Yay! The internet is back! My internet was out for about 24 hours. I've been waiting all that time to tell everyone about my new rats!!!!!!!!!!!! I spent the weekend in Buffalo adopting three beautiful little rats. Although, when Amy saw them she said they are ROUSes, not rats. Curly is an albino, also called a Pink-Eyed White. He came to the rescue place with a couple of mates called Larry and Moe. Logan and Gambit came in together. I think the former owner was a fan of the X-Men. Logan is a hooded rat, which means that his body is white and his head is a lovely bluish-grey. Gambit is a siamese rat. He is mainly a buff cream color, but has a cute brownish-grey stripe on his nose and a ring around the base of his tail. I am going to rename Gambit because the name doesn't fit a sweet shy rat like him. I am going to call him Sammael; he's my little angel. Logan is extremely adventurous. He's always the first of them to explore any new thing they encounter. Curly loves to cuddle and be petted. Sam seems to be most interested in me personally. He spent a great deal of time sniffing me the first time I held him.

Squeak!? The R.O.U.S.'es arrive.

I spent the weekend in Buffalo visiting with friends and picking up my new pet rats. Sometimes I am more of a rat than a puppy. I am intelligent, curious and I like to hide. Rats are great! They are so friendly and sweet. I adopted three rats: Curly, Logan and Gambit. I'm renaming Gambit to Sammael or Sam because he's my little angel. Sam is way too sweet and meek for a name like Gambit. I love him. Curly is an albino or PEW (pink-eyed white) and loves to cuddle and be petted. Since his eyesight isn't great, Curly is easily startled. I have to be careful when picking him up, and the other rats startle him sometimes too. Sam is a sweetie. He seems most interested in me personally. He has sniffed my head all over while sitting on my shoulder. He stuck his nose in my ears (Just like Eddie, my previous rat.) He was also the first of the three to lick me. Logan is going to be a handful. He is adventurous! He is the first to investigate anything new they encounter. He is also eager to explore outside their cage, which could be problematic. Logan is the alpha rat. They are all male. It is really easy to tell because male rats have huge testicles. I spent my New Year's Eve bonding with the ratties and rearranging their cage in an attempt to end some squabbles between Logan and Curly. It seems to have worked. As I write this, they are doing secret ratty things in the dark. Rats need a period of darkness each day; I'm not sure why. They sleep in the morning and early afternoon. More about the rats soon.

Canine Literati

I recently discovered a new author. Christopher Moore has written many silly books. I started with You Suck, a vampire novel with a fantastic title. After only a couple of chapters I realized that it is a sequel. So, I had to get the first book, Bloodsucking Fiends. I was startled when I found the original even funnier than the sequel. I know it often works that way, but the sequel was so funny that I couldn't think of it as less funny than something else. I highly recommend the books to all dogs with refined literary tastes. These two books even have a couple of fun canine characters.

Eddie RIP

I'm starting to really miss having a pet. My rat Eddie, who died last year, was a joy. I loved it when he sat on my shoulder and stuck his nose in my ear. His whiskers were wonderfully tickly. He already had pneumonia when he moved in with me. My fiance said I could run a hospice service for rats because I spent so much time with the little fuzzy guy while I had him. I have begun at long last to seriously consider getting a couple of young rats to roam about the house. Rats are so inquisitive and friendly. I've always thought that rats are terribly cute. Anytime they are represented as icky or creepy on TV or in movies, I always have an, "Oh! Cute!!" reaction.

Bunnies Bite

Cute, hungry rabbits ate my tarragon plant. They left nothing but a few inch-long stems sticking out of the ground. I don't mind being a rabbit farmer. We have a warren somewhere near our house, whose residents are getting more and more cheeky by the day. I'd go out and bark at them like any reasonable puppy, if they weren't so darn cute. The wildlife in Upstate New York is amazing. I've taken up birdwatching at the suggestion of my shrink. I'm finding it terribly exciting. I am slowly putting up photos on Shutterfly from some of my cool bird sightings. After hearing about a million stories about squirrels hogging birdfeeders, I decided to put up a separate feeder for squirrels. I got some great photos of what I can only call squirrel acrobatics. Check them out at ...

http://bitsy5.shutterfly.com/

Sorry, I didn't have this working right before. It should be working now.

Tarry here for me a little while ...

I just planted some tarragon in my garden. I discovered this herb in an egg salad sandwich at a local restaurant. I have loved it ever since. Now I will have fresh tarragon, unless the chipmunk eats it all. I love to experiment in the kitchen. I do a little cooking too. ;-p Most recently, I've been learning to make meat pies.

231 in Dog Years

I feel old. I have severe Rheumatoid Arthritis in multiple joints. Can you say polyarticular? I wish I didn't need to. I use a wheelchair sometimes mainly to take the weight off my knees. Things like museums are just too difficult without it. It took me a long time to work out how to pace myself and allow for days when I can't do much. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Taking care of me is definitely a trick or at least tricky. I was only 119 when I was first diagnosed with some form of arthritis. (Hey! She's making us do Math.) That's 17 to you humans. It changed my whole perspective. A life of promise became more complicated. Teachers, think twice before telling your students they can do anything. It might not be true. I'm not saying that I am unhappy with my life. I get to do some of the things I love; I just have to be a little less ambitious. Did I mention the manic-depression? Hm, guess not. There are days when I want to do everything all at once. Hey, me! Nobody can do that. Maybe God can if you believe in God. I never wanted to be God. Queen of the World, yes! I think I'd be good at it. Then again, I'm kind of a communist. Life is full of contradictions. Thanks for listening.