Newsflash: Hell Froze Over

If you must know, pigs flew, too. My friends, I, an avowed disliker of pets, am now the proud if farblondget mother of one. For those who know me, the word pet and I don't go together like love and marriage or horse and carriage. I have never had a pet in my life (except for some chicks who died and some fishies that went down the kitchen sink drain in that surreal era called childhood). To this day, I was happy as a clam without one. My ideology about animals is: let's leave them alone. But if there is a case of "never say never" this must be one. For my arm was duly twisted, my defenses breached, my will vanquished, my resistance quashed. You can see why:

This is Petra. Full name: Petronila Vilma Etele Lucille Shpilke Cosa Loca.
Petra is both a Hispanic name and in honor or the Nabatean ruins we visited last summer. Vilma is in honor or Vilma Picapiedra, aka Wilma Flintstone, one of my favorite classy dames, Etele is the diminutive of Ethel in Yiddish, but no relation to Ethel Merman. Lucille was given to her in honor of Lucille Ball. Shpilke is because she is like a little flea with hair. and she is a Cosa Loca.
Petra looks like a mop and she behaves like one. So far, she seems smart, demure, and obedient. Very friendly and playful. I do not quite understand nor quite appreciate yet her penchant for licking my armpit, but I guess I'll come around.