Unsolicited Advice

I have found out why the MSPCA was told these guys were bitey. It's mostly Yogi, and he's not biting. He's investigating . Rats use their mouths when they play, just like puppies. When they bite out of fear or anger, it's a very quick strike, very bloody, and you don't get your finger back in a hurry. When they bite during play, they don't chomp very hard -- just hard enough that the other rat feels it and knows he's gettin' got.  Yogi has been systematically testing my hand to see how hard he can toof me while he plays. I offer him my hand, he looks at me a second, then he slowly and deliberately puts his teeth on my knuckle and bites down a little bit. I go 'eep!' and jerk my hand away, then slowly give it back. And the next time he tries it, he's a little bit more gentle.  This is totally normal for a rat, but doesn't usually go over well with little kids. They feel teeth and think they've been bitten for real, then start shrieking

Yogi, left, is a black self dumbo, and Koda, right, is a black Berkshire top-ear. They're about seven months old. These two came already named from the MSPCA. Usually rats in a group together get theme names, because humans like patterns; Google says these two are named after some beagles on Instagram . That's boring, so I combed through the WWWJDIC for some ateji/jinmeiyou kanji that I liked. I've decided the names are actually spelled 容疑 (yōgi, "looks suspicious") and 幸多 (kōda, "many blessings").  I have matched the correct name to the correct rat, trust me. Yogi is the fourth dumbo rat I've had who believes he is in charge of the entire universe. He is also the fourth dumbo rat I've had, period. I am starting to think it's genetic. Something about the shape of that flat little skull just doesn't leave any room for humility. The volunteer at Nevins said they were surrendered because they were "nippy", but further investigatio

I'm not done crying over Cheese, but I'm probably never going to be done crying over Cheese. I still get teary over rats I lost years ago. If I ever stop sobbing when I lose a rat, I need to rethink getting any more rats. If you're going to be solely responsible for the health and happiness of another creature, you'd damn well better be emotionally invested. In any case, an acquaintance and I are going out to Nevins Farm next weekend, where the MSPCA keeps the assorted small mammals, to get me some more critters. The MSPCA charges a very reasonable adoption fee of $10-15 per animal, which I consider a personal medical expense. It makes me untenably sad to walk into the room carrying food and not be met by a wriggling ball of fur that wants to know what it is and when they will be getting their cut.  Frankly, they may elect to give me a discount if I tell them I want to abscond with half a dozen of the little buggers -- they don't often get adopters with that much ro

I was all set to post something chipper today, about turning 42 in a month. Some chatter about plans, the requisite Hitchhiker's Guide  jokes, speculation about whether I could swing getting myself some show tickets or Yet Another Pair Of Shoes. But instead, I have to say goodbye to Cheese tomorrow. He's had intermittent breathing issues for a while. So far he's always recovered to his normal self, albeit not before having a rotten couple of hours and panicking his Mommy a lot. And he came back the last time as well, but he seems just... tired. The ordinary Old Rat problems have started to creep in, unrelated to his lungs. His back feet aren't a lot of help anymore. He can boost himself straight up about three tries out of every four, but if he tries to reverse or change direction, his hips tip out from under him, and he rolls onto his side. He's stopped trying to groom his hind end, and has very limited tolerance for me coming at him with baby wipes.  I can keep hi

Housekeeping first! Amazon has for some reason gotten spotty about putting the thank-you QR codes in their packages. I don't have any direct way to get in touch with the anony-mouse (anony-mice?) who send things off the lists, but everything has arrived. Thank you! Well, I made it through about two weeks of "time off" before I started trying to DO SOMETHING so I didn't go mad. Browsing job boards, mainly. It makes me nervous to see the numbers in my bank accounts go down and down. I realize that this is the point of that grant money -- to spend it on rent and groceries and transit and other aspects of living my life, and that not spending it on those things would be counterproductive. I also realize that theater goes through a lull every year around this time, and that everything will be back in September as it always is.  None of that makes me more comfortable. I will probably never be comfortable with the finite nature of money under a capitalist system. I will als