Tird's Day 1: No Ferrets

Read the prologue to my Thursday, "Tird's Day" posts here.

Tird's Day 1: No Ferrets

My post college roommate and I moved into an apartment that didn't allow ferrets. I mention this, because it’s the catalyst that would lead to what would be 14 years of crazy cat antics to come. In the 90’s ferrets were very popular house-hold pets, but were banned from many apartments due to their “smell”. I can tell you, my kid never smelled. I made sure of that. But, despite my hygienic critter,  the “law” was the law. No ferrets. Sacrificing my pet for freedom, I made the choice to leave my parent’s home without my beloved pet, Rugrat.   

Naturally, it didn't take long before I missed her. And I’m guessing I must have mentioned that fact more than a few times because the next thing I knew, my roommate and I individually owned pet mice. They were a far cry and poor substitute from my wallet and leather-goods stealing ferret, but they were something with fur at least. The mice proved to be low maintenance and very entertaining. The entertainment factor was at it’s all time high when I would take one out of its cage and let it run loose into our kitchen. Catching the roommate off guard every time, I happily giggled at her sudden gasps, momentary freak outs and random swear words at the thought that the mice had gotten loose. It was usually at my peak of laughter when I’d get a finger-shaking, and some type of commentary about what an ass I was. But what can I say? I was young! (Who am I kidding, I would still pull this type of prank today.)

Despite her possible frustration with my mouse “freedom to exercise” program, she loved them just as much as I did. The mice were well taken care of and provided for thanks to our local shops. After visiting a nearby pet shop to collect mouse-supplies one day, my roommate came home and reported, “They have a really cool cat there!”. She was super excited to share this detail with me, and to this day, I’m not sure why. I didn't like cats and surely didn't want to own one. "Cats suck", I remember thinking.