April ALL ABOUT ME Challenge (2024) - Pets

[Cassel]

Let's continue this new challenge. We might often be the ones taking pictures but we are not the feature of our layouts, so let's change that since we ARE important and we have lots to say.

Every month or so, the layout will be about YOU, and a prompt will be given. If you have taken the Story Week Challenge, you will find some similarities but it won't be the same.

For the April layout, tell us something about a pet you had (or wished you had) or animals in your life. Did you have pets? Were you allowed to have some? If you couldn't have pets, did you have any connection with someone else's pets? Were you raised on a farm? Or did someone in your family have a farm that you visited?

Remember that if you want to create pages for previous prompts, those threads will stay open for you. There is no right or wrong order to share about you.

[Ann Seeber]

38 minutes ago, Cassel said:

For the March layout, tell us something about a pet you had (or wished you had) or animals in your life

Don't you mean April?

[Cassel]

7 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

Don't you mean April?

You are catching all my lapses! 😉

[Ann Seeber]

47 minutes ago, Cassel said:

You are catching all my lapses! 😉

Sorry, it must be my old proofreader gene kicking in! 😁

Edited April 13 by Ann Seeber

[Doska St.]

Hi all,

Well then I'll start:

As a child, cats and dogs followed me. But we couldn't keep pets in my family. So my husband gave me a dog right at the start of our marriage because we had to have a weekend marriage for three months because of his professional training. I was so homesick that he didn't want to leave me alone.
After our dog, who had to be put down in 1990 when he was 17, I got a tomcat by "accident"; a previous owner had already called him "Peterli" to whom he had been given, but didn't get along with her existing tomcat. The artist who drew a very nice poster to display for him was a fellow singer from my gospel choir who was sitting next to me. At first I just wanted the beautiful drawing, but I immediately got the cat. He was with us for 13 years and we trained him to use a harness so that we could take him on vacation trips. Then he became very ill, had surgery, it went on for another 2 years, then the cat cancer broke out again and the area could no longer be operated on. We then got the second black and white tomcat from our cat protection association, my husband named him “Cicero”. Unfortunately our sick Peterli didn't like that and ran away. 14 days later I was able to catch him again nearby, emaciated. It was with a heavy heart that we had him euthanized at home in the hot August of 2005. Cicero, who we called "Rambo" because of his impetuous nature, was also used to being on a leash and went on vacation with us (usually on farms in Bavaria, Allgäu or Black Forest). Unfortunately, he only lived to be 2 years old. In 2007, in another hot April, we found him dead on a road embankment near us after a long search. Now my husband no longer wants pets because he finds it difficult to cope with the death of a pet again. I would like to have both again, also because of the exercise. But I don't want to surprise my husband and I respect his attitude

 

[Corrie Kinkel]

I have no photos of pets because we never had one. When I grew up I lived in postwar Rotterdam and in the new apartment building where we lived it was forbidden to have animals (cats and dogs mostly). Once I had a hamster but that wasn't a great succes either. Later when I was married my husband wanted to have an aquarium with some fish and we had that for a couple of years. One summer we went for a holiday and couldn't find someone to feed the fish. So we dropped them in the little pond we had in the garden fully convinced they would not survive in the "wild"! To the delight of the children they survived and had made babies! They stayed there and we had many offspring over the years until the one day a grey heron had discovered there was a nice meal to be had in our garden. Both of our children are allergic to cats and dogs and nobody had ever heard of a labradoodle in those days. Luckily my daughter has overcome her allergies and there are 2 dogs in her family which my granddaughters love very much. I enjoy them when I visit there and it was quite funny when I visited last year the dogs suddenly realized that I had come and they went a bit crazy to great me and begged for a cuddle and a treat. I think they will do something similar when I arrive on Tuesday! I haven't time to search for some photos or supplies for this theme but wanted to tell my story anyway.

[Rene Marker]

I've got a lot of older layouts about my dogs throughout my life! I've had 4 dogs. One from the age of 9 to about 23. It was another 22 years before I got another dog. Less than 2 years later, I got a 2nd dog and had them for quite awhile. After they passed, I waited 18 months before getting my current dog. She will be my last. I found training a dog in my 60's was not as easy as training a dog in my 40's!!!

Here are 2 layouts about them.

[Bonnie Ballentine]

I created these layouts for the Alphabet Book challenge.

Mac belonged to my parents when I was born so he was my first pet.

[Bonnie Ballentine]

More dogs:

[Bonnie Ballentine]

Cats...I have had many. These are a few:

[Doska St.]

9 hours ago, Bonnie Ballentine said:

Cats...I have had many. These are a few:

Did you have these adorable cats at the same time or one after the other, or in groups of 2 Bonnie?

[Bonnie Ballentine]

3 hours ago, Doska St. said:

Did you have these adorable cats at the same time or one after the other, or in groups of 2 Bonnie?

Usually one or two at a time. I have had 3 at one time and right now I have two...Poppy and Penny. There were many others of whom I have no photos. Their names are in the cat wordart.

[Julie Magerka]

I've had pets all my life. A dog when I was a wee thing, then cats, cats, and more cats. Then in 2004 I got my very own dog (from friends who had to give her up). I was blessed because she was such a good girl. Since then, there have been other pooches, and I presently have three small ones. One is "mine", and the other two are long-term fosters who will be with me till the end.

This layout is for My Girl, the first dog I got. Her name when she came to me was Anna, but a friend said, "No, that's not right. She's too glamorous; her name should be Lana, like Lana Turner". And that's what it became.

I've had temporary foster dogs, cats until last year (and still missing having at least one), and can't imagine a life without some wee critters. They can be a lot of work, but the joy they bring is worth it.

Edited April 18 by Julie Magerka

[Ann Seeber]

I've had quite a few pets: cats, dogs, tropical fish, guinea pigs, a de-scented skunk, ponies and horses. The most spectacular were the Irish Wolfhounds that we had starting around 1980 and for about 20 years, encompassing one female and after she passed away we acquired a pair, siblings, whom we named Mick and the female was already named "Annie." She was older and we got her to keep the male under control. As a 7-month-old pup, he was a handful. He was roughly the size of an Irish Setter and still had growing to do! I apologize for the photo, the only one I have of them. It was originally black and white, and I attempted to colorize it. The layout is from a Corel freebie template for Father's Day 2023. The background paper is from Melo Vrijhof, the font is Classic Barbershop and the celtic decor is from pngegg. 

Edited April 18 by Ann Seeber