Cashews.

I love them.  That's all.

I "graduated" and passed the correspondence course.  So glad it's done!  It will take a lifetime to forget the ugliness I had to see, but I got this snazzy patch for my trouble.  M, L, & Dej all completed the course as well.  We can all wear our snazzy patches together.  And just to show how good hearted the douches in charge of the state program are, they also sent me this little handy dandy card illustrating how to release a pet from a body-gripping trap--you know, the traps that are set so safely and remotely that no pet is at risk (insert gag sound and giant eyeroll here).

Another week of the unexpected has put me behind on grading, chores, prep, homeschooling, etc.  L started screaming bloody murder Monday night, shortly after midnight.  All I could understand was something about a hole.  I was awake and reading and was just getting to the point where I could start the hour-long drift-to-sleep-process, but her scream instantly adrenalized me.  Trixie (one of the little girl rats) had a large, deep gash on her side, near her little arm/shoulder.  It was clear that it was too deep for me to repair it, and she was in need of stitches.  A call to the vet confirmed my diagnosis, but Trixie would need to be anesthetized for the repairs, and they wouldn't have the necessary staff to do that until morning. It was the beginning of a long, sleepless night.

 I cleaned the wound and tried to bandage her.  L & I spent quite a while trying to wrap her so that the wound was closed and covered and would stay so until morning, but no matter how I wrapped her, she was able to wriggle out of it.  Finally I just used skin tape directly on her fur to keep the gauze over the wound, and that worked very well.  I was trying to avoid tape on her fur, as I was concerned that it would hurt her coming off.  As it turned out, it came off quite easily and she wasn't hurt or left bald in the process.

We headed to the vet as soon as they opened, and she was put under, stitched up, and sent home on opiates for pain, so she was pretty mellow. The cut was very straight and "clean", down to the first layer of muscle, so it had to hurt like hell, and I can't stand the idea of animals suffering.  They used sub-dermal stitches and glued the outside, so we don't have to return to get stitches out.  There aren't any powerful oral pain drugs for rats, so we took her back each day for a pain injection, so I hope she didn't feel much pain in her recovery.  She's completely back to normal now.

We were really distressed about how it happened, but close examination of her cage and playground areas revealed only one possibility--the hooks that attach her water bottle to the cage.  She likes to climb up the outside of her cage like a little King Kong, and those metal points stick out and must have poked and ripped when she was climbing up.  We were relieved when we found some drops of blood on the water bottle, confirming that our theory was correct.  Those metal points are now wrapped and covered with duct tape.

We're still giving nightly footsoaks and medication to Blossom (guinea pig).  She's healing well, too, but the arthritis in her little foot still looks bad.  I'm trying to find something to give her to help with that.  I too have arthritis in my feet, and it really hurts.

I also have a sick parakeet--Sagan.  I spent hours on the phone Saturday trying to track down the drugs she needs, but with no luck.  I'm hoping I can track something down Monday.  I'm running a vaporizer in the room now, which is helping a bit, but every minute counts with birds and small animals.  It's so sweet to see Simran, her partner, stick by her side and care for her.  I'm so happy they have each other!

No shame

Basil is a very naughty cat.  He destroys everything he can, and often starts fights with his cat siblings.  He 'breaks into' any food items left out.  I decided to participate in the pet shaming trend, and grabbed a handful of the many items Basil has chewed up lately.  As L & I were trying to get the items set up around him to take the photo, he started chewing.  He was not even a little bit ashamed.

I just received great news!  The gray squirrel that we took to Four Lakes Rehab a couple of weeks ago is doing fantastically.  He was in really, really bad shape when we took him, so I was surprised to get the update that he is energetic and healthy.  He had to have some toes amputated, but is still going to be released when he has fully recovered.

We had an unexpected incident Tuesday evening, which serves to again remind me that I am most certainly not in control of my life or my schedule--nature is.  When I returned home from my last class, as always, I checked on all of the animals when I got home, then started the afternoon chores.  In the five minutes between the time I took all of the birds' water dishes out of the room and washed them out in the kitchen and returned the herbivore room, I returned to a room with blood all over the floor.  It looked like a murder scene! 

I was near panic trying to find which of the birds, rabbits or guinea pigs was the source of the blood.  I finally tracked it down to Blossom, our oldest piggy (7-ish years old), who had surgery to remove a large tumor just a few months ago.  When I picked her up, I was totally expected to find a huge gash, or guts hanging out, but saw a nasty, bloody mess on her front foot instead.  It was swollen, with a large gaping, bleeding section, and I was horrified that I hadn't noticed.  Strangely enough, she was still running around like nothing was wrong, whistling and following me around waiting for her greens (the high point of her day).  I had been checking her for tumors by running my hands all over her body, but I hadn't been picking her up and flipping her over (which piggies HATE) to check her feet.  It just never crossed my mind. :(

Our main vet (Mark Nelson) was able to get us in right away, so I wrapped her up and called my parents for a ride.  M & L were on a long dog walk, and he wasn't answering his phone, and I had no time to wait!  After several Xrays and a thorough exam, we found that the large swollen mass on her foot was either a benign tumor or a granuloma, but it was also infected.  We left with antibiotics and an antiseptic that she soaks her foot in once a day.  She doesn't mind the soak, as we give her produce to munch while she soaks.  When she has food, nothing else matters.  Her antibiotics are in pill form, however, which has not been easy to get her to take.  I've crushed it up and dissolved it in many foods and liquids--all of which she spit out or refused to take.  I think I came up with a mix last night that I was able to pull into a syringe and get the majority of down her.  Our fingers are crossed that she will recover fully and quickly, though at her age, we are probably going to have many more health issues to come.

I hate liars.  Paul Ryan has proven himself repeatedly to be a huge liar.  If he is speaking, he is lying.  I couldn't watch the debate for that reason--lies infuriate me.  Anyway, I had the misfortune of attending school with him.  He was one year behind me.  He was a smarmy liar then too.  My husband and daughter (L) decided to brighten my day by creating and posting this little piece of art on our refrigerator.  It's funny, because that's exactly how I see him.  They nailed it! ;)

Just when I think I have a handle on things...Things have to get less busy at some point!  I have lost so much time the last few weeks working on a correspondence course.  I didn't think it would take nearly this much time and effort, but it has.  I will have it all finished and mailed out by Tuesday, so maybe I will get a little breathing time then.  I usually love learning almost anything, but this is not fun.  It's sickening and depressing and leaves me feeling like I just returned from a long day at war.  I will share more about it once everything is finalized, and I will be SO happy to move on.  I suspect I will have some nasty dreams tonight as a result of the things I saw and read.

The animals inside the house, as well as wild animal issues/rescues have also kept me hopping and created unexpected time vacuums.  To some extent, I realize my life will always be full of the unexpected with so many creatures sharing my life.  It has been a rough year for squirrels!  I don't think I've ever had so many squirrel rescues in a year.  Since I thrive on a highly scheduled, pre-planned life and intensely dislike surprises of any kind, this will always present a challenge for me. 

Life's not all drudgery, though.  Last night we had a blast at the AFA Annual Chili Cookoff.  All seven chilis were delicious (though two of them had corn in them (GROSS!) that I had to avoid), and the desserts were so good that I've been thinking about them all day today.  I left with my friend Marina's peanut butter cup pie recipe--Marina and her pie were the hit of the night!  We were all so incredibly full when we left, that we were quite uncomfortable, but it was so worth it. :)  Whenever I attend an event where there is a winner (and therefore also losers), I end up feeling really sad for the losers.  Last night was no exception.  I was awake for a couple of hours in the night worrying that the losing restaurants may feel bad, and their chilis were all good, too.

We went to the Arboretum before the chili dinner.  The five of us (M & I and the kids) walked through to look at fall color.  Before leaving, I ran back into the house to grab my camera.  I stuck it in my purse when we arrived, and discovered when I got it out to snap the first picture that the batteries were dead.  I was really bummed to not be able to take any photos, but M had his camera, so I'm using his pictures.

I finally got some pictures of little Lexi.  She's looking for a good home--one that has more room and is less crazy than this place.  She's healthy, sweet, cuddly, shy, tiny, and about a year old.