jesirose

The rats had quite a lot of fun with a handful of grapes!

Sophie reaching down to steal one

Addie was happy to have some

Thirteen wasn’t sure about these…

Yesterday was the annual block party for my street. Most of the people on the street have dogs so I was excited to take Sadie and see how she did. At first I took her out on her 30′ leash, and let her play. After a while I took it off so she could run around with the other dogs and she did wonderful. She stayed in the yard most of the time, and came to anyone who called her.

They also had a kiddie pool out for the dogs to play in. Sadie has never liked going in our pool, but I put her in the little wading pool and she finally realized what she was missing! She splashed all over the place, tried to eat the water, and then got back in several times on her own! I was so excited.

We had a great time with everyone too. I had helped organize a tie-dye area for people to do shirts and the kids had a good time with that. I got to go swimming with a few of my neighbors, who then spent about an hour trying to launch water balloons over a house, and only got about 2 over

All in all, a great day!

Tomorrow is my birthday and I got to have a present early! Colin got me this awesome mouse I’d wanted. It’s so cool. It’s bigger than my old one so my hand has to get used to it, but finally I have a mouse that middle-clicks again!

I was sad to see them go but I am so happy they found a good home! I know they will have a great life and I am going to be expecting photos!

On a positive note, when I was showing their new owner Katie, she (Katie) let me pick her up 3 times in a row without spazzing out. It was actually very cool. It was almost as if she was saying “Oh heck, you’re not that bad. I’ll stay here.”

Also, little baby Addie? NOT SO LITTLE. She looks HUGE compared to those ratlets! She’s actually 250g now. Hard to imagine she started out as small as those girls when I got her

Sadie - definitely living up to the girl dog name. She played with her friend next door for a while then decided to pee on the floor 3 times and “forget” the kennel command.

Yesterday I took the new ratties to the vet’s office, and had perfect timing! Another rat owner was leaving with her rat and she was very interested in the black one, “Emma”. I think she would offer a perfect home - she has 3 girls now, has an FN, feeds Harlan, and obviously loves her girls. She was very enamored with Emma. After we got to talking, I mentioned my other rats and how I have been considering rehoming Katie, since she does not seem to like my husband or me. She was also interested in meeting Katie, so that might work out perfectly. I love my girls but I just feel so sad for Katie, it’s like no matter how much trust training I do, and whatever, she just doesn’t like me. I was hoping maybe she needs a change, and someone else might get her to come out of her shell. So if this works out I will probably keep the beige girl (much to my husbands dismay), who now desperately needs a name. Her paperwork says Name: — ! Any ideas?

The vet checked them out - Emma had no signs of a concussion (from the fall she took), no neurological damage (no tilting or staggering) and she is climbing all over the place. They are both eating well and have no signs of any respiratory problems. They are still at 108 and 125, but it’s only been a day They slept cuddled up on the ride home.

Last night I made a dinner that finally made Colin’s jaw drop. This is the photo from the recipe, but mine looked JUST like it. They turned out PERFECT. I am going to remember this one and make it for my family sometime. I tried to make mexican rice to go with it but it got gross and we had enough food as it was. Definitely a good meal - it was yummy, fun, and looks awesome.

I tried to take some photos of mine. I don’t know HOW anyone gets good photos of food - mine turn out gross all the time. But I tried. Anyway I have added a cooking category because I am really starting to enjoy cooking and this was such a fun dinner!

Mine was pretty INSANE. First, a box of 4 week old Siamese kittens was abandoned and turned in at the vet’s office. There was one little boy who wouldn’t stop crying and then I help him and he was happy. I took a photo of him but I knew we couldn’t take him. I told the vet’s office if they needed any help finding homes or fostering I would help out but I just couldn’t adopt him.

Then I took Sadie to the Petsmart for grooming. There was a woman there with a basket of puppies. She was begging people to take them - she had 11 of them. They were a mix, and she said she didn’t know what to do with them. So I talked to her for a while, told her where to get good food and what to try for them, and how to start training them. I gave her my phone number and I’m going to help her find them homes. They were little black and brown babies. So cute. But still, I said, I can’t take one but I am going to help.

Then I made the mistake of going to PetCo.

Now, I try to stay away from PetCo. I disapprove of a lot of stuff they do, like selling the rats by size, and selling male and female, plus they sell a lot of exotics that don’t get proper care. Well, I’d heard that they’d be switching to single-sex stores, so I went over to check it out.

I ended up leaving with two girls. I am going to find them homes, but I couldn’t leave them there. The employee tried to pick them up by their tails, chasing them around the cage. (I don’t encourage buying from pet stores, as they just replace them with more, but this was a special occasion. Also - they did not have me do ANY paperwork. I thought PetCo still did pet contracts but they just handed me the box and I paid. I’ve emailed PetCo through their website with several questions about what exactly they are doing here.)

They are very healthy and sweet. They both have soft shiny coats, and clean eyes and noses. One was “small”, she weighs 108g, and is a beige mismarked hoodie with ruby eyes. The other was “medium”, she’s 125g and a black berkie. I’ve named the hoodie Emma. She’s more adventurous and calm. The other one is a bit more shy and it took her a while to start exploring the cage, but she’s getting there. They’re in the Rat Manor right now.

I decided today it was finally time to get some of this pet stuff in order!

I got Bear and Felix microchipped a while ago and still hadn’t activated them, plus Sadie got hers when she got spayed. I had been putting off having Felix & Bear chipped because they never showed any interest in going outside, and Colin wanted to save the money. But when I got Sadie, and started going in and out ten times a day, Bear started trying to dart out the door. So I decided it was worth it and had them done.

So first I had to find the packets for each pet with the chip info. We used HomeAgain. It took me about 45 minutes to do all the pets. It costs $15 a year for each too. I had to fill in their info and find some good photos of them. I have lots of cute cat photos but none that are really good for identifying the cat.

When I entered in the first chip, I accidentally put Sadie’s name instead of Felix, but it was his chip number. I realized as soon as I hit the submit and thought Oh crap. But it let me change it on the pet profile to Felix’s info easily, so no big deal.

So then I had to figure out this city license stuff. The last time I looked I couldn’t find info but today when I went to the Plano Animal Services website it was right there! “Does your pet have a license? Click here for information on pet registration!” So now I just need to mail over the rabies stuff!

Whew! Took about an hour for all this stuff and costs 67.47 per year for these three! Whew whew whew.

Sadie and I went with a friend to a walk this morning to protest the Mandatory Spay and Neuter law that Dallas will likely be adopting. While this is a very serious issue, we managed to have fun Sadie did really well with all the new dogs and I was very proud of her. We took a lap around the building, then hung out with all her new friends and Lizzie too. There were a lot of people and a reporter for a newspaper showed up and took some notes.

Sadie, Lizzie and a doberman (wearing a pro-choice sign and carting a wagon)

This is an Irish Wolfhound that we met. The neat thing about this is that a few months ago I would have been scared at the sight of this huge dog. Today, I thought “What a handsome boy” and was excited to get to pet him.

Sadie and Lizzie took a break to play in the grass and spill their bowl of water. I love this shot because Sadie looks so evil! She’s a sweetie, really! Lizzie started it! (She’s a sweetie too)

(Photos by Cait, re-posted with permission)

The girls got to share some sweet potato baby food the other day. What a mess!!

Addie, Cameron and Sophie!