mousey burial site

Everything is still intact here, just feet from the destroyed carport. The wheel moved several inches, however; note that the rock has been rolled aside from the tomb. On the thirtieth day, Sophia left her tomb and scampered across the land.

Tatsuko: fascinated by Key the hamster

I'm babysitting a friend's hamster, Key, who is unafraid of Tatsuko. Tatsuko is FASCINATED, watching her roll around the house for an hour.

Tatsuko: still fascinated by Key the hamster

I'm babysitting a friend's hamster, Key, who is unafraid of Tatsuko. Tatsuko is FASCINATED, watching her roll around the house for an hour.

Key and her daddy, Chris K.

Here's Chris K. (not me!), back from Italy to reclaim his charming hamster, Key. Babysitting this hamster is what made me have to adopt a hamster of my own. Sweetest rodent evar!

My new baby hamster!

See, she doesn't just sleep all the time! This is my new hamster, whom I haven't yet named (I've named short-lived rodents before, and it's just sad). However, I'm leaning toward the name, "Hampster with a P." *g*

my new baby hamster asleep in my hand!

Okay, so not so good a shot taken at a weird angle and so close, but is this not the cutest thing ever? In fact, this very behavior (falling asleep in my hand) is what endeared this hamster to me, and why I brought her home even though I wasn't sure I wanted a hamster. Sigh. Slain by the cute.

new baby hamster asleep in her UFO

I guess baby hamsters are quick to pass out. Here's my new hamster in her wheel - officially designated a "UFO" by the manufacturer. When she runs, it causes the arms to rotate around the outer ring. However, she runs a lot in one direction, jumps and turns, then runs in the other direction so lickety-split fast that the wheel comes to a sudden stop and reverses direction. She cracks me up.

new baby hamster asleep near her food

Yes, mostly sleep-shots here. The motion shots turn out, well, blurry as all get-out. She loves to chew her litter, which is ground-up corn cobs (no dust to hurt her little lungs).

Chloe on my arm

Chloe checking out Tatsuko's food dishes.

Chloe climbing around on my hand.

Chloe checking out the bathroom.

August in Kansas: Basking in the upstairs heat.

Tatsuko, being a cat, likes things hot. It's hot in Kansas in the late summer. I close the vents in the upstairs of my house in the summer, because why cool the parts I don't use? So it's even hotter up there, usually about 10 degrees cooler than outside. Tatsuko spends the majority of the afternoons up here, basking. "Aaaah, boiling hot, just the way I like it!"

Cold squirrel!

With a wind-chill below zero, a little squirrel tries to stay warm by cuddling down into himself and facing the sun broadside.

Squirrel Party!

Here are a few of my pet squirrels. I can say this because they no longer run away when I watch them literally one foot beyond my sliding-glass back door! They're not even afraid of Tatsuko - watching them, perched on her pillow, tail lashing back and forth, in her most dragon-esque pose - so close that her nose leaves prints on the glass, inches from them. Wheee!

PS: The food-stuffs are Squirrel Feed™, sunflower seeds, and shattered gingerbread house. The stubby-tailed squirrel (one of my favorites) carries off hunks of wall and eats them in private by the fence.

knitted monkey!