me not wanting to own a permanent new pet.
Wow. I did not know this, really.
And then we ended up getting into Rover, and Bailey had lots of friends all the time.
I just thought you liked watching people's pets. Because we literally watched people's pets, like our neighbor's pets growing up.
And don't get me wrong, I love watching the pets. I would never have done it if I didn't like that.
I just thought that you did it as a side hustle to get more money coming in, not as a compromise to.
It was all those things. Yeah, Lots of various factors. but, it was so easy to watch, Other pets while I worked from home. but besides the point, Jake, had Bailey, and she's still with us. Love her. And the only. Honestly, the only thing that bothers me about Bailey is just how much she.
Barks when I was gonna say, yeah, she just. She's a barker. Yeah.
She has just always, when somebody.
Comes, even people she knows, it's like she's excited and barking to say hello. It's not even always a barking. Like a. This is my property.
Right.
It's like, hey, I know you.
Yeah. Or now, I don't know if it's just because she's older and certain sounds will set her off. but honestly, between the two dogs, it's not always just Bailey. There's also Stella, who will start the barking too. But once one dog starts barking in our household, the other starts going in. It's the whole barking fest.
All I know is anytime I watch watch the dogs and they come stay at our house, Bailey is the one barking. She starts it, I think, 98 of the time.
Yeah. And I think Jake's in denial about it sometimes.
Jake, if you're listening, I said what I said.
But that brings me to Stella, who we. So with the Rover and dog watching business side hustle, the that we were doing, we never had any plans in the near future to get another dog. And we were in our Alabama home, and one, day, Jake tells me, hey, be on the lookout. There was a dog that I saw kind of roaming around, and it's not the first time around our house that we have seen stray dogs. So we're kind of always like, is it a stray? Is it. Is it a dog that somebody owns?
Is it a pig?
Is it a pig? Yes. Because right down the street and across the road, it was, a hog.
Yep. Just wanted to throw him in there. so it was never a pig.
So, Jake, this one day tells me to be on the lookout. And it happened to be a day that we had a guy coming out to look at our fence and give us a quote on a new fence that we were gonna put in our backyard. And I'm looking out the back door and I see Jake with the fence guy walking. And three feet behind him, this little puppy just.
Literally just puppy. And along, following him, following him.
Um, and it was the cutest thing. This dog, you know, in my mind at the time, looked like a. puppy wiener dog. You know, dachshund Yeah, miniature dachshund And Jake brings the dog, to the front door and is like, so this is the dog that I saw. And he says, I'm gonna go knock on some doors and just see if this dog belongs to anybody down our street. So the first door that he knocks on, it was the owners of this dog. I have quote, air quotes because these owners, said that, yes, it was their dog. But then, like five minutes after Jake drops the dog off, the dog is back at our door, scratching at the door. And Bailey's barking. This is probably, you know, 2pm during the day. I am technically working. And I'm like, I can't be working in this bark. Barking conditions. So anyway, Jake again takes this dog back to these owners, and is like. So the dog came back. They're like, oh, thank you. and 10 minutes later, now the dog is back at our door, and we're like, what the heck? And I'm seeing them, these neighbors pull back out of their garage or out of their driveway, and they're leaving and this dog is still in our house.
I'm like, what?
So we get a little fenced in area, that Jake had for an outdoor kind of fence cage. Yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah, it's not a crate, but it's like a playpen. Yeah.
For dogs.
And we keep it. Our garage door is open and it's a rainy, raining day. raining day or rainy day. so we don't want the dog to just be, you know, sitting in the wet.
The rain.
I don't know. I can't talk right now. I'm distracted by a garbage can that keeps opening. There's a garbage can in this room. And sometimes it opens when we say certain things and it confuses us.
Well, you have said open like three times in the last.
That's probably why.
But there are times when we don't say open. That it does open. Yes.
So anyway, this dog, we're concerned that the neighbors who say, yes, that's our dog are gone and don't care and have just let this dog roam back over to our house multiple times. during the day it's raining and keep this dog secure. And we wait for the neighbors to come back home. So when the neighbors come back home, there is also this procession of thoughts of like, what we're doing with this dog. Because Jake keeps making, making comments of this dog is reminding me of Bailey when she was a puppy. Ah, uh, Jacob pulling at my heartstrings. And the other stressful thing is Jake is giving me hints that he would be okay with trying to keep this pet. But we're also about to go on this week long vacation the next day. And we're debating do we just pawn this dog off with our other pet sitter that's gonna watch Bailey when we know nothing about this puppy. and we decide, okay, we're gonna ask the neighbors if we can keep this puppy. And we walk over to this lady. It's like 7, 8pm Maybe, I don't know. We haven't had to drop Bailey off yet, but we're about to and we ask if we can keep this dog. And she's like, yeah, sure. And says, do you want. She asks, do you want me to bring over some dog food too? We're like, sure, that would be great. She never did.
What?
I don't know why she would have asked me. This has bothered me forever and will forever because I just don't know why you would ask if you never intended to ever follow through with the dog food. long story short, we keep this dog. We name her Stella and this darn dog, guys, I love her but oh my gosh, the distress that she adds to my heart. she has caused my heart so much turmoil because this dog, she looks so innocent. But she is a hunter.
She is such a hunter.
in Alabama it was fine. We had a, we had a wide open yard, no trees, honestly, no bushes, nothing for an animal to hide in. Just bunnies that would dig and be so small that they could go under a hole that Stella never caught anything. Fast forward to Florida.
Littered with creatures.
And ah, we discover she loves chasing lizards. She will swallow a lizard whole. She will attack the birdcage The screened in area of our pool.
Yeah.
And, probably has ripped some of our, some. The of. Of our screen because she is trying to get these lizards. She's so fast that just one pounce and she's caught it.
She slurps them up like a noodle.
Oh, it's disgusting. I think, there were. She. She definitely has gotten better. And that's what's scary, because she wasn't. She wasn't like this, you know, in the first few months living here. She'd only got their tails, and I'd see the tail wiggling around and the little lizard would escape. I never saw her catch it. But then it was. It wasn't until you said that you saw her how quickly when you had to watch her one time.
Uh, yeah.
And she got.
She got it so fast in the grass.
Yeah. And then ever since, it's been like, all I can see.
I literally. I found a bunch of dead lizards sometimes. I don't know if I ever told you, in the back corner of where she would jump. And, like, because they had. I have a fence in my backyard too. And if the lizards are scaling the fence, she will go and jump on the fence. And I think she would get a couple and kill them. And then she'd roll in them.
Yes, she rolls in them. It's disgusting.
She is such, uh, a disgusting dog.
Like, sometimes it's like, I don'. I don't think she means to kill them, to eat them purposefully. She loves it just for the chase, like a cat.
And then she likes the stink.
And then she has to rub herself in the st. Like, I know. I've told Jake. I'm like, if you see that dog rolling around in our backyard, she is rolling on a dead lizard, and I'm disgusted.
A dead something. It's not poop, it's a dead carcass.
Yep, yep, yep. And so I look for it and I throw that thing over the fence.
Were the lizards her first kill in Florida, though?
The lizards were the first, weren't they?
No, no.
It was the bunny sister.
Oh, uh, my gosh. So while Angela and Jake were trying to decide if they come and live in Florida, there was a lot of back and forth. They came for their honeymoon and left the dogs with us. They also came to check out the house and left the dogs with us. We've watched the dogs plenty of time, but it was like one of these first two times of either the honeymoon or coming down to look at the house. And it was during the spring. It had to be the house because it was during springtime. I don't know when you went on your honeymoon.
That was also during springtime.
Ah. Uh, they were both the springtime.
March and April.
Every spring, my backyard is up against a little conservation type area where there's little woods, and end result, there are bunnies. And we always have baby bunnies in the spring. It's just what happens in the springtime. There's baby everything.
Baby everything.
We had a grill that we rarely ever used, and now it's Angela and Jake's. And in the cover these little bunnies going to their burrow Would find an area to go hide. And the grill was one of them. And so Stella knew that this bunny always tried to go to the grill. And she got the bunny, and it wasn't. She did not finish the job. And I sent Jake out there. I said, jacob, you have to go take care of this. Cause this is your dog. And I know Angela's not gonna do it. You're good with bugs, but I don't know if you could have done a baby bunny. Um, and Jake, I just remember coming in saying that was one of the saddest things I've ever had to do. Poor Jake. And literally, so now we do not have this grill and
When we still watch these dogs, we'll typically have them stay with us. And she will still go to that spot knowing that there used to be something there. And she knows that she got the kill there. Like, it's insane. But there's nothing there for this bunny to hide. So they have to either run for the fence or run to the burrow, which is not good because Stella will also dig. Yeah, she does.
Yeah.
So bunnies of my yard, beware. Yeah. So, yeah, with our road going in our backyard, not. Not technically our backyard, but we're having a road built by the city. We're not happy about it behind our fence. I wonder if we'll have a lot less wildlife, because we probably will. Which will then bode well for Stella.
Yes. I don't know. She'll still get those lizards, though.
Oh, yeah, the lizards are. Like, an extra little treat for her. She just gets a bunch of treats every day because Florida is swarmed with lizards. Yeah.
It's disgusting.
And then she stinks. Yeah.
So we. So we knew She had gotten a baby Bunny and plenty of lizards. I mean, I just hoped that I wouldn't have to bury, another bunny or something, throw it over our fence. But she's gotten more than a baby bunny. We've gotten. I had. I was home by myself with Emma. And I knew I had to call in the dogs. And I go outside and Stella, started chasing a full grown rabbit. and all, uh, I remember is I was trying so hard to snap her out of her kill zone. Like, whatever attitude mentality, like, once she's in that kill thought, there's nothing stopping her. You know, she just sees red and.
And she's not vicious.
No. Everyone you look at her, she still looks like a puppy to this day. She looks so innocent.
She'll be. I mean, I'm sure she was getting this rabbit and she just looked happily to do so. Like, she's not. She's not a vicious dog at all.
And it's just ridiculous. Like, the rabbit is half her size and you think, oh, my gosh. Like, is she gonna get it? And, uh, she. Yep, she got this one. And. But I am yelling, guys, I'm yelling so loud for her to get away from this rabbit, to stop what she is doing, to the point that our next door neighbor, who is homeschooling her kids, she comes outside with one, of her, high school kids. And she's like, is everything okay? I'm like, yeah, Stella got a rabbit.
And she was like, oh, no.
And she's, you know, helping me. take Emma so that I could get a shovel. And I just felt kind of embarrassed about the fact that I have no idea what to do do with this rabbit that is now dead. I'm like, it's so large. Do I just throw it over the fence? and that's what I did. And I realized afterwards that I should have buried this thing. Because, guys, though Stella is the hunter of the two dogs. Bailey is the mourner. And she just.
Oh, my gosh, I totally forgot about that.
She. She was just sitting, and laying down right by the area of the fence where I threw the dead rabbit. And she mourned this thing for, a week. I just felt, like, so bad. And Jake, I just remember being like, well, yeah, you gotta bury it. And the next one we buried, that one, I think was the baby bunny. Think again. Oh, got another baby bunny. she has since got an adult squirrel. She trailed a squirrel nest where I was. Gosh, I. I felt in my heart I was gonna be burying some dead baby squirrels. Thank goodness I did not and have not yet, knock on wood. But I think the other one that was really impressive was when we found out that we had a gift. Gopher tortoise and Stella. I just look out the backyard. Our backyard is fenced in, and Stella is carrying in her mouth what looks like a military helmet. You know, like, this tortoise is that big that. It looks like one of those helmets that. And again, it is half her size, so she looks ridiculous. springing like this bunny.
Oh, yeah. She, hops when she runs.
She. She is.
She's like a little deer.
Yeah. Like, if you imagine just this happy, playful deer and then add in if.
Mo hasn't hit your backyard yet.
and you have, like, this tall.
Grass, she jumps even higher.
She's literally like a prancing deer. So funny. Yeah.
But, the other one. Yeah, that was impressive that she was able to carry this gopher tortoise. Thankfully, I saved this tortoise, and he still, to this day, lives, burrowed under our shed. But we have blocked it off so that he never will come back into our yard again and he will go outside the fence. But Stella and Bailey know that one.
Save the gopher tortoise, please.
We tried. They don't relocate these guys. They tell you instead. Hey, if you want to help save gopher tortoises and you have dogs that know you have a go for tortoise, go outside and make sure that tortoise isn't in the backyard at the same time that you let your dogs out.
That's what they told you?
Yes.
Aren't they? Because they're an endangered species.
I don't know if they're endangered. They must be, because you're like, I'm not supposed to touch it or whatever. But they're protected. A protected species.
Yeah. Okay.
But I was appalled.
But they wouldn't.
At the response.
Save it.
Yeah. They don't.
From your hunter dog
No, I'm like this. I mean, if I didn't take drastic measures to not let this tortoise enter our backyard, it would be dead.
That darn Stella bean.
So that's Stella in a nutshell. Love her. She was never planned to enter our lives. But she has. And for some reason, God has said I needed to own a Hunter dog.
whatever that lesson may be, whatever.
That lesson is, whether it's just survival of the fittest, I don't know. Stella's pretty much up there at the top.
So she kind of chose you guys and Girlie chose us. I never really. So I didn't remember to, finish how Girlie came to be, because she did come to us off the streets. But because she was so friendly and came right up to us, we thought she was someone's cat. So we brought her to see if she was. Was microchipped and she was not. So we left her at the shelter for a week and did, like, a pre adoption. And, no one claimed her. so we ended up taking her home. But I think we found out from the apartment complex next to us where we found her, that she was abandoned by a home. And again, she is so pretty. Wow. And she was nice. She's really great with kids. Kids, honestly, beside. Well, she was really nice with kids. She kind of avoids. Well, actually, she is a very protective, she's very motherly to the babies. When Ace was a baby, she was by his bassinet and slept by his side. And she is the same way with Sam.
Yeah.
And even. Yeah, even when we have Sam, and Zachary sleeping in the room or like, one of them's crying, she will come and be like. She'll be meow at us and be like, guys, he's crying. Like, why aren't you getting him? So she is protective and motherly in that way, which is very sweet. But. Yes, we ended up adopting. We adopted all of our cats. Yeah.
Jake adopted Bailey and.
And then Stella fell on your lap.
You know, it's kind of funny that I have to double check with Jake, but I'm pretty sure the story was that, Bailey was returned to the shelter because she barked too much. I feel like that was.
Oh, no.
Yeah. So I'm like, oh, my gosh. We're now saying that. but then Stella, obviously, we really don't know the story whether she was just kind of picked up on the side of the road by our neighbor and they just decided they were gonna neglect to.
But she wasn't microchipped either. Cause you microchipped her down here. Yeah, we.
We had to micro. Microchip this pooch because, guys, since she's a hunter, she. She is too smart for her own good. She escapes through our gate.
She is an escape artist.
She really is.
And she just. Through this tiny little thing, and she just is. I call her A little rat.
You do. Affectionately.
Yes. I do love the pooches, but she is a little rat
One thing that I forgot to mention about Stella, and just what I could not believe when we were attempting to return Stella to this neighbor was when I went over with Jake to return the dog and see what was going on. Because I'm like, why is this dog continuously coming back after you give the dog back to These people? And I kid you not, we give the dog to. I think we think the brother of the neighbor, and he says, thank you so much. Like, we're like, yes, she's been coming over plenty of times. And we even are a little concerned that we're like, you're keeping the dog in the garage. It's during a warm month. And Jake even mentions, like, As a tip to them, like, it's not great to keep a dog in a garage. It can overheat. but anyway, the guy, the brother says, thank you so much, brings the dog, brings Stella, uh, into their house, and like, five seconds later, the woman who lives there more permanently, we never knew if they rented or not. She just puts Stella, uh, out her front door. It was, like, in a matter of 30 seconds, give the dog to the guy, brings her inside, and the woman brings the dog, places her just out the doorstep.
Wow, that's like in lady and the Tramp.
I know. I was appalled. I was just like, you guys do not care about this dog. And then that's when we were going back and forth if we keep the dog. So Stella was meant to be with us, apparently. But the other fun fact about our dogs and just because we were recently pregnant was Bailey knew instantly when I was pregnant with both Emma, um, and. And Zach, and Stella was too young. I think she was still in her puppy phase to really understand. I think what was going on. She was still learning the world. but the second time around with Zach, I think she also knew. She was like, oh, no, another one's coming. Because she's also really great with. kids, and was like, Tibbs with the kids will just lay on her and all of that. Bailey doesn't tolerate it as much. She'll leave the situation leave the area. But Stella, she just endures.
Yeah. Kovu will literally hide all day. And as soon as Ace goes to bed, he comes out, wants nothing to do with the kids. Um, Girlie is mother hen. And Tibbs is just like, I want all attention, no matter what kind. But I will also say about Bailey, when I was pregnant, because you were not down here. Yeah, you were not down here when I was pregnant with Ace, but you had moved down here when I was trying for Sam. And for some reason, I took a pregnancy test too early. I can't.
Both me and Ashley's husband said you took it too early.
I was just impatient, I guess. And it was obviously negative. And so I was a little disheartened, and I was like, whatever. I'm just gonna Wait it out now. And I am visiting Angela, who had already known that she was pregnant at this point and that Bailey was showing signs that she knew. And I was sitting on the floor playing with Emma, Angela's daughter. And Bailey comes and lays on my lap and is doing essentially the exact same thing of, um, what picture Angela sent a couple weeks prior about what Bailey was doing knowing that Angela was pregnant. And I think four days later, I took another pregnancy test.
But even. Even before then, though, because I saw Bailey do that, I was like, sister, you're pregnant.
Yeah.
After Ashley had taken and saw that her pregnancy test was negative, I was like, that's lying. I know. My dog knows.
She was like, if Bailey knows, I know you're pregnant. And Jake was like, yeah, you're pregnant. And, yeah, four days later, I took a pregnancy test, and It was positive.
Yeah.
And he couldn't believe it.
Yeah, Here Sam is.
So, yeah, in the end, pets are pretty cool. We do love them. But they'll probably add. the gray hairs to our heads.
To my head. You, have no gray hairs.
I found a couple.
So I have said that I will not. And then rescinded and said maybe one pet at a time. Will you continue having pets after you dogs pass?
I will definitely take a break, But I have not said I will never have a pet again after these dogs.
Never say never.
I will never say never. But let me tell you, I'm gonna have a break.
Yeah, I will need a break for sure.
And I might go on a few vacations.
And I think. the kids, when they're older, will also have a say cause. You know, a little. A little. Little Emma small Angela lookalike is gonna come up to her mom and dad and be like, can I have a kitten? And Jake will be like, no, but you can have a dog.
Or we'll just say, hey, start your side hustle. And you can start watching new cats and dogs. Yeah, so we'll see.
let us know your, uh, guys. Pets, stories. This was just pretty much a introduction to our pets. We have plenty of pet stories.
So many pet stories.
From watching each other's pets to Angela, like she said, watching other people's pets. we love them all. We still love all the animals, but God help us all with what they put us through.
Amen.
And on that note, thanks for tuning in.
Bye. Bye.