The Menagerie

Here on what we lovingly refer to as the family compound (two houses and a barn situated on a beautiful 40 acre plot) we have collected quite a number of animals. Or, should I say, they have collected us. For your viewing pleasure here is the latest addition to our family's menagerie:




Aren't they just too cute! Apparently there was a hole in my parent's guest bathroom. A mouse got in and had some babies. Then the poor momma drowned in the toilet, and these itty bitty little things were found by my sister, Annie. Now most people would freak, but my sister being the animal collector that she is got out a glass and caught them. She was supposed to let them go out by the barn, but she just couldn't do it. She swears she tried, but they just wouldn't go.


While I was pregnant she was rehabbing a baby humming bird that had an accident with a mirrored window. Here it is in my parent's guest bathroom learning how to drink from a feeder.

At the same time she took in a little kitten with spinal injuries. She's a regular St. Francis. This is Felix, the cat.

On top of this we currently have lots of other dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and whatever else wanders up. I guess I can't blame my sister for all of the animals on the farm. Here are the baby chickens that I raised. I might be responsible for other animals, but I'm not saying.



By far though the freezer probably contains the weirdest animal collection. To ease concern, this freezer does not contain food used for human consumption. Annie is a collector of all animals, dead or alive. She picks up roadkill, dissects them, cleans their bones, and rebuilds the skeletons (Quite beautifully, I might add). To my dismay, she gives the skeletons to her college's biology department before I have the chance to draw them. She's currently working on a bobcat skeleton. Here's a pic of the bobcat in progress.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Levi and his Aunt Annie are going to have lots of fun together!