Fluffy, Love, and Death UPDATED

UPDATE:
The night after Blackout was lost, we found her. She saw me brushing my teeth and decided to crawl up my pant leg. Needless to say, chaos ensued when I felt a creature trying to crawl up my leg. We did catch her, though, and promptly put her in the cage. Mosquito (the name change given to Mr. Fluff because he bit Collin all the time) was put in a huge stainless steel bowl to wait out the night. Perfect solution - he would reach up the side, then slide back down. It was a sure bet to keep him in one place all night long. The problem was, by morning he was gone. WHAT?! HOW?! Since our family is getting used to having hamsters on the loose, we calmly went about our normal life, bonded with Blackout, and wondered if Mosquito would ever be found. Sure enough, two days later we found him in the toilet drain pipe in the bathroom that is being renovated. Unfortunately, we couldn't catch him. That night while I was lying on the bed with Katya in the girls' room, I heard rustling beneath the bed. Sure it was the Boogie Moster, I at first lay there, terrified, staring at the ceiling, mouthing for help.......That's not true, but it was more interesting than what really happened. What really happened was that I jumped up and flipped on the light in time to see Mosquito dash into the closet. Looking frantically around the room for something to catch him in (didn't want to touch the biting hamster), I quickly emptied the diaper basket and then managed to scoop him up while he tried to climb the wall. So that night Mosquito was put in the cage and Blackout was kept in the bowl because she's smaller. And we put the heavy "Single socks" basket on top of the bowl to make sure she couldn't escape. The next night, however, we weren't so thorough. We were so sure that Blackout couldn't escape that we failed to put the Single Sock basket on her bowl. The next morning she was gone. It was not even two weeks from the time of the purchase of the first hamster, Fluffy. Vlad and I were getting pretty tired of this hamster charade, so we took Mosquito back to the pet store that day. It was a relief. Since then it's been five days, and we've had absolutely no sign at all of Blackout. The cage is empty, and the hamster wheel rattles in the night no longer. We have a sneaking suspicion that she went down the open toilet pipe, like Mosquito. But she wasn't as smart as Mosquito, so she probably fell to some place where she isn't retrievable. What that means is that the first time we flush our new toilet, Blackout will probably be no more...

But maybe that's okay. Three hamsters in two weeks - at this rate, we're a threat to the species.


ORIGINAL POST:
Last week when I went in for a procedure that will ensure we have no more little munchkins entering our lives through my womb, Vlad decided to do something that would guarantee I would never regret the decision: he bought our animal-loving boy a hamster. I've always been completely against rodents or reptiles as pets.....really, I prefer PillowPets or ZhuZhu pets. But Collin loved his hamster with the sweetest love that can only come from a boy who is still five years old, and has his first pet all his own. The hamster was named Fluffy, and was much beloved. He held him, he cuddled him, he gazed at him, he took him everywhere. That hamster was an instant family member. And he was actually, really cute. Caramel color with white blotches, he was sweet and soft, and curled up in a ball in the palm of Collin's hand for a nice little nap whenever he would get overwhelmed from all the attention, which was quite often.

Last Sunday Collin was playing with Fuzzy (who had undergone a name change), and Fuzzy jumped off the ottoman and ran away. Instead of chasing him or watching where he went, Collin calmly laid a line of food down on the ground, leading to the cage, then went off to eat his own breakfast, confident that his animal-catching techniques were superior to his hamster's intellect. When I realized that the hamster was missing, I tore apart the house looking for him. We emptied couches of pillows and crumbs, vacuumed under the couch and in any crevice that could provide a food source, moved the gargantuan entertainment center, and searched dark places with a flashlight. By time it was all over, we were an hour late for church (showed up just in time for the bar-be-que afterwards - classy!) Vlad assured us that Lizzie would be the one to find him - eventually. Just what she would do with him then was the question!

As usual, Vlad was right. We found Lizzie whining at the stove later that day, and when we removed the stove drawer, there was the sweet little hamster. Vlad retrieved him and gave him to an overjoyed Collin. That's when we made the mistake. We said, "Good girl, Lizzie!"

From that moment on, it was Lizzie's mission in life to chase that hamster and make him miserable. When the hamster was left in the cage, on the floor of the boys' room, Lizzie scratched and scratched on that cage until she spread wood shreds and hamster food all over their entire room. The poor hamster was scared to death, and had taken refuge in the lincoln log house the boys had made for him, in the middle of his cage. It didn't matter what we did or said to Lizzie, she was AFTER that hamster. She's neurotic that way.

Well, two days ago Collin, being the loving parent that he was, put Wake-Up-Sleepy-Head (who had undergone another name change) in the sand box while we were all outside - it was the hamster's playpen while Collin was jumping on the trampoline. To make a long story short, Lizzie found him. That nasty neurotic dog killed him.

As soon as I realized that the hamster was missing and had been in the sandbox, I ran over there only to find the hamster, very recently killed, lying in a small, slobbery bundle by the sandbox. And I burst into tears. I sobbed. Collin sobbed, and we both trudged in a crying parade to the garage, where we found Vlad and broke the news that the hamster was dead. Vlad picked him up and we walked together in a funeral procession to the back of the yard where we buried him while he was still warm.

We bought hamster #2 within 3 hours. He looked like a mouse without a tail. No fluff, no sweetness. Just a mouse with a bit of extra fur. He was black and white and had tan spots. Collin named him Blackout. When Vlad saw Blackout, he immediately said he wanted to return it for a hamster that looked like a hamster instead of one that looked like a rat. I think there was some cross-breeding going on at that pet store! So yesterday when Vlad went to work, he took Blackout with him to exchange. But instead of exchanging, he didn't have the receipt, so he had to just buy a new fluffy hamster and take Blackout back a bit later after he got the receipt from my purse... So Blackout and the new fluffy hamster were sharing the same box

Then Vlad wrote me an e-mail that said he had to separate Blackout and the new fluffy hamster and Blackout because "Blackout" is a really inappropriate name for a girl. Evidently Blackout and Mr. Fluff fell in love pretty quickly. Good thing he had two hamster boxes.

Mr. Fluff is gray and white, very curious, and the fattest fluffy rat you've ever seen. He refuses to get on the hamster wheel. It's like he's afraid of it or something. He's also a very cute little hamster. But the problem is that he bites. He's bitten Collin already three times, in the less than 12 hours we've had him. I'm not so sure he won't be traded for hamster #4.

In the meantime, Blackout was waiting in her hamster box to be taken back to the pet store this morning. The box was on the counter all night long. THis morning, there is a hole chewed in the box, and the Blackout is gone. I already checked behind the stove. But, honestly, I don't want Lizzie to find her.

Collin is walking around saying, "If I was a black hamster named "Blackout," where would I be?

Cleaning up

While cleaning up the house after my afternoon of being outside planting the garden while letting the kids run wild  create their own adventures, I came across an interesting pile. It was obviously Claire's blanket draped over some unidentified object in the middle of the family room. When I got closer, I thought it almost looked like a child's form under there, except for the strange square shape on the side. I quickly jerked up the blanket, only to realize that it was indeed a child! There was Claire, in another of her strange sleeping spots, totally conked out on the family room floor, with the cereal box that she had evidently been snacking from in the best hiding spot available - under the trusty blankie!

Perfect Moment #2

Perfect Moment #2: 

New strip for gardening just uncovered in the greenhouse, Vlad and the boys just left for a few hours of fishing, thunderclouds rolling in and a light sprinkling starting, Katya playing happily in garage with adoring neighbour girl and their sounds drifting, doors open to the clean air, Claire hanging out with me in the office.... perfect moment!! 

...randomness from April

April came and went so fast I hardly had time to catch my breath!
Vlad was gone for a little over two weeks, we were busy with this and that, we built a greenhouse (well, mostly), and we generally had a great time watching Spring slowly come in. This spring we are SO SO VERY thankful that we are inside the floodway instead of outside  the floodway. In 2009, being completely unaware that were were living in a flood zone, and completely unaccustomed to what it meant to "fight" a flood, we moved most of our earthly possessions into the limits of Winnipeg, which is protected by a floodway. This year the flood was nearly as bad, and we haven't even seen the slightest bit of water in our new neighborhood area. In fact, it looks like the water would have to raise about another 10 feet in order for us to get concerned that it would go over the riverbanks. And at that point, most of Manitoba would be covered...
I have written countless posts in my head, and taken only slightly fewer pics in the last few weeks. I've chosen some of my favorites to share, and sort of catch you all up on what we've been doing.

First up is school. Thankfully, the school year is winding down adn the boys have only about 1/2 as much math and penmanship to do each day as they did at the beginning of the year - the blessings of revving it up when you have the energy and will to do more work at the beginning of the year... I have no idea what I offered to give Spencer in order for him to smile like this. :)

Next up is Katya and her hats. The girls loves hats. And she loves even more the fact that we have hat bins next to the front door. And boots right outside. This time of year, the girl is in heaven - hats every day, and more boots than she can wear. If only I had a pic for every hilarious hat/boot combination she's tried in the last few weeks. Yesterday she left home and went to the neighbor's house with Vlad's Illini winter hat, Claire' leopard boots, her own pink dress, and Clair'e pajama shirt pulled over her head. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, she took off the boots and pajama shirt before I could get a good shot of her.

What else is she up to these days? Oh, you know.....helping around the house....

We celebrated Easter with Vlad in Moscow. The kids got a few things in an Easter Basket, and we went out on Good Friday after church to a Chinese place to celebrate the "most important day of the year - the day our sins were taken away!" I have made a decision to go as all-out next year for Easter as I do for Christmas, including preparatory traditions, such as Passover, Lent, and an Easter Tree. This really is the most important holiday of the year, and it struck me this year that we really don't celebrate and remember as we should. Especially sweet this year was taking communion and seeing baptisms on Easter Sunday. 

An Easter Breakfast of chocolate bunnies made my morning preps much easier, as the kids watched the Easter Carol from Veggie Tales.

It was Katya's first time with an Easter bunny, and she was enthralled. What is IN that thing? 

With the weather warming up, it's time to put op our greenhouse. This is what I did on the final few days Vlad was gone. The ribs and spines are made from pvc, then connected to a wooden frame, and attached to wooden end walls (not in this pic). Behold, I have created a monster!!! Nevermind that when Vlad came home he pointed out that my location wasn't a very good idea, and quickly convinced me to disassemble the whole thing and move it. So now it's directly behind our house, in a straight line to the rest of the yard, instead of off to the side on a diagonal. It'll be great when we get those "ribs" all covered with greenhouse plastic so we can put some of our plants inside, because.... 

It's a jungle in here!! 

To my utter dismay, last week the plants started blooming. The beans are okay, because they're self-pollinating. See that bean among all that green? Yes, our bean plants are actually producing beans in our window. I had no idea I'd started plants too early. I figured we could have them outside by mid-April. Evidently, the blizzard that came through here on May 1 had other ideas....

So all of these plants, my jack-o-lantern pumpkins, the yellow squash, and some of the cucumbers, which are busy producing male flowers daily, have been moved to under this table to make the work of pollinating easier. I have to do the work of the bees because my plants are still indoors instead of in my greenhouse. In the words of that beloved little bear: Oh, bother! (See our sweet potato vine?! It's HUGE - and so are it's 5 brothers on the shelves in our kitchen). 

In other randomness this month, I've started a sourdough bread starter, inspired by our nightly reading of the Little House On The Prairie series. I thought if I added some yeast when trying it out in the bread maker, that it would help the bread rise fast enough to be ready for when the baking cycle kicked in. I think I added a bit too much yeast. What do you think? 

And last, but certainly not least, are these little cutie pies. Some of you may remember this post  in which we had cut off all of Clair'e hair due to her only having whispies left because her rubberbands had broken off all of her hair. Well, her hair is growing out much better now. It's a lot more coarse, not so fine, and entirely too straggly. So it was time for a trim....

 And this is the result:

Katya got a trim too, only I don't like hers nearly so much as Claire's. Thank goodness hair grows!

Monkey see, monkey do...