R.I.P. Hammy the Hamster

Hammy the Hamster didn't make it to Thanksgiving. He was deteriorating quickly: not eating a lot, napping after every few steps, and shaking like he had hamster Parkinson's. We were all going away for Thanksgiving and AuntieLyce was going to watch him. Needless to say, she was very nervous Hammy was going to die on her watch.

The week before Thanksgiving Hammy passed quietly in his sleep. It was a sad time for us all and there were tears. He was buried in a pot and a small pine tree was selected to be planted over him.

Rest in peace, Hammy. You will be missed.

Pet Emergency 911!

 

Maddog has had Hammy the Hamster for over 2 years.  He is a good hamster, even if he doesn't care for me that much (which I will never understand since I take him out in the exercise ball and don't run around with him in my fist yelling "HAMMY!!!!" like the kids do.) 

Well, Hammy is getting old--he is over 70 years old in human years.  The average lifespan of a hamster is between 2-4 years.  So basically, he could go in the next 2 minutes or the next 2 years.

Lately, he hasn't been his usual self.  Maddog noticed he had a scratch on his belly.  Her mom contemplated giving him some ground up antibiotics or putting some Neosporin on it.  I suggested she Google that first so as not to kill him with her medical care.  Calculating a dose of Cipro for a hamster can't be that simple.

Today he went to the vet, and it turns out ($245 later) he had multiple open sores on his belly--possibly from mites (and subsequent scratching).  So now poor little Hammy needs to take antibiotic drops, painkiller drops, get his sores cleaned daily, and have ointment put on them twice a day. 

Hopefully this will take care of everything and he will be back to his good old self soon enough.  In the meantime, Maddog has been giving him extra treats because she "wants to make sure he lives a good life" and is happy.

I'll keep you posted on Hammy's well-being!

(plant) Babies!

I received this succulent plant years and years ago from my friend Carina.  It was part of a magnet souvenir from a trip she took to the Southwest.  Somehow, the plant never died and instead grew steadily.  However, every few years, after a cycle of being robust and happy, it gets on the verge of dying.  But this little plant is extremely resilient and it eventually bounces back and starts growing babies all over again.  Hurray!

Images from home

Sweet, sweet Bakers Square French Silk Pie. 
We ate it all. Sometimes for breakfast.

You have to love the ridiculousness of this cake.

Peppermint Bon Bon! 
I think MN is the only place that calls it that.
To everyone else it is mint chip.

Many hours of my childhood were spent here.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

I took a tumble last weekend while pushing my grandma cart full of laundry back home.  The cart hit a rut in the uneven pavement and went flying.  I, in turn, flew after it into the street.

Don't worry, I was fine. Picked myself up and my laundry and trudged back home, disgruntled.  Now, I am very easily bruised--if you look at me too hard a bruise will form. I am also a hyper-pigmenter, so I had a feeling things were going to get UGLY.  And they did.

Funny enough, it happened so fast, I didn't totally remember how I fell. But since my entire upper body is unscathed, I deduced that my lower body took the fall.  I think my legs fell on top of the cart and then I just rolled off.  No bracing myself with hands or arms or head. This seems to be confirmed with the cart grid lines visible through the bruises. It makes me laugh and cry to look at it.

I iced some of the bruises the first day and have been religiously putting arnica ointment on it.  So far, so good! Things are healing along:

Day 3

Day 5



Close up. Note the gridlines from the cart.





Day 11

Day 21.  Barely any trace of bruise left!

The Rooster

Virgin Island wild fowl.

I recently visited the US Virgin Islands. As expected, it was warm and sunny with beautiful beaches. It was also full of wild chickens and roosters (and donks!).  I was under the impression that roosters only crow in the mornings.  I learned the hard way that I was completely wrong.*

The damn roosters on St. John crow all day. And all night.  The first night they kept me up all night, but eventually I got used to it. And then when I got home, the crackheads on my block kept me up instead. Sigh.

*According to Wikipedia, "Some roosters are especially vociferous, crowing almost constantly, while others only crow a few times a day. These differences are dependent both upon the rooster's breed and individual personality." 

NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM!

It's Girl Scout Cookie time!

I have learned a few things about Girl Scouts and their cookies that I did not know before: 

• Each Girl Scout council develops the procedures and guidelines for its cookie activities, including the dates when you can order or purchase cookies and the price you will pay per box. A council conducts only one cookie sale per year. Most of these activities take place between January and April, but some occur as early as September.
• It is estimated that 200 million boxes of Girl Scout Cookies are sold per year.
• 70% of sales goes to the Girl Scouts, 30% goes to the bakers. 
• There are different licensed bakeries (and by bakery, I mean large company, including one owned by Keebler) and these baking companies can offer up to 28 varieties. 
• The same types of cookies are sold under different names by different bakeries and it is up to the Scout troop to determine the name (thus "Samoas" are the same as "Caramel DeLites"). 
• Thin Mints are most popular (25%) followed by Samoas (19%).  [These are my two favorite kinds.]
• In 2008, a 15-year old from Dearborn, Michigan sold 17,328 boxes of cookies. This was the all time record. And that is a lot of cookies.
  

The Many Cakes of Birthday

At my office we have a monthly birthday calendar.  Recently, more and more coworkers have gone covert and asked to be removed from the list.  For January, two people have done so leaving me as the sole January birthday.  And you know what? I like my birthday. And I like people knowing it's my birthday.  I don't work at a place where all my coworkers come up as a group and sing "Happy Birthday" with an accordion accompaniment.  There is not much hoopla except for a few kind birthday wishes and emails.

Maybe I just like the attention.

Regardless, this was a more low-key birthday week than usual, yet I received more birthday cake (and key lime pie!) than this cookie can consume.