1. Update and republish a blog post you wrote during the month of May in a previous year.
The blog post I’d like to update is quite long so instead I’m going to recap what it was about and provide an update about what actually happened…
In May of 2010 I wrote a blog post called “A Mouse-Tastrophe” about our pet mice. It was sort of an ongoing series I was publishing because I got Maile one white mouse for her birthday and then we went back to pick out two more, all female. Except they weren’t all female. I wrote about how the kids named them White Eye, Brown Eye and Black Eye. I wrote about how I discovered a batch of babies during a routine cleaning. And I wrote about how we got the male fixed once all the babies went back to the pet store so that he could live with his wife again.
Somewhere along the line I started fostering a labradoodle named Rudy with the intention of adopting him. He was part of a breeding program and often breeders will allow families to have a dog free of cost as long as you take proper care of them and the breeder can use them as needed. It was a strange set up in that I had to sign a contract agreeing to pat $10,000 if the dog died in my care due to any kind of negligence on my part. I also drove him to various dog events where his sperm was…secreted by hand for invitro possibilities with other dogs.
Anyway, ultimately it did not work out with Rudy. He ate my kids socks in one swallow and then would have a heck of time pooping them out. I was terrified he was going to ruin his intestines and then I would get slammed with that $10K fine. Furthermore, he was particularly barky at one of my sweet daycare kids and I started to feel I couldn’t trust him.
Even though I had these doubts about Rudy, I didn’t want to say anything negative about him because he really was a good boy and one of my dream breeds…but also because the breeder was reading my blog. I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t happy with him. So when the Mouse-Tastrophe happened, I was a bit vague.
What I wrote was,
“The mice….are no longer with us.
Maile and Laina found them laying on the floor of the room and I’m still unclear as to exactly what happened. The scene was not a gruesome one, but sad nevertheless. The girls were upset. Maile started talking about how she was going to write all about the tragedy in her journal at school, Laina cried about the bad dreams she said she was going to have, and Kainoa just repeated everything I said, “ohhhh nooo…I sooo sawee…I sooo saweee.”
I was vague about what happened, like I wasn’t sure if maybe Kainoa tipped their house over? Or maybe the cat got in there? the dog had something to do with it?
Well that was a lie. I would like to come clean with the truth now.
IT WAS RUDY.
Rudy killed the mice and it WAS gruesome and it was totally my fault because I never should have left the mouse house where the dog could reach it. Maile went into the bedroom and found the cages knocked over and Rudy playing with the mice. It was a bloody mess. I couldn’t have felt worse knowing that my kids had to see little White Eye, Brown Eye, and Black Eye die like that.
I believe we did get another batch of mice after that. They eventually passed away naturally and soon after the incident I let Rudy’s breeder know it wasn’t working out and she took him back.
I have to say, it feels good to be telling the truth in 2021. Looking back at May of 2011 I’m really glad not to be dealing with any of that right now. Driving dogs to fertility appointments? Mice? Blood? No thank you!
But I am low-key afraid the breeder is going to read this all these 11 years later and sue me for $10K. That contract can’t still stand right? ;)
Cathy Kennedy says
Kat,
That’s an interesting story. I don’t think I’d ever agree to do what you did with Rudy no matter how badly I wanted said breed. I would either do without or wait until I could buy one. I know the breeder was protecting his/her investment but it seems a bit ridiculous. It seems the people such as yourself really are on the short end of the arrangement. How on earth did you do all of that, raise your kids, raise everyone else’s kids, run a home, cover up a mousie murder, and still keep your sanity? You really must be Superwoman! The good news is now your dirty laundry has been aired and your conscience a little lighter. :)
PS: No big deal but I just wanted you to know you left a comment…I’m assuming it was you on last week’s post using another blog (hint…the name includes one of your daughters) WP sign-in info. I was able to trace that IP address to your site’s WP sign-in and figured out who the commenter is which published in the wee hours this morning. The comment is waiting for me to approve and until I hear from you then it will stay in Pending status. Hackers are clever and I don’t fall for things in the technology field too easily. When something is out of the norm, then a red flag waves.
Mama Kat says
I think that was my comment! I recently went through my bookmarks and logged into her 2016 blog that she had started as an assignment in 6th grade. lol I guess I didn’t realize I was still logged in and I’ve been commenting under her username. Whoops! Look at you with your clever research to trace it. I love it!
And yes, it has definitely been a chaotic and busy last 17 years. I never should have agreed to that contract, but man when I get an idea in my head that I want to do something, good luck trying to derail me. Lord knows Pat tried.
Patty says
When I was a teen, my parents fostered a Toy Poodle from a breeder and contracted as you did with Rudy. Let me tell you that this little dog had bloodlines that went back to Germany and the breeder became an insufferable individual when the mating ritual came into play. My mother refused to go through with the process and the breeder slammed my parents with a lawsuit, demanding $7500.00. That…was in 1962. A settlement was agreed upon and we purchased the poodle, she was promptly spayed. The AKA was not pleased since she was what they considered champion breeding stock. A handful of lovable white fluff that sat in our laps was so much more than just…stock.
I despise the AKA…and all breeders.
John Holton says
I was about to mention that I also got a comment from Maile which I guess was actually from you.
Lord, what a mess. I mean, a sock in the dog’s intestine might’ve cost you ten grand. And the bloody mice on the floor for the kids to see…. ermahgerd… Well, not every (individual) dog is good for every person, i.e. a Labradoodle might have been the perfect pet, just not that one. It’s good you found out, although it was a pretty gruesome way to find out…
abby says
Wow, quite an intense commitment to foster a labradoodle stud!
Sorry about the mice, I’m sure it was traumatic.