Here at Seabury, we are surrounded by animals. Science teacher Eric Nelson leads an army of chickens and pigeons; English teacher Vanessa Eicher is known for her celebrity cat, Monroe; Histography teacher Sarah Asher keeps two bundled-up guinea pigs in her room; and Math teacher James LaRocca is the guard of his snake, Monty The Python. On the other hand, at 3:30, many students and faculty race home to see their pets.
It seems that a dog really is a man’s best friend as it is the most popular household pet. Art teacher Laura Porter talks about her “boxer-[pitbull] mix [named] Rocky because he’s a survivor.” She says, “He’s kinda clunky and klutzy. He’s 100 pounds … He should have been named Scooby-Doo or Goofy or something … He’s intimidating looking but he’s friendly.”
Freshman Will Retelsdorf says one of his “[dogs is named] Archie … [he] steals food off the table,” while the other “one, Rory, [is] fat [and] just sleeps.”
Senior Chase Honovar has a “black lab [that is] kinda dumb.” He says, “[His name is] Bull [because] when I was younger, my favorite team was the Chicago Bulls, and he was a black dog, so he was black like a bull. [I got him when] I was 6 [years old] … [He] was a birthday present … from my parents.” He has an interesting personality, for sure. Honovar shares that he “woke up to him barking and [there was poop] in the garage” and that “he’s kinda soft … He’s kinda a scardy-cat … He won’t go through narrow gaps that aren’t even that narrow … [My] favorite thing [about him] is that he’s kinda chill. He’s just there.”
Junior Sydney Walter says she is the owner of “Brinkley. She is an English Cream Golden Retriever, and … she will be 8 [years old] this month.” She says, “I love her. My favorite thing to do with her is to take her on walks. There’s this little trail behind our house that we like to go on [and] as soon as I say, ‘Brinkley, wanna go on a walk?’ she gets up, and she gets so excited. It’s so cute. She’ll run to the door and wait till I’ve got my shoes on … as soon as I put [her] leash on, she drags me until we get out to the little trail.” Brinkley is a friend to all and enjoys a good adventure: “She loves all of us [and] she likes to play with our cat. She loves being outside and loves to swim. It’s fun to take her to ponds and creeks and swim with her because she’ll just stay out there for days. She’s really sweet, and she likes new people,” says Walter.
The second most common housepet for Seahawks is a cat. Walter says, “I’ve also got a cat named Trixie … She’s a little crazy; I’m not her biggest fan. I’m allergic to cats, so having her is definitely not great for me, but it’s okay. We get along most of the time … One of the reasons I don’t like her is because she scratches on my door in the middle of the night and wakes me up, and that’s quite annoying, but she’s also really cute when she lays in the sun, so I can’t really complain about her.”
Senior Neela Rangarajan might just be the biggest cat lover there is: “Her name is Yuuki … She is the love of my life. She is the ultimate stink. She is so cuddly and just follows me around everywhere. She also has an attitude. She’s really cute and really playful. She’s a short-haired orange and white cat … She has a little mustache because her face is orange, but because she’s a multicolored cat, she has two white oval shaped [patches of fur] on her mouth, and it makes it look like a mustache, … and she has freckles on her nose … My favorite thing about her is how she smells delicious, and she never gets angry. I can … pick out her eye boogers, mess with her toes and rub her belly, and she doesn’t get mad. But my least favorite thing about her is probably that she terrorizes me in the night and tries to knock everything down on my shelves, … and she’s always hungry.” Yuuki earned her unique name because “it was a cute name, and it rhymes with a lot of stuff. Yuukie, pookie, dookie, schmookie, lookie. It just rhymed with everything,” says Rangarajan.
Porter is also the owner of a “kitty-cat [named] Miss Marbles.” She says, “She’s got marble-coloring … [She] is a classic cat: she wants affection when she wants it, and then a couple minutes later, she’s done, and she’ll jump off your lap … She’s a sweet cat, but she’s a ferocious little temptress when she feels like it.”
While many things make people happy, there is no glow on someone’s cheeks like when they get to gush about their beloved pets.
