Countdown to Christmas...

Working retail during the holidays is crazy. I did it ten years ago at the GAP in downtown Portland, and our pet store on our tiny island is nearly as busy as the holidays approach!

Today we are getting baby ferrets and chinchillas (for those who've never met a chinchilla, I'll be posting pics soon. They're AWESOME.) and next week another round of puppies.

I've put together some gift baskets that will give customers the opportunity to save 20% on everything in the basket if they buy it as a whole, and we've decorated the store with lights, tinsel and so far, two trees.

I am sending out the first of my wave of Christmas cards today, and hoping we will procure a tree from somewhere soon. Scott's not interested in the fake ones, however practical they may be, so we'll see if we're going to get an actual fir tree or go with our potted palm like last year.

The chaos begins.

Fun Fotos of Feathers and Fur

I've decided to share some of the pictures I've taken at work over the last few months. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version.

The first picture is of BamBam (a Blue and Gold Macaw) and a baby African Grey parrot. The owners of the store decided to keep BamBam once they realized how snuggly she is, even with their three dogs.

The bunny on the right is a half Dwarf rabbit and half Lop-ear rabbit. He was a rescue rabbit and was so docile you could hold him on his back cradled like a baby.

We have a fish department that has both freshwater and saltwater fish tanks around three sides of the room. Here is a Fantail Goldfish in one of our freshwater tanks.

Every couple of months we get baby Ferrets. This is a Panda marked female ferret. If Scott hadn't already had 3 ferrets before we met and sworn never to have them again, this little one would have joined the menagerie at home.

On the left is yet another picture of BamBam. Before working at the store I was never very interested in birds, but seeing BamBam and Q-Tip go from small prickly chickens to beautiful birds with a ton of personality has made Scott and I both fall in love with them.


Every week or so we bring in Betta fish. I brought home one and named it Won-Ton, following in the tradition of my previous Bettas: Hi-Ya, Kung Pao, and General Tso.

In addition to big birds, we have canaries, parakeets, and many varieties of finches. These are Owl Finches.

I have many more pictures of the baby skunks, but I really like this one. Even though they've been de-scented, they don't know that they can't spray, so their defensive reaction of tail-lift is still automatic.