Our very lucky family grows again!

We had a semi-productive day with school work. L. is feeling a bit fiesty lately, so we didn't get all the way through history today. We will have to finish up history tomorrow in addition to our Friday work.

We took our new family member, Winnie, to the vet today for a checkup. Winnie is a male teddy bear hamster who we adopted from the Humane Society. As part of the adoption, we got a free vet checkup. It is such an unusual and awesome feeling to leave the vet's office with a receipt for $0. Winnie was brought into the Rock County Humane Society in May, and was not yet full grown. He had a runny left eye, which is the primary reason we took him to the vet. He seems to have vision in it, and it doesn't seem to be sore or sensitive. It just gets a little crusty and he tends not to keep it all the way open. The vet said he was fine--in good health, and thinks the eye may be just a result of having been in woodchips at the HS. Wood chips, especially cedar, should not be used for ANY small animals. We are using paper litter now, and hopefully will see his eye clear up soon. He weighs all of 1/2 ounce but has managed to make us all fall in love. He is very sweet and cuddly (as long as you don't wake him up!!) and is very entertaining. He lives in the bird room, and Scraps the naughty rabbit, is intrigued with him.

We also adopted the lone cockatiel there, who looked very sad and lonely. Her person got cancer, so she ended up at the HS. She (her person thought she was a girl, but I'm not certain that is the case) is very sweet and loves to have her cheeks, neck, and head scratched. We named her Willow. She can wolf whistle and is very human bonded, so it's awesome to have a 'pet' bird again. Despite all the birds we have, none of them are particularly enamored with humans. They were all adopted later in life and many had been used strictly as breeders. I talk to them and love them, and they are interested in me and like the attention but have no desire for affection or physical interaction. All of the human-bonded birds that I've had have died, so it's been a few years since I've had my birdy-bond fix, and it's wonderful! I'm working on a good picture of Willow, but birds are really tricky (for me anyway).

During history today, we were reading about the democratic government in ancient Athens. Our text mentioned Plato's views on democracy, which echo the most prevalent and scary thought that I've had lately in regards to our government's colossal failure in, well, every area possible. Plato said, in short, that a democracy can only succeed when the citizens are educated. You see the problem here in the U.S? We, as a nation, are becoming increasingly UNeducated and un- or misinformed. My fear is we have now, as a nation, become so damn stupid and uneducated that a democracy will never be effective. Just as Plato predicted, we, the uneducated nation, are now controlled by tyrants. I think the fact that there is even a close race between McCain/Palin and ANYBODY indicate the extent of our populace's ignorance. Why else would so many vote against their own self-interests? I can only attribute it to our ever-shrinking average IQ and understanding of economics and politics. I am inspired to re-read Plato, so we'll have to hit the library this weekend. I'm hoping that I can find a version that L. can enjoy reading and discussing with me.