Happiness is a warm puppy. Or two. And throw some cats in there. And don't forget the birds.

Just a quick little glimpse into my furry feathery life. My "children," who deserve to be featured on my blog. The little black dog is Madden. She will be two later this month. She is supposed to be half toy poodle, a quarter jack russell, and a quarter miniature dachshund. I see none of those breeds in her, but she is out of her mind and jumps straight up in the air like a jack. I call her my little jackadoodledox (because people are ridiculous and make up names for mutt combinations all of the time, so I thought I ought to as well). Champ is the brown dog. He is somewhere around six years old or so, but I have only had him for a year. He is a combination of pug and jack russell terrier. He is brilliant and will do absolutely anything to please. I didn't realize it was possible to teach an old dog new tricks so quickly. He amazes me. The little grey cat is Kenzie. She is just about three, and I have had her since she was around three months old. Someone abandoned her in a house, and a friend asked if I would take her. When I got her she was this crazy little spitfire of a thing, hissing and acting tough. Now, she is a big mushy babydoll. She is an indoor/outdoor cat (dangerous, I know), but absolutely loves the outdoors. Karly is the other cat. She's sort of a neat blonde tabby color with amazing blue eyes. I have literally had her since the moment she was born (her mother was a stray I brought in without realizing she was pregnant - oops). The mother went sort of nutty and I had to give her up, but I kept Karly. She will be six next month, and has lived in six different homes with me so far. Sometimes I just want to kill her because she is awful and rude and spiteful. But she is my baby. The parakeets are Wesley and Buttercup (named by my brother's brilliant girlfriend. Good job, Mary). I've had them a bit under a month now, I guess. I fell in love with them because they look like the parakeet I had when I was a kid.