A Thanks and a Dragon

My friend, Concetta, cleaned out her stash of stamps and gave me first dibs on the sets she no longer wanted. This card uses one of those sets. I like how it turned out!



And on a totally different note, I thought I'd share something I wrote. My oldest son had an assignment to write an argumentative essay about why he should get a pet dragon. I joked and said I should be able to write a rebuttal. He told his teacher and she said she'd like to see me write one. So...below is my essay...it was fun to write! Enjoy and have a great day!

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In our household the number of pets outnumber the number of humans. With the latest addition of a ‘robo’ hamster for Christmas I thought we were finally done with new pets. But yesterday my oldest son asked me for another. This pet request is SO unusual that I cringe at the thought of it. Mind you, I am not the typical queasy female when it comes to critters. I grew up with three brothers. I’m used to all things creepy and crawly. But I draw the line at this request. He wants a DRAGON! I love my animals and I can see some value in a dragon. And it would be cool to be the first family on the block to own the rare pet. However, there are several factors we need to consider here.

First, where would we house the dragon? Dragons are huge. It’s not like we can stuff him in the hamster cage or even the larger snake cage. I don’t think he’d even fit inside the house. And if he did fit in the house, I am NOT cleaning up dragon poo when he has accidents! So, I guess that leaves the outdoors. We do have two acres, but even if we added a fence he would just fly over it and escape. Currently, when our dogs escape the neighbors complain. Can you imagine if it was a dragon in their yard doing it’s business instead of a dog? We would be ostracized from the neighborhood!

Second, what about the lifespan of the dragon? Dragons live for a LONG time. If we got a dragon for a pet it’d outlive both myself and the kids. So who takes care of the dragon once we are gone? There are no guarantees that the next generation is going to want to keep a pet dragon.

Third, let’s look at some of the practical issues. Dragons eat a LOT. It costs me $20 a month to feed the five foot gopher snake little frozen rats. Can you imagine how much it’d cost me to feed a dragon? Then there is the whole ‘fire breathing’ thing. There are good practical uses for fire breathing. But what about accidental fire breathing? What if he coughs and sets the house on fire? And what if he gets sick? I don’t know of any vets that can care for a sick dragon. I’m sure we’d have to find a specialist to help care for him and that isn’t going to be covered under my current PPO healthplan!

So, I think I’m going to have to draw the line at the dragon. Three dogs, one hamster, one snake, and two boys is enough of a zoo already!