I'm Gonna Miss Simon

Simon passed away around 12:40 this morning. I know that because I was giving him food and Don said, "Watch Simon". I thought he meant so Simon didn't go out the open hatch. No, he was hiccup breathing. He wasn't actually hiccuping, but it looked like it. I came into the office and updated my Facebook status that he was having a hard time breathing and I was fearing that he wouldn't be with us much longer. I went out and he was laying on his side. Yes, my little friend was gone. I needed to grasp this, so I came back into the office and wrote that he passed. My Facebook status said that my last post had been 12 minutes earlier. Rats live about 2 years, and Simon and his brother were guessed to have been born early September 2007. We got them October 30, 2007. Oh, my little buddy....I cried so hard last night, and had sad, sad dreams.

Long Time No See!

Man, so much has been going on, and I've been wanting to blog so badly, but haven't had the time or patience to do so.

Let's see....On June 7th, we found out that poor Nigel died. He was just so sick and unhappy, it was better for him. I am glad I didn't put him down and had those extra weeks for him. He loved to snuggle, even more so in the end. What a nice boy.

I felt bad for Simon, he was so lonely it seemed. Rats are very social and so I called the pet store we adopted Simon & Nigel from and asked if they had any rats for adoption. They did! They had Theo (prenamed)who was dropped off by his previous owners. The pet store lady wasn't sure how old he was or anything about him, except that he was having breathing problems and they were feeding him cat food to fatten him up (not supposed to do that!!!). I said I'd like to check him out, it sounds like he'd be a great fit. I didn't want to expose a healthy rat to Simon just in case, so this sounded like a possibility. When we drove to Mankato, I was so excited. At the store, I picked up Theo and he was just a soft little love. He let me carry him around the whole store and loved to sit on my shoulder like the boys do and hide in my hair.

I did all the steps to exposing Simon and Theo to each other and they hit it off. Once they were finally in the cage together, they snuggled and cleaned each other and had a great time together.

Sadly, as we were getting ready to leave for our District Convention on July 2, I found Theo had died. I knew he was sick, I just didn't think I would only have him for 3 weeks. We have decided to not get another rat. I am just trying to love on Simon more. Simon is doing okay, he's still breathing rough, but not as rough as the other two. I think he's lonely and it's sad.

Our "Keep on the Watch!" District Convention was awesome. I saw lots of friends that I haven't seen in years. Makes me happy! The information was what we needed! Don and I really needed that time together as I had been working my Summer Program thru my job and was putting in a lot of OT and not getting the time together that we're used to. We went to Savers on Friday night to see if there were any clothes for Don. Sure enough, we got two pairs of pants, a shirt, tie, couple of books, awesome old decks of cards and a COUCH! Oh my. Yes, we TIED a couch to our STATION WAGON. It was quite the sight to see, I'm sure. We noticed a lot of looks. :-) So now we can cuddle again. We had arm chairs for the past couple of years and we missed that connection.

I think that's about it for now. This is way too long. I hope you stuck it out to the end!!!

It's a GIRL!

Monday night at work I talked to a coworker who's getting a divorce. She asked me if we'd be interested in her hamster. I said sure.....but I'd need to talk to Don about it. Then she said that she also needs a home for her dog. I said probably not, but I'd talk to Don since he's been talking about dogs lately. So we talked and then called Ashley and decided we'd pick up the dog on Tuesday and do a trial run for a week....see how we do with her, how the cats do with her and how she does with everything in our house/life.

When we got to Ashley's house, the dog barked but was very happy and excited...she warmed right up to us. We drove to BK since we hadn't had anything to eat yet and bought her some chicken tenders off the dollar menu for a treat (Ashley said they do that). She loved them. Then we went to Walmart to return some stuff and get a brush, bones and two toys for her. When we got home she was so scared of the cats she jumped up in my lap. I felt so sad for her. Ashley had a cat before, and she was afraid of that cat at first, too, but then they were buds and played together and everything. It's kind of funny, she's afraid of Pesto the most. Probably because he's the meekest, nicest boy ever and isn't afraid so he walks right up to her to sniff her and say hello. Basil is watching from afar and Garlic is very scared. Don got out the rats, too and she sniffed their backsides. They sniffed her, too. We went for a walk around the block and all the neighborhood dogs (never realized there were so many!) barked and barked...but she didn't! Not even once! She came right up to bed with us and slept really good.

Wednesday morning she woke up with me and was so happy and wagging. It was so fun to wake up to. My cats are happy to see me, too, but it was just different. I went to work and she spent the day with Don. When I got home the three of us went for a walk....a different way...so new smells to smell. We all loved it. She actually got warmed up some to the cats and wanted to play with them, but they didn't understand that yet. She's letting them walk closer and they sniffed her while she was sleeping. Sneaky, sneaky!

Today has been great, too! She's just so fun to have around! And so smart! She'll go to the front door to let us know she has to go out, but she'll then walk to the back door when we get up. I want her to go in the back, not the front, so we've been consistantly doing this. But we go out the front door for walks. I've tried to take pictures of her and she won't look up at me, but hopefully that'll change with time.

Well, without further ado, I introduce to you, Prancer, our three year old German Shepherd, Chow, Golden Retriever mix.

BIG BOYS!

I weighed the rats again last night. Nigel is up to 12 ounces now! YAY! But...SIMON IS UP TO 14.6! Apparently he's been taking advantage of the extra food and treats, too!

Year of the Rat

February 7, 2008 marks the start of the Year of the Rat on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

So CONGRATULATIONS Simon & Nigel! It's YOUR TIME TO SHINE! hehehe

Despite All My Rage, I am Still Just a Rat in a Cage

Last Saturday night Don & I cleaned out the rat cages. Smelly, smelly fun. Don dumps the litter and takes out the levels, then I wash the levels and bowls, refill the food and water and Don replaces them. Don quickly hopped on his game while I was washing. I was bringing the dried levels to the cage and what do I see? Pesto in the rat cage!!! The other night when we were playing Star Wars Pocket Models we had the rats in their carrier on the table. When we put them away, Pesto went in the carrier. Anyways, I called for Don to come QUICK so he could see Pesto (as I missed the carrier action the other time) and he got to see Pesto, and I got to grab my camera. I think this is adorable, but I am a proud furmommy. I LOVE the third picture, with the lick.