[speaker001:] Okay, well, you,
[speaker002:] Do you have any pets?
[speaker001:] Um, we got two cats.
[speaker002:] Two cats.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and, uh, um, yeah, we had cat, you know, my family had cats when we were growing up the whole time until my Mom developed an allergies,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] so, I mean, I'm used, I'm used to having cats around, I like them.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I like having ca-, cats around or pets around in general I, I favor dogs over cats actually but,
[speaker001:] Oh, see, I'm not, uh, I'm not a dog person at all [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Oh, I'm, I'm a dog person. I had, I guess it depends on what you had when he were a kid, right? [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah, probably, I was allergic to dogs when I was a kid,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] in fact, I may still be, um, we,
[speaker002:] But not cats.
[speaker001:] That, um, I wonder sometimes [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Um, but we, um, we house sat for a, um, my, um, my wife's boss a couple weeks ago and, um, uh, he has a dog and everything, we were, you know, we were sitting the dog and everything and, uh, I felt like just miserable all weekend and it really didn't dawn on me until Sunday, it was like, hey, maybe you're still allergic to the dog. It was like, oh, that could be it.
[speaker002:] The thing I don't like about dogs sometimes is that the house will just reek,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] of the dogs, and constantly.
[speaker001:] Well, dogs are real high maintenances, you got to take them for walks and you've got to pay a lot, you know, you need to pay attention to cats and everything but it's not quite the same thing.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true.
[speaker001:] Um, and, um, um, you know, it's, it's just nice that cats, you know, cats, yeah, you don't have to let them outside, you know, all cats are indoor cats,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] so, you know, they're not, yo-, w-, you're not worried about them running all-around the neighborhood and, you know, they, you know, they, they make their mess in the cat pan which is,
[speaker002:] Limited.
[speaker001:] yeah, it's, you know, it's a pain to clean but, you know, we used to, I mean, they got great stuff out now for cleaning cats' pans. They didn't,
[speaker002:] Oh, really?
[speaker001:] Well, when I was, you know, when I was growing up I had a clean the cat pan all the time, and I hated it because I had to carry everything upstairs and, you know, and use this thing to, you know, scoop the, take the stuff out and put it in the toilet and everything it was really terrible. But now they have like this, you get these liners,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that is garbage bags, you know, and you, and you, you know the,
[speaker002:] Oh, that sounds so easy, what I did,
[speaker001:] Yeah, the cats do it in there, you pull it and take it out and throw it away, and that's it, [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, I housesat from cats for a friend of mine which she was finishing up her thesis,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and what we used to do was just put, um, newspaper on the bottom and then put cat litter and then I would just take the whole thing to the garbage can and dump the whole thing.
[speaker001:] Same idea [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Then I would do it, you know, everyday or two days so I would clean that pan very, very rarely,
[speaker001:] Everyday?
[speaker002:] and so it wasn't so bad.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay, I see.
[speaker002:] two cats and just as easy it just never started smelling, I would put just a little bit of cat litter in there,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] because if I put a lot, one of the cats would have been, [LAUGHTER], all of her animals that she ever had were adopted.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I that true, yeah. Yeah, she's even got, she's got one dog now and the two cats and her dog there is, is basically a reject, somebody had bought him,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and wanted him. It was her ex boyfriend and, you know, just was not mature enough to keep the dog, didn't realize how much work it was and now,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] she's stuck with it. And she's just so kindhearted that she just takes all the animals but I think that for me, well, my husband just has completely nixed the idea of having a dog or a cat [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] because that's all there is to it. So, you know,
[speaker001:] So, you don't have anything right now?
[speaker002:] No, we don't have anything right now.
[speaker001:] Oh, except the kid, huh, that's,
[speaker002:] Oh, right, [LAUGHTER], now we have a kid but he was, no, completely against having a dog or cat, he said, they're much, they're as much work as a kid, and they're harder to get rid of for the weekend, [LAUGHTER]. And,
[speaker001:] Uh, I don't, I don't know because the cats pretty much, um, yeah, we can leave them for a weekend as long as we put plenty of food out,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and, um, uh, it's not a big deal really, I mean they're, they're happier when we're around but, you know, they, they're pretty much okay by themselves, um, and I don't, you know, we couldn't do that with a dog.
[speaker002:] That's, uh, yeah, really true. But like the friends, other friends of mine have cats, they have four of them, and if they go away, they have, they hire a pet sitter to come in twice a day and pet them and things like that and their cats, you know, they're so used to the attention, that if they don't get it, they get really upset,
[speaker001:] Well, that's,
[speaker002:] and, you know, they sort of cause trouble around the house and things like that.
[speaker001:] That's, um, pampering the, the petals [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I, I tried to have, um, [LAUGHTER], figured something having, so I tried to have a goldfish,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and, um, I killed that one within a very short amount of time.
[speaker001:] But they're not that much fun, you know, you can't take them for a walk, you can't, you know, they, they don't, they can't fetch, you know,
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] they ca-, they can't do anything, so I've never, I think we had fish sh-, when I was a kid but I don't,
[speaker002:] My brother had fish when I was a kid I remember that, and one of his fish jumped out of the, um, gosh, what do you call it, fish tank. And fried itself, [LAUGHTER], on the radiator behind the dresser. I'll never forget that because I remember my brother,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] he came home and he counted the fish and one of the fish was missing and they couldn't find it anyplace, they couldn't figure out what had happened and then they found it fried on, [LAUGHTER], the radiator behind.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] it was not gross, I didn't see it but, um,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] got them. Trying to remember we had a dog for a while, and I don't know if we got rid of the dog because my brother was allergic to it, my brother had asthma and some allergies which I think he's outgrown now,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] but because of that we didn't have very many pets afterwards and then he had fish.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And you, they're, like you say, they're not the most exciting pet to have.
[speaker001:] No, it's like, I just, I don't know, I, I just never understood why, what the attraction, I mean, they're, you know, they're pretty and everything but I've just never s-, seen the attraction of having fish. It's not as much fun.
[speaker002:] Well, a friend of mine had, um, an eel,
[speaker001:] [Breathing], an eel?
[speaker002:] and then he had a, um, I forget what type of fish it was, it was one of these fish that i-, it would eat, it ate a big other fish and things like that. There would be sort of moby fish in a tank.
[speaker001:] Oh, now we really get sick [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, and it, I, I couldn't see having fish like that.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I could see some having, maybe some of the tropical fish, that are really, really pretty but,
[speaker001:] Like, I remember a friend of mine at work telling me that at his frat in college that they had a tank of piranha,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and, uh, you know, used to drop mice in this is not, these aren't cats, [LAUGHTER], you know,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] this is gross.
[speaker002:] Yeah, no, that would be, what did they do, everyone come around and watch them.
[speaker001:] Yep.
[speaker002:] I mean, I guess that's fine if you have a mouse problem at your frat house,
[speaker001:] Yeah, well,
[speaker002:] and your things destroyed the mice. But,
[speaker001:] Yeah, well, a cat will do the same trick [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Let's see, I had a pet rat, [LAUGHTER], for a while,
[speaker001:] [Breathing].
[speaker002:] and it was a live rat, and, um, this woman just offered it to me while I was in, in graduate school and,
[speaker001:] I had a friend in col-,
[speaker002:] she was actually a very fun pet.
[speaker001:] I had a friend in college who had a, um, had a pet rat for a while.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Um, I forget how she got it, but it was, um, it was the same kind of a deal I think she got it, I think she was a psych major and she got it from the psych department.
[speaker002:] Yeah, mine had been a, a, a how did this work, a mill rat had been bought and the people in the lab one day called in my friend and said, you know, this rat is acting really strange I think he's sick, and she said, I don't think he's sick, I think she's pregnant, [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Whoops [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And they had misclassed the sex of back there and so, um, she asked me if I want to, one of those babies, and I took the baby and I got her when she was, you know, just this tiniest little thing like,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] half the price of a mouse, and then she grew to be, you know, I had pictures of her when she would sit on my hand and then she grew to be pretty big,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] you know, like a pound or something I don't know how much, and I had her for over two years and she was very affectionate. She would, you know, crawl on me and she would sit like on my neck or my shoulder while I was working,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and things like that. Yeah, much more than you would think.
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah, I mean, you know, if you get them young and everything before they go, kind of nuts, so.
[speaker002:] Yeah and,
[speaker001:] Yeah, rats are not my favorite animals in the world, but I could see getting one from birth and everything.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I, sort of weird for me to have had one too but there, it was a convenient little pet to have because it stayed in its cage and, you know, it was easy.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Easy to take care of and but,
[speaker001:] Yeah, I, I, I have friends with hamsters and gerbils and they, they tell me the same thing.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I just, again it gets into vivant much fun, [LAUGHTER], you know what, I guess they can be. I,
[speaker002:] Actually it was more fun than you would think. Yeah, starting from the beginning but, um, yeah, we live, also live in the city now, actually in Manhattan.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] And so it's almost impossible to, it's not fair to a pet to have a pet here,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] or certainly, certainly not a dog, I mean, people do,
[speaker001:] Oh people,
[speaker002:] but it's not,
[speaker001:] I don't, oh, plus, I mean, the pooper scooper one New York, so, you know.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, you see all these people, yeah, these stately people, and well dressed people out walking their dogs with their plastic bag or their piece of paper for them, it's really kind of funny.
[speaker001:] Yeah, uh, I was living in northern Jersey when that law came through, remember hearing all about it,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] we were wondering if they, uh, they had any special law for the horses in Central Park.
[speaker002:] Right, no, they don't. I should make you,
[speaker001:] Of course, not.
[speaker002:] they have, um, the bags behind them but I think they're actually supposed to,
[speaker001:] Hit the bags.
[speaker002:] keep them, yeah, keep them clean but, oh, gosh, I can't even walk by Central Park yeah when summertime, just the smell is so bad [LAUGHTER],
[speaker001:] Oh, God, I can't,
[speaker002:] of the horses.
[speaker001:] Haven't been up there, last time I was there was fall so probably wasn't that bad [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Oh, well, it's not that long ago. It was,
[speaker001:] Not this past fall but I mean fall,
[speaker002:] Oh, twelve times, of the year.
[speaker001:] a few years, I mean, it w-, it was in the, yeah, it was almost like October of eighty-five,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I think was the last time I was up, up there and at Center Park.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Um, I had a friend who went to Colombia and I used to go up and visit her.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Um, so,
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's not too far from were we live, do you have, you said you had two cats, are they, um, just what you call it, are they breed cats or anything or are they just,
[speaker001:] No, they're just mutts,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] yeah, my wife got them from, uh, um, friend of hers at work and everything, you know, you know, as kittens,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and it was before, I mean, this was before we even met. Um, she's had them for a couple years. And um, you know, they're really cute, they're, they're sisters,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] one of them is a lot bigger than the other one and, [LAUGHTER], she pushes the other one away from the food. Apparently w-, I don't know all the details but they were born around Christmas because one of them is named Tinsel and the other one is named Holly.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know, the scr-,
[speaker002:] They're both females?
[speaker001:] both, yeah, both females,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] they're both spayed,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] um, or whatever it is, neutered, you know, [throat clearing], um, and they're, they're both declawed at least on the, the front claws.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.