Hurrah for Tiny Pets & More
Hurrah for all small creatures, our girl Alex loves all animals. When we lost our beloved pair of keeshonds, we adopted a house rabbit then a rat. Alex named her rat, Silky. At seven, she taught it to run over her keyboard then jump from the keys to her head. After Alex broke her arm, she trained her rat to run up her cast. I never saw anything like how she communicated with her rat.
More than tiny pets, I am especially grateful for all the micro-organisms that sustain life on earth. Although these tiny creatures are invisible to our eyes, life on earth depends on their making healthy fertile soil. No life on earth exists without them.
These creatures store carbon. In fact, all plants share 40% of their carbon with them, in exchange of life-giving water and minerals.
Yes, that’s right, living soil needs the roots of plants to live. Cover crops grown on no till farms and gardens capture and share nearly half the carbon they take in. So we really need our wild lands and organic farms to turn back global warming, and recapture carbon.
Wishing I had a photograph of Silky to show you.
Although these creatures are hundreds of times smaller than earthworms, smaller than tomato seeds, they hold water in the soil. These thoughts come inspired by the book,
The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet by Kristin Ohlson
This photograph credit is a selfie taken by Alex Leeds, who loves all pets. She raised and trained dogs, rabbits and pocket pets.
You might call her a natural animal whisperer.
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Enjoy the hop! Deborah Taylor-French
Ann "Paws" Staub says
Rats are such amazing little pets. I just said goodbye to my first pet rat over the weekend. She was awesome.
Robin says
Such a cute rat! It is neat that your daughter was able to work so well with it. I’ve always heard that rats are very smart. I’m thankful for microorganisms too. They do a lot for us without us ever being aware.
dogleadermysteries says
Thanks for commenting Robin.
Yes, Silky exceeded our expectations for cleverness, and she was fearless and affectionate.
She also lived the longest of all pet rats, nearly three years!
dogleadermysteries says
Oh, Ann. Sad to hear that you lost your rat, but glad you shared a great relationship.