Rats on Coffee

2006-12-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know what the loudest sound on earth is? No, it is not a million jet planes taking off at the same time, right overhead. No, it is not the detonation of the most powerful and devestating bomb invented by man. The loudest sound on earth is Elvis, Molly, and their Dad SNORING at 4 in the morning while I am trying to catch some beauty rest! THAT, my friends, is the loudest sound on earth. In stereo.

2006-11-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

S and I went to the windy city for Thanksgiving. We left our tiniest children in the capable hands of our neighbor, George, who fed them lots of good fruity treats, kept their water cool and fresh, and patted their little rodent heads each day. No free range, time, however, because I wanted to come home to as many little critters as I'd left behind.
The dogs I left with Elvis' trainer. "Good," I thought, "She will keep them in line. She'll make Elvis continue with his drills, make him sit before meals, not let him up on the furniture." Oh, how wrong I was. When I went to pick up the kids this morning, the trainer showed me pictures that she'd taken of the beasts - Molly on the couch, Elvis on the couch WITH HIS FOOD BOWL IN FRONT OF HIM....the list of naughty behaviors that those bad trainers encouraged goes on...They let the dogs sit on their laps...When I asked the trainer about it, she said, "You signed up for boarding, not board and train." and "You were on vacation, so they got to go on vacation."
I'm quite happy that the doggies were so well cared for - they hardly knew that they were being "boarded" and in fact were never put in a crate at all - she gave them free roam of her house. But now they are home, with rules and limits, they are feeling quite abused. In fact, Molly keeps asking to go home to her "new Mommy."
Ungrateful!

2006-10-04T06:02:00.000-04:00

A SHAWNEE INDIAN TALE

Long ago the Great Spirit came to man and placed him above all the creatures on earth. Man was given the task of protecting these creatures in the absence of the Great Spirit, so he was given the power to talk and understand all the languages of the animals.

After a long absence from earth, the Great Spirit came back to see how man was getting along with the animals and he found that man had begun catching the fish and eating them. The Great Spirit became angry with man and said, "I am angry, but I understand your need for food. I will allow you to eat the fish when you are hungry." So saying this, the Great Spirit went back to the heavens.

Time passed, and the Great Spirit returned a second time only to find that man had begun to hunt deer, and bear, and buffalo to eat, and man was using their hides to make clothing and tents. Again, the Great Spirit became angry with man. "I am unhappy to see that you are killing more of the animls I have given you power over, but I understand your need for food, clothing, and shelter. Never kill more than you can use." Once more, the Great Spirit returned to his home in the clouds.

Several years passed before the Great Spirit returned to earth for the third time, but when he returned this time he found man had taken two fowl and had trained them to fight each other for his amusement. Seeing this, the Great Spirit became very angry and called together man and all the fish, fowl, and animals to hear him speak.

"I have given man the power to understand and talk with you so he could care for you when I am gone. Man has misused this gift by killing you and now he is using you for his amusement. I am removing man's power of talking with you, and from this day forth you shall turn your back on man and you shall be afraid and run from him when you see him in the forest."

As all the animals turned away from man a small voice spoke softly, "I cannot. I need man's touch. I want to be near man...may I stay with him?"

The Great Spirit looked down on the small animal with sorrow and said, "Man will not understand you or return your love and loyalty. He will not always take care of you. The other creatures will no longer trust you if you stay with man, and they will run from you, too. Are you sure you want to stay with him?"

"I am sure," said the little animal. "I will be content to talk at man's side."

.......................And so it was that dog chose man.

2006-09-15T08:39:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I should explain the pictures I posted last night. No, Elvis did not break into the ratty condo and eat his sisters. He is only trying to bond with the family - he reads the paper with Dad and then shreds it with his little sisters. Our little barn dog who never lived in a house before is coming around quite nicely. Now...if only I could get him to bond with me while I clean up the house....
After two succesive rounds of basic obedience (for which he won the blue ribbon his last time around) and several months of private sessions with an animal behaviorist (educated at Cornell - only the best for the King) Elvis has been allowed to join "Hound Happy Hour." Hound Happy Hour is a play group for dogs run by said behaviorist. Happy Hour helps Elvis to socialize with dogs and people and will boost his self confidence. After only three happy hours Elvis has gone from standing completely still in front of the door waiting to get out, to zooming around the room, greeting people and running with the other dogs. The people who have been through classes with us and at the first happy hours can't believe his progress. We are really proud of our boy. He is even starting to play at home - he throws his toys around and then jumps after them, play bowing and flopping around like a normal, happy boy. The behaviorist wasn't sure that he would ever play...but he is!!! Now we are going to try to get him to play with us.
Oh! He now eats in front of us and with our other dog, Molly. He used to not eat unless he was alone in a room and in his crate. He is now confident enough to eat his dinner in the kitchen with the rest of us. He has also given Steve several kisses and now, when we lie down on the floor, he comes right over, lies down next to us and rolls over for a belly rub. We even get some nuzzles once in a while.
It is so satisfying to see this dog gain confidence and act like...a dog. He was such a scared mess when we brought him home, and totally mistrustful of us...and so....naughty!
He is still naughty...but now he's blue ribbon naughty.

2006-09-14T19:13:00.000-04:00

2006-08-27T12:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I made a big mistake...a BIG mistake. I washed the ratty linens (you know, the old towels, fleecey sleeping bags, fuzzy hammocks, the little scraps of felt they use to build their nests with...) with a few of my shirts and jeans. PEEEEUUUUUUUU. My clothes came out of the dryer with a less than clothesline fresh scent. I asked my husband to smell my shirt - for confirmation, you know. He innocently sniffed my shoulder and said, "It smells like dryer sheets and....rat bedding." Ugh!
Then, of course, I made ANOTHER mistake and wore the rat poo shirt hiking. I thought that with time the fresh air would take away the smell, but nope. No such luck. I smelled rat poo for miles.

Also, Vivi, Acorn and Mary would like me to officially thank Rats and Cats for introducing me to the idea of feeding the ratties corn on the cob. They loved it.

2006-08-19T09:29:00.000-04:00

We have been tagged by Animal Magic (imagine that I know what I'm doing and inserted the link here). Here are the rules: The player of this game starts with "5 wierd things/habits about yourself." In the end you need to choose 5 people to be tagged and list their names. The person who gets tagged must write a blog about their 5 wierd things/habits, as well as state the rules clearly, then tag five more victims. Don't forget to leave your victim a comment that says, "You're tagged," and tell them to read your blog. Since I have five furries, I figured that I would list one wierd thing about each. Here goes!
Molly's eyes are powerful magnets that draw all humans toward her. Once under her spell it is impossible to walk past her without falling to her paws and worshipping her, even if it means that you will be late for work. (Molly will soon be celebrating her 1 year adoption anniversary with us)
Elvis (who just won the BLUE ribbon in his obedience class) has a little problem with substrates. He is fine on a carpeted floor, fine on a hardwood floor, fine on a laminate floor, etc...but...when asked to walk from the carpet to the laminate floor, or from the wood floor to the carpeted floor....he slowly creeps to the doorway, then DASHES back toward the other end of the room...sloooowly creeps to the doorway, then RUNS MANIACALLY to the other end of the room....slooooooooooooooowly creeps to the doorway, tip-toes ever so carefully on to the new surface, then RACES through the new room. What a goof.
Mary DOES NOT STASH FOOD!!!!! That I see. Ace sleeps on her side, in a kidney shape, with her tail curled in front of her. She holds her tail with both hands and rests her chin on her tail's tip. Unfortunately, I have not been able to catch this cuteness on film.

Olive often rests in the position of a sphinx, with her hands clutched in little balls.

I tag Kelsea and Yummy (imagine again that I have inserted their links. Kelsea and Yummy, if you choose to do this, please leave your links in the comments here). All of our other fuzzy friends have been tagged already!

2006-08-07T18:09:00.000-04:00

I made my first 9-1-1 call yesterday. Some eejit left a little tan spaniel in a locked car with all the windows rolled up. Then I made my second 9-1-1 call ten minutes later when the police still hadn't shown up. The policeman didn't show up until 25 minutes after the original call went through. Podunk town. Then he stood around and scratched his arse for a while wondering what to do. I was about ready to break a window myself when the woman who owned the dog finally came out of a restaraunt to see what all the commotion was about. I saw the police officer write something down and hand it to her - I hope it was a big damn fine and a ticket. Too bad he didn't just take the dog away from her. Clearly she has mush for brains. I am disgusted with both the woman and the inefficient policeman. He had two types of rods to try to pry open the door/window and he couldn't get either to work. I wanted to ask him what he would have done if the woman had not come out. Why did it take so long? Why not break the window? A life was at stake! I don't get it.
I saw the dog get up and walk around in the parking lot, but I still feel guilty. I feel like I should have made sure he got out sooner. But it's hard to know what to do. I suppose in this instance, since the dog seemed fine, it was better to not break a window...but what if it had worked out the other way? Next time, if it's a worse situation, will I break a window? I damn well hope so.

2006-08-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

oops...heat getting to me. wrote a couple of silly sentences...spelled something incorrectly....I'm outta here!

2006-08-02T11:19:00.000-04:00

It's hotter than Hades here. Has been for the past couple of days. I started to feel sick at work (unaironditioned woodshop) so came home early. The entire metal shop left yesterday at 11 am and is doing the same today. No sense working when you're lightheaded and lopping off a finger.
I just strung up a big dropcloth across the doorway at the top of the stairs so that I can run the ac in the bedroom and cool down the whole upstairs. Then I'm going to drag the zoo up here to stay cool. I've been afraid to leave the ratties up here in the ac while I'm at work because of paranoia that the ac will bust and the rats will die of heat exhaustion. Better uncomfortable and alive than cool for a bit and then...well...
Off to soak my head in cold water now. Girls have their cubes, dogs are languishing...

2006-07-30T21:39:00.000-04:00

I emailed Oprah and asked her to register at Upromise.com for me.

Think I'll get a personal response?

2006-07-30T12:07:00.000-04:00

Free Rangin'

2006-07-30T08:02:00.000-04:00

Well, I posted a plea for help on craigslist.com, and wouldn't you know it....someone resonded and signed me up at Upromise. Apparently it took her 9 years to finish her PhD, so she knows all about struggling with financial aid. Her daughter is only 2 months old, so she figured she'd start saving for me! How kind of her! How compassionate to help a complete stranger.
However...during this whole fiasco, I learned that if you mistakenly type in craiglist.com - without the "S", you get a hardcore porn site. So be careful of your spelling - especially if you're using a computer at the public library, or work, etc. Yick!

2006-07-29T08:10:00.000-04:00

A Plea for Help
Remember how I worked my ass off to get my 3.85 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) so that I could get a scholarship? Well, I got a partial scholarship.
Then my 12 year old car took her last ride and I had to get a new one. In order to afford it, I had to scale back on my credits. But, when I went from full-time to part-time status, my good ol' alma mater took away my scholarship. (even after they told me that my fin. aid wouldn't change if I switched status) So....after I'm finished borrowing thousands of dollars at an outrageously high finance rate, I am still $7500.oo short. Unfortunately, there is just no freakin way I can make that plus make my car payments in a year here, in this economically depressed area. It's pathetic....Tell me again why I left booming Annapolis MD for THIS!?!!!?!!! Because right now, I don't remember.
Anyhow, if I have any US readers who would like to help AT NO COST TO YOU, here's how. You can register at Upromise.com. You register your grocery shopping club cards, like stop and shop, Wegman's, Giant, Grand Union, whatever the heck you have....and then those companies put a percentage of what you spend into a Upromise account. Then Upromise releases the money to the registered student's accredited college. This means I won't be able to use the money for things like....more eepers. It's a free service and takes about 5 minutes to register. (You're already online) You can register your credit cards and stuff, too, but I know that stuff sometimes makes people nervous. Your info is safe and secure, says Upromise. I did it, and, obviously, have already gotten the fam on board.
I'm feeling desperate, can you tell?
The thing is, I am already deep in the hole from the first three years of college...then I switched majors, transfered...and had to start from square one. $15,000 x 8.something% finance rate, compounded interest x 4 years x however many years it takes to pay it back + previous student loans = A WHOLE LOT!
If you have kids of your own....do this for them! There is a 529 at Upromise, too, which you can take advantage of....and a Upromise credit card that offers lots of % back...Don't let your kid feel like I do right now. (This is not a dis to my own parents. They did all they could and helped me out the first time around. I don't think Upromise was around when I was a wee one. At the very least my mother didn't know about it, or else she would have done it!)
So, anyway, if you happen to be a kid-free adult, or a kidded adult with lots o' extra bucks, I'd surely appreciate your help. In return, you'd get my utmost gratitude and the knowledge that, once I graduate and get myself financially together, I will turn right around and help out someone else who is struggling.
If you want to help, check out Upromise.com and then email me at luvinratties@yahoo.com.
Thanks.
If you want to help but can't help in this way, send many positive vibes over this way....
ps-all fuzzies doing well. A little hot, but doing well. Ratties go dunking for peas and blueberries every day. Elvis hangs out in his custom made mud hole (and stinks something fierce because of it) and Molly sleeps underneath the picnic table.
Happy weekend, all!

2006-07-11T21:25:00.000-04:00

Little Mary is a bit lost without Brie. They were the best of buds, even sticking together at free range time. I still find her head-sleeping alone in the cage while Acorn and Olive snuggle together nearby.
I wish I could tell you all what happened to Brie, but even the vet doesn't know. I brought her in weeks ago for an apparent choking episode. But there was nothing obstructing her airways. The vet didn't think it was a respiratory issue because she still had good color, and yet her breathing became more and more labored as the weeks went by, despite different courses and combinations of antibiotics. Eventually she stopped eating her fav foods and even bit me. She spent an overnight at the vet's and got three nebulizations and lasicks (spelling?) and still no change for the better. She lost weight each week. Her eyes started to bulge and she began to do a bizarre stretching thing with her hind legs, and she kept her fists in tight balls and tried to bite the vet techs. The vet and I decided it was time to let her go. The two vets in the practice agreed that it was probably something neurological fueling the breathing problem and other physical ailments, and 3 weeks is a long time to struggle to breath.
This weekend Steve and I are going to split an avacado with the ladies, in honor of Brie. It was her very favorite.

2006-07-06T20:16:00.000-04:00

Brie

12/11/05 - 7/06/06

2006-06-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

*squeek*
*twitter*
"It was 25 minutes away and during rush hour?"
"Yes."
*hee hee hee*
*squeek*
*ha ha ha*
"And it cost $90?!"
"Yep."
*HAHAHA*
"Way to go, Brie, you could be Riff's minion, that's so norty."
"Yeah and it was worth it, too, cause I only got put into the basket for a minute and found out that I only weigh 266 grams."
"Skinny bitch!"
*squawk*
*meep*
"So then what?"
"The vet say she don't know what's wrong wif me."
*twitter*
*laugh*
"She looked in my throat and there wasn't nothing caught in there, my eyes were bright and I only did that scary breathing with my mouth open a little - not like when I did it here for Mom."
"Good one, Brie!"
"Way to go - a fake out!"
"Yeah, but then the bad thing happened."
*gasp*
*twitter*
"What?"
"Tell us!"
"The vet lady took me in back away from mum and I got fluids injected under my skin and it made a big huge lump on my back and it leaked."
*gasp*
*moan*
"Yeah, I was so miffed, but then mum saw me and she said "Oh no what's that?" and then she said "Poor baby" and gave me cuddles and made a fuss and it didn't hurt me none, but it made Mum feel bad, so it was all worth it."
"Yeah!"
"Serves her right!"
"Yeah, and now she has to give me medicine, but I will only take it in baby food."
"haha"
"Neat trick. I want to try."
"The best is to pretend to be sick at night - then you have to go to the 'mergency vets and it costs hundreds of dollars and they just tell mum to go to the regular vets in the morning cause they don't know ratties."
*squeek*
*twitter*
"I wanna try that!"
"Why is you need medicine if you're not sick?"
"For just in case."
"In case what?"
"In case I do have a respiratory infection and for pain medicines in case I aspirated."
"Are you really sick, Brie?"
"I will never tell....just get me my baby food!"

Mum's note:
"Hey! Get out of here! This is our post...
*shove*
*nibble*

ahem...Mum's note - Yes it's true that the vet had no defnitive answer as to why Brie was breathing through her mouth and making a clicking sound while doing so. Her thoughts are that it could be a previous choking that left Brie's throat sore and traumatized or....congenital heart failure. Let's all hope it's the former. The vet did do x-rays, but fortunately did not charge me for those. She did them "for her own interest." It showed a cloudy mass on Brie's left side - perhaps her heart moved over or there is something in her lungs. Hard to tell with these tiny buggers. Brie is currently still clicking while she breathes but otherwise instigating just as much trouble as she always has. She is refusing to pose for pictures.

2006-05-25T15:02:00.000-04:00

Molly and Elvers

Acorn

2006-05-22T14:09:00.000-04:00

My excitement about the upholstery job is waning. Did I spell that correctly? You see, the foreman told me to call the owner today. Which I did. But the receptionist blocked my call, saying, "He just got into town this morning and he's got piles of resumes to go through, so try back in a few days."
How disappointing. If the guy was out of town he was probably counting on his foreman to weed through some applicants, so to not have my call put through when I was told specifically who to call and when is...a bummer.

In Elvis news - of which there is always plenty - Steve and I are going to board him while we go away for a long weekend with a couple of friends. We rented a house on a lake and can't trust the bugger not to wee all over the place. We also can't leave him in a crate every moment that we're not there, as he sleeps in a crate and added together he'd be in the crate waaaay too long. Steve and I had a real tough time with this decision, which I guess is proof that we're getting to love the guy. We hate that he'll think he's been abandoned again and scared. Oh, man, I'm probably typing myself right out of this. But I know that our friends want to go certain places and see certain things and if we brought him, we'd really be tied to the rental house.

So, yes, we're putting our own selfish needs in front of the dog's and he'll have to deal with it. Otherwise, quite frankly, it won't be much of a vacation.

And, oh, yes! He looks back at us now to see which way we're turning on our walks. This is a HUGE deal. HE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT WE EXIST! WOOHOO! He respects us as leaders of the walk.

I love his ears. He is a cute, cute boy.

The rats will stay here and look after the house.

2006-05-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

I just submitted my resume to a company that builds and upholsters church furniture. The man I submitted it to kept saying "Wow."
"Wow, you're really over-qualified."
"Wow, are you really strong enough to do this work?"
"Wow, someone with boobs is applying for this job."
Which "wow?" I don't know. Probably a mix of all three.
He did say to expect to hear from someone on Monday. Big boss is out of town. This guy couldn't believe how much I knew about the process. He kept trying to say, "Well, we do so-and-so.."
"Well, as you can see, I have experience doing so and so"
"Wow....Expect to hear from us on Monday."
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited at the prospect of working with WOOD AND FURNITURE that I can't stand it and am probably not making any sense.
WISH ME LUCK, GUYS! I NEED ALL THE POSITIVE ENERGY I CAN GET!!!!!

And....SCHOOL IS FRIGGIN ALMOST OVER. ONE MORE DAY LEFT. ALL FINAL PROJECTS ARE COMPLETE. YEEEEEEEEEEHAW!

And, oh yes, Elvis did a sit/stay in class, with lots of distractions. And he is challenging us with body posture, etc. But, the good news is, he did a sit/stay, so we're focusing on that.
PHEEEW!
Must go return to sanity. but you understand, it's been so long since I've earned money or done woodworking and, well, I find both pretty damn enjoyable!

2006-05-15T17:07:00.000-04:00

Well, I did what I always do in a somewhat stressful situation - I looked up "fear dominance" on the internet, read completely contradictory reports about what exactly that meant, let my imagination run wild, got myself all worked up, then called the behaviorist again.
The behaviorist, KH, says that dominance is not a problem in dogs and is sometimes preferable, as in the cases of service dogs who must be confident and able to think and make decisions for themselves. Problems begin when the dog has a behavior problem in addition to this, such as fear.
KH says that she'd be very surprised if Elvis behaved aggressively, even when cornered. But she did say that dominance, if left unaddressed, can lead to aggression, especially in the case of a fearful poochie like Elvis. Over the next six months she expects to have to meet with us only 3 or 4 times to check his progress and go over drills with us. In addition to that he must consistently attend weekly obedience classes and "hound happy hour" to socialize him.
She believes that while we should never 100% trust him around running, screaming children that could fall on him, harrass him, etc, he will become a loving family member.
So...she's coming over to finish temperament testing on Wed and then we go to our first class with her.
I'm off to go on a job interview. I passed the 30 minute computer survey - which included questions like "If you have 10 cents and someone gives you 25 cents, how much money do you have?" and "Were you ever punished for getting bad grades in school?" Bizarre. If I "pass" this interview with the manager, I'll have to go for another interview with the supervisor. For TEN-TWENTY hours a week. At a friggin discount store. So obnoxious and totally overkill, considering the lazy boob they had working there when I went in to fill out an application. Must get out of this area of the US. It's ridiculous.

2006-05-13T17:24:00.000-04:00

The dog behaviorist came over today. Very unfortunately it began to thunder soon after she arrived and she was unable to perform the temperament test. Elvis was too worked up to react to the tests and had she done them, she would not have got an accurate baseline.
From what she did see and how we answered her questions, she surmises that Elvis has a combination problem - fear and dominance. The bad news is that it's one of the most difficult problems to solve. The good news is that Elvis is not severe and that she's "cured" dogs who have been much worse.
Fear Dominance is when a dog has no self confidence but because of his age and breed he has been allowed to get away with lots of things so he perceives himself to be more dominant than he actually is. This means that when he is confronted with a new situation his first reaction is to be fearful of it and back away, but then he thinks to himself, "hey, I'm the boss here, I have to take control of this situation" and does something inappropriate and unpredictable, like a bite.
The behaviorist gave us some things to look for and to disallow. She also suggested that we stop going to our group class as we are probably making it worse because we don't know how to handle him yet. She is going to first show us deference drills - drills that will first tell Elvis that he is not more dominant than us, but we are not more dominant than him. Then we will move on to drills that establish us as dominant. Then we will be able to do desensitization drills and socialization drills to get him to become more comfortable with life.
The behaviorist says we are looking at probably 6 months of hard work. For Elvis? No problem, so long as we are encouraged by progress. And he will progress because deep down in there somewhere is a good, good boy (sorry Riff).

For Zoe and Sham and K - this behaviorist works with....RATTIES! She has helped rats overcome obsessive compulsive issues - she helped one ratty to stop chewing its tail.

She hasn't been able to really show us anything yet, because of the weather, but she's already tops in my book. She used to have two litter-trained uncaged rats as pets who ran to the door to greet guests and then promptly rolled on their backs to get belly rubs from them. Watch out Riff's Minions, if your humans find out about this, you may be getting some unwanted training.

The behaviorist is coming again on Wednesday to finish up our session and then we will join her small class where she will show us how to use group classes to our benefit. I am very hopeful.

2006-05-11T10:58:00.000-04:00

A different trainer is coming to our house on Saturday to do an assessment. She will do a temperament test and then hang around for an 1 1/2 or so and check him out. We discussed a few possibilities that I won't mention here because right now it's all guessing, but she did say that there are exercises we can do to correct the situation. Poor guy learned a lot of things that he's going to have to unlearn with us. I'll update this weekend.

2006-05-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

I was running with a leashed Elvis in a field by my in-law's house. He escaped and ran away from me. We found him running on the side of the highway. Fortunately, we came up in front of him and he ran right to us.
It's all well and good to be hopeful that one day Elvis will come around and want to be part of the family, but I ask again, how long do we wait? The running away isn't so bad in itself. Many dogs would take that opportunity. But it's the ignoring us, avoiding us, being fearful of everything and everyone, pulling on the leash, peeing everywhere. We need HELP!! Training sessions don't get us anywhere because he's not motivated by food. He doesn't really trust us and he doesn't trust humans in general, so why on God's, or Goddesses for my Pagan readers, good green earth would he listen to a damn thing we say? Could it be that this dog really needs to run off-leash and we are doing a disservice to him by keeping him? Also, Molly is old and has multiple health issues. We have not been able to spend as much time with her as we used to because of the Plott. Are we wasting time we could be spending with her on a hopeless case?
Both Steve and I would rather see Elvis become a loving member of our family than to give him up. I don't want to shelter him again - I'd rather keep him here until we can find him a good, fenced in yard kind of place. But we signed a contract with the shelter not to give him up and I don't know if they'd put him up for adoption on their website and have him live with us so long as we made him available for visits.
I dunno. Tired and winded from the unexpected run and at my wits end. And, as he's not a very loving dog, it's hard to understand why we are working so hard at this.
I'm so f-ing tired and have loads to do for finals week next week, yet I spend a good 3-4 hrs a day just on the Plott. Damn Plott. Let this be a warning to all you who think you wants lots of pets. Listen to your mother and only have one pet, besides rats, because you can always fit rats in to the schedule.
Poor neglected little rats. No wonder Olive has turned to a life of Riffdom.

2006-05-05T09:22:00.000-04:00

Sometime between yesterday at 10 a.m. and today, Elvis pissed on one of my leather shoes.
So, I ask again, anybody out there want a Plott Hound? To quote Molly, "I will pay shippin'."

2006-04-28T07:01:00.000-04:00

It was unexpected. It happened suddenly. I was talking to the dogs and out of nowhere I looked at Elvis, and said, "I love you Elvi-boy." I was so surprised by my own words that I looked at Steve and said, "I guess I like this guy." Steve's response was "Me, too."
Yesterday was day 2 of NO ACCIDENTS IN THE HOUSE! WOOHOO! He actually peed outside in the yard as soon as he went outside with Steve night before last and then with me yesterday afternoon. Of course, he refused to go last night before bed, so I was afraid he'd pee in his crate, but he didn't. We throw him a party every time he pees outside now. The sky rains chicken when he pees and poos. And he's getting a little more interested in eating it.
Elvis has also learned that when he walks nicely beside us on a loose leash, chicken rains from the sky. Of course, this means that every time he wants chicken he slows up, walks beside us and looks up like, "Hey lady, where's my chicken?" And then as soon as we give it to him he speeds off ahead again. Friggin' monster.
I have also spent 3 hours each day for the past couple of days walking that beast. I've driven him to the canal path for a good trot. Sooo....no time to clean the house or do homework. I sometimes get pissed that he takes up so much time and then sometimes I realize maybe he's teaching me something. Maybe he's teaching me that playing outside and bonding with the pack are more important than a house that smells like cleanser. And you know what? I still have good grades, so all this refusing to let myself relax thing was never really necessary. There's time for work and play.
I've also mostly given up the idea that Elvis is going to eat Molly. He does definitely push her around a bit, and that pisses me off, but it's the dog heirarchy thing, I guess, and she is old and weak, but I don't think he'd eat her. She waltzed into his crate and stole food from his bowl and he just stood and looked at her. She's always trying to steal his food. I'll ask the trainer this weekend. Maybe he's just waiting for the right moment to attack. I don't know. But so far no reason to think badly of him. Every dog's different and it was just one article out of many.
Trying to talk Steve into buying fence material and installing it ourselves. It would mean that we can't buy a new lawn mower. We have mucho grass and tiny push mower that is unreliable. Apparently it doesn't start right away - you have to fiddle and fiddle with it. I told Steve that I would take over mowing if it means fence - hell, what's 3 hrs of walking and two of mowing grass? Who needs to do anything else besides tend to the dog's needs?
And oh, yeah. I still have 4 rats and boy, are they pissed that their blog has been hijacked by the Plott.

2006-04-25T17:04:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys. We haven't decided to give up on the little turd yet - and I am justified in calling him a turd because the vet just called to tell me that he does not have an infection, so it is most likely a "behavioral issue." Pfff! I did get a helicopter tail wag and a bum in the air as a welcome home, though, so that's good. Oh, yes, I also got a dog crate full of pee when I got home. But that's exactly why he was in the crate. It's so funny when that little moron goes in the house. He so obviously never lived with a family inside before, because when I find his pee spot and then start to clean it up, he comes over, sniffs it, looks at me like, "hey, whatcha doing there? Cleaning that up? Never woulda thought.." He's obviously never gotten into trouble for doing it before. The problem is that we never actually catch him in the act, so we don't have an opportunity to tell him "no!" We try to praise him and give him treats when he goes outside, but he turns and looks at us like, "Geeze, guys, I'm just taking a leak. For crying out loud, gimme some peace." I simply don't know what we're going to do with him. Well, yes, I do. We're going to take him for walk, after walk, after walk, after walk, after walk....

2006-04-24T19:29:00.000-04:00

I'm waiting for the vet to call. We just dropped off Elvis's urine sample which should determine if he is urinating all over our house because of an infection or because he is a big, dominant, territorial pisser. I hope that he has a mild infection that we can clear up very easily with a few meds and that when he's all better he'll be just a joy to have in the house. Wishful thinking.
Steve and I are finding it very difficult to bond with this guy. He has come out of his shell quite a bit, there's no doubt there. He even greeted our friends A and K at the door with an exuberant tail waggle. But he isn't a nuzzler like Molly. He doesn't flop over for a cuddle and a rub as soon as we crouch down to pat him. I don't know. He's distant. Just observes us a lot. He likes to be in the same room, but if we sit next to him, he gets up after a few seconds and walks away to sit somewhere else and just watch what we're up to. Sometimes he sticks his bum up for a big bum scratching, but...I feel like we are definitely putting way more into this relationship than we are getting out. How long do we wait for Elvis to come around, and what do we do if he never does? What if we are only dog-walkers and food dispensers to him for the rest of his life? That's 10 tough years. And what if he is just infection after infection? Each week we find out something else that this guy is infested with. When does it end?
And then...to top it all off, I read today that Plott hounds are extremely agressive when it comes to other dogs and don't ever leave a Plott and another dog alone together because they fight to the death, even over something like a food bowl. WHAT?!? Before adopting the Plott I read that Plotts were bred to get along with other dogs because they hunt in packs (Plotts are bred to hunt wild boar and bear, if I never mentioned it before). Not to mention that there is nothing about this dog that would make me think he'd fight Molly to the death over anything, but now I'm imagining Elvis suddenly going insane and eating her, then turning 'round and eating us. I had read that they are loyal, eager to please, intelligent, family dogs inside and then courageous, fearless hunters outside, like two different dogs. Shit. What if he gets bored one day and starts hunting indoors?
Obviously I have worked myself up into a frenzy, like I am wont to do. Which means that all the extra running I'm doing with the Plott isn't doing me any good because the stress is making me eat more than I can keep up with. Elvis is all work, no pleasure so far. Training sessions start next Sunday. I'm hoping for miracles. I'm just going to come out and tell the trainer that we're having a hard time bonding and see what he says. He'll probably tell us we're a couple of morons and shouldn't have brought Elvis home in the first place. Ugh. We were prepared to take care of two Molly's, not a Molly and an Elvis. He is testing us. We are struggling to pass.
I don't know, K, M, did it seem like we meant more to him than you guys did when we were visiting? Did you see him looking at us like, "I love those humans" or anything?

2006-04-14T18:42:00.000-04:00

Here' s a quick run-down before I disappear for the weekend on my homework retreat. Firstly, I promise to self-medicate with chocolate and caffeine, so I shouldn't be too difficult to deal with.

The rats are spending the weekend here, alone. It'll only be for 2 1/2 days so they should be all right. I've bought them a new water bottle to make sure they don't run out, and some lab blocks instead of the fresh food I've been feeding them.

Dogs are getting baths tonight to pretty up for the big trip. Elvis has a lot of meeting and greeting to do - has to be in tip-top form. And hopefully he won't haul off and pee on my parent's living room rug. I'm especially looking forward to letting him run in my brother's fenced in yard. We really ought to fence at least part of our yard for the poor guy. But, in the meantime, there's walks on the canal path and wooded parks...dog parks are still iffy with me.

So....all my in-laws sent us easter cards and we sent out not-a-one. *oops* Note to self: send cards to in-laws - ON EVERY OCCASION! Oh, well....we bough easter cards and will cross out "have" a happy easter and replace with "hope you had" a happy easter. That's just as good, right? Better late than never?? Right??

Looking forward very much to seeing my nephew. He's lost a tooth since I've seen him last. And I can't wait to see him get excited about the easter bunny.

Must go pack now, and vacuum the rat room. Cleaned the cage last night and, well, rat "raisins" scattered all over the floor. How does that happen?

Oh, yes, a wasp was creeping along the side of the rat cage. I swatted it with a notebook, it fell to the floor and I smashed it. So now, I'm paranoid that a wasp will sting one of my girlies and who knows what a sting will do to a little ratty body. And now the girls are still terrified when something touches their cage. The whole incident really rattled them. But I couldn't do nothing. If it had gotten in, those bozos would have tried to chase it to eat it and gotten a nasty surprise.
Happy weekend, ya'll

2006-04-13T16:53:00.000-04:00

Homeward Bound

I'm feeling really stressed out. There is some huge-ass design competition thing that all people in 3D have to participate in. Some damn event, food, drinks - but no alcohol- and money prize to the winner...some awards... I don't know. Anyhow, the assignment was to come up with a piece that addressed a fear and that was portable or worn on the body. It's taken me a while to come up with a design. You see, I came up with about 14 but after a little research I found that these damn things already exist and are being sold or are patented. So i keep plugging along, trying to be creative, and FINALLY I hit upon an idea and I have 6 days to make it and do a design brief. I don't even have a model of it yet, so minor details are still up in the air. Oh, who am I kidding. Some not so minor details are still up in the air. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't planned on taking a trip to see the fam this weekend. Apparently I am the only jackass who doesn't have a long weekend. Driving there just sucks up so much time. two days of driving, one of visiting, THREE LOST WORK DAYS! I'm going crazy just thinking about it. I am going to have to enlist my family to help me.
Katherine, you will help me to sew. These are orders.
All others (including M) MUST pose in my design brief pictures.
There. You wanna see me? You pay. With hard labor. You think we're going to have fun, socialize? NO! This is WORK WORK WORK.
You think sweatshops are bad? Think again. After a weekend with me you'll be begging for a job in a shirt-button factory with no windows and a broken ventilation system.
I have the concept people, now I need the MATERIALS! I need good ideas, people. THINK!
I need to see CRAFTSMANSHIP, folks! Perfection!
CHOP! CHOP!
bluuuurrrrrgh! Aaaaack! ccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! MMmmmmrrrpphhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
And all that jazz.

2006-04-12T19:23:00.000-04:00

Spoonin'

Our house has officially "gone to the dogs"

2006-04-08T20:56:00.000-04:00

Mom called me a tattle-tale brat and I don't even know why. All I know is that Elvis pee-peed on the living room rug. Twice! And he pooped in the laundry room. I saw it. And it was big and stinky. And it was right near the clean clothes basket and it made Mom nervous and she has to put up all the baskets now so he doesn't pee on them. And Mom says it's because he doesn't know any better and is still learning, but it's been three weeks and when is he gonna learn? And Mom keeps him in a crate sometimes so he doesn't pee everywhere, but that crate is full of boneys and toys and pigs ears and yummy treats and that don't seem like bad enough punishment to me. And Elvis chewed up the handle on one of Mom's baskets, even though his big stuffed fish and red ball were right next to it. But I ain't no tattle-tale. I just tells it as I sees it. And I don't like when we get tied outside together because I have the short leash and can't get to Mom as fast as Elvis and that makes me hoppin mad and jealous. And I bark and bark and lean on Mom real hard and Mom pushes me away 'cause she says I don't own her, an I am not the boss, but I do and I am. And the sooner these people 'cept it, the easier it will be for everybody.

Ain't I beautiful?

-Princess Molly

2006-04-08T18:10:00.000-04:00

I love yardwork!

-Elvis

2006-04-07T17:03:00.000-04:00

I am contemplating selling my skinny life on e-bay so that I can afford clothes that fit my new, overweight life. Ugh. If anyone needs me, I'll be over here, cuddling with the dogs, eating ice cream to numb the pain of weight gain...

2006-04-07T09:51:00.000-04:00

We have three main pieces of furniture in the living room - a loveseat, a sofa and a chaise. Molly is most fond of the loveseat so the other two pieces have remained relatively fur-free. When Elvis came along, the two dogs alternated between loveseat and sofa. This left a fur-free chaise. To encourage this fur-free chaise, I grabbed up all the throw pillows from around the room - 8 in all- and laid them out on the chaise, thinking that this would deter the hound from jumping up on it. *sigh* In reality I made his dreams of a lush bed come true. I came home from school the other day to find that he had pushed all of the pillows toward the top of the chaise and had snuggled up on top of them.
Last night, I watched as Elvis accidentally kicked one of *his* pillows to the floor. He calmly jumped down to the floor, gently took the pillow into his mouth, jumped back up on to *his bed* with it and resumed his snuggle.
Not wanting to encourage pillow mouthing, I ran to get him his baby blanket with the little teddy bear attached (actually a baby toy), his stuffed drill from Auntie K, and his stuffed saw, also from Auntie K. I left them on the floor. I returned about 15 minutes later to find all his toys lined up on *his bed*, the teddy between his paws.
My only regret about Elvis is that I don't know how to make video posts. He can wag his tail both like a helicopter and side-to-side. His routine before walks is a quick helicopter, a "down-dog" position, arse in air, and then a side-to-side, still in down dog. Then a hop to whoever's holding the leash.

2006-04-02T20:07:00.000-04:00

Why subscribe to internet porn when you can browse MySpace?

2006-04-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

Dear Peeps, Mom says I can use the 'puter because I don't want to eat the rats.

Thank you for my new John Deere tractor blankie, Auntie Katherine. I loves it! And Girl Human says the black fleecie on the back is the same color as my fur, so she won't need to wash it a bazillion times a day!

Thank you, too, for my homemade dog biscuits. Girl Human says I have to share them with Molly. I guess that's not so bad.

I am settling in here and really starting to enjoy my cuddles on the couch with the humans. I think I will probably decide to stay here and let them be my Mom and Dad.

Girl Human says we will visit you soon so that you can see how handsome and good I am. She told me that there are lots of kitties where you are, so I have been very good and ignored the kitties on my walks. I have even ignored the squirrels to show what a good boy I am. And now that you made me this blankie, I will for sure not eat your kitties.

-Elvis

2006-04-01T08:28:00.000-05:00

To clear things up, we are keeping the Plott Hound. Molly will not be paying shipping, as there is nothing to ship. These rogue blog entries are more proof that Molly is in dire need of some direction and pack leadership in her life.
Yes, it's true, we went to the lecture to learn how to get the Plott to behave and came home to the realization that we have created a monster out of Molly. A beautiful, cuddley monster, but a monster nonetheless. We do her every bidding. She needs only to look up at us and we fall to her feet and cuddle and pat her and tell her how wonderful she is. She needs only to give a whine and we invite her up on the couch with us for her evening worship session. She needs only to wag her tail at us and we jump up and say, "Well, let me get the door for you , dear." or "Oh, do you want your dinner? Coming right up!"
The result is that we have a very cuddley dog who doesn't listen to a damn thing we say. Which is usually fine as she's old and approaching infirm, but outside on a leash, it's a nightmare. It really is a "'barassment," as Molly said. Barking, pulling, out in the road. *sigh* Where did we go wrong?
So yesterday, in an attempt to rectify all of our "bad parenting," I ignored Molly's demands for attention and she hauled off and peed on her bed. It's called "incongruent urinating." The dog does it when it feels it's the pack leader and you correct them or don't do as they say. Their attitude is something like, "Hey, YOU can't tell ME what to do! You're not supposed to ignore/correct me!" They're confused. Never been told what to do before.
So it's great, we have a dog-pee house. That should relieve me of my responsibility to reciprocate those dinners with friends for a while.
In more positive news, I slapped the prong collar on Elvis this a.m. (I did start with a regular collar, but he's so used to pulling and tugging, corrections do no good with it). He walked way out ahead of me, gave himself a pinch, flattened to the ground like, "What he hell was that!" and walked smartly by my side the rest of the walk with only 1 or 2 exceptions. He still couldn't care less about what I'm doing/saying to him. I swear, I could fall down dead, and he'd just drag me at the end of the leash and not even notice the difference.
The ratties are wonderful. As I expect them to pee all over everything and chew my favorite items, their behavior never disappoints me.

2006-03-31T10:31:00.000-05:00

Mum and Dad went to a 'bedience lecture. I don't know what that nasty trainer said to them, but Mum came home talkin' crazy. She says I ain't her "little princess" no more. She says I am a dog! She says no more naps with Dad on the couch. She says no more barking at other dogs on the leash and pullin' and tuggin'. She called me a 'barassment. She said I 'm naughty and 'nipulative and no more doin' what I tell them.
Now I really hate that stinky ol' Plott Hound. They were goin' to the lecture to get that bad boy to b'have and now I'm bein' punished.
Anybody want a Plott Hound? I will pay shippin'.
-Princess Molly

2006-03-28T18:56:00.000-05:00

"Is it safe to come out? I still smell Plott Hound."

-Vivi

2006-03-27T15:29:00.000-05:00

Dear Nice Lady Across the Ocean,
No, Elvis did not eat the computer. He is not allowed in the computer room because that is where the ratties play and Mom thinks that he might eat them. Mom lets me use the computer because I am very trustworthy and beautiful and perfect and cute and wonderful and the best dog that ever was and don't you forget it.
Mom doesn't update her blog anymore because all she does is walk Elvis. She believes that a tired dog is a good dog and Elvis can walk and walk and never gets tired, but he seems pretty good to me. He even helps me do my chores - keeping the couch warm and reminding Mom and Dad when it's time to eat.
For those who are wondering, it's official. Elvis starts 'bedience class at the end of April, but Mom and Dad are going to a lecture by a dog trainer this Thursday. Mom says if they don't do something quick, her arm is going to fall out of it's socket and she will never be able to stand up straight again. I know Elvis would walk nicely on a leash if Mom and Dad asked him to the right way, but they don't ask nicely I know. They are the ones who need 'bedience class.
Elvis went to the vet's again today. He gained 9 lbs since last week and has to gain 10 more. It's not fair! When I came to live here I had to lose 10 lbs. I am on prison camp rations. I am being 'bused! And in comes this scrawny southern boy an' he gets all the good treats, like cheese, and I can't have any! I was here first.
Come to think of it, Elvis is not a good boy. I changed my mind. I could take him or leave him. And my Mom should quit school if she plans to keep him here, so she can give us both pats all day. And Mom took pictures, but I am not going to post any because they all have Elvis in them and I'm tired of hearing about Elvis and his good-boy treats!
Hmmph! And I was in a good mood today, too.
-Molly

2006-03-22T07:26:00.000-05:00

"Aaaah, a quiet place to ponder life's big questions. Where did the new dog come from? Will he stay forever? What is 'bedience class? Why does he burp so much after he eats?"

2006-03-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

"They call me Elvis, cause I 'ain't nothing but a hound dog.'"

2006-03-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

*stretch*
*yawn*
*blink blink*
"Why is Mom waking us up so early?"
"I don't know. Let's chew a hole in her shirt."
"Yeah, that'll teach her."
"I heard Mom and Dad talking about a new dog."
"A new dog in our house?"
"Yeah. He's a hunting hound."
"Is that what stinks?"
"A hunting dog? Won't he try to hunt us?"
"She's been fattening us up to feed us to the hounds!"
"Don't be silly, Vivi."
"P.U. It really does stink in here."
"Mom said the hound has an ear infection."
"Can we catch it?!"
"No."
"How do you know?"
"I read it someplace!"
"Prove it!"
"I can't. I chewed the book up and then peed on it."
"You're making that up."
"No, really, it's true. And the hound has hookworm."
"Eeeew, can we catch that?"
"Yeah, but not if Mom cleans up his poop right away."
"hee hee hee"
"teee heee heee."
"ha ha ha."
"All Mom does is clean up poop."
"hee hee hee hee."
"Serves her right."
"Yeah, let's go back to sleep while Mom cleans up our poo."
*twitter*
*squeak*
*laugh*

2006-03-20T05:38:00.000-05:00

"I love my new brother."

"I love my new sister."

2006-03-19T18:19:00.000-05:00

"Don't worry, Nameless Plott Hound Boy Dog, my mum and dad are real nice. They are pushovers and will give you lots of treats and let you sleep on the couch."

"See? I tooooold you."

"Yep, this sure does beat the shelter. Now, if only that crazy lady would get that flashy thing out of my face, I could take a good nap."

2006-03-15T14:59:00.000-05:00

Tagged

I have been tagged by Miss Sham.

Four Jobs I have had:

gardener
cabinetmaker's apprentice
carpenter's apprentice
pet-sitter

Four Movies I can Watch Over and Over

Wizard of Oz
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Pretty in Pink
North by Northwest

Four TV Shows I Love

Bones
Buffy - so sad she's only reruns now
Law and Order
CSI, any but Miami

Four Places I've been to on Holiday

Key West
Bahamas
Harper's Ferry, WV (By far my favorite)
P-Town, RI

Four Favorite Dishes

Lemon-pepper salmon, sauted brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes
spinach salad with fried capers, tomatos and a warm olive oil dressing
seared scallops, brown rice, roasted green beans
pizza with mozarella and feta, artichoke hearts, tomato and garlic.

Four Sites I Visit Daily

M'Rat
Vick
Petfinder.com
sites visited a couple of times a week: Sham, Mab, Lynn (It's a tie)

Four Places I'd rather be Right Now

Hiking Appalachian Trail (with small army of men and large dogs to protect me from stray murderers and rapists)
In New England with parents, bro, sis and my oh so marvelous nephew
Tahiti in my own grass hut on the water
Backpacking through Europe

Tagging -

Will Wheaton

2006-03-11T19:17:00.000-05:00

It must be Spring...
I looked out my back window and saw two little girls zooming across my yard in a little pink corvette.
I looked out the front window and saw three young teenaged girls standing at the end of their driveway holding a large, handmade sign that said, "Honk, it's my birthday." Every time a car honked, they squealed in delight, jumped up and down and clapped their hands.

Of course, the weatherman did say that by Wednesday it'll be freezing again and snowing. I don't want to believe it.

2006-03-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

Tonight when I took out the crinkley rat treat bag, the girls ran away from the noise instead of to it. Do you know what this means? It means that I am a terrible, neglectful mother, and do not give the girls enough treats.
Nor have I built them the ratty palace that I was planning to over this spring break. I was working on my own palace. How selfish.
Well, I do have a couple of jars of baby food for them - summer squash and turkey. Time to crack 'em open.

2006-02-26T20:27:00.000-05:00

This is how an engineer makes tater tots

There were 49

2006-02-26T18:56:00.000-05:00

Steve and I were trying to take family photos. Molly was trying to take a nap.

2006-02-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

Today was good. I had buckwheat pancakes and soy bacon for breakfast and then dragged my bum into the living room for some pilates. Did 1 1/2 hrs of that and then proceeded to drag the weight bench and weights into the living room - much to Steve's dismay. The weights and stuff have been living in the laundry room/mud room. A big enough room to accommodate all my laundering and fitness needs, but certainly not the most comfortable place to be. It's the only room we haven't started renovating yet and it's all dark wood panel and dark rug. Ick. Not inspirational. I then found my favorite work-out cd (can't admit to what it is. Not yet...so shameful...)and blasted it on the stereo. I had to blast it. By that time I was riding the exercise bike and it's one of those air-dyne thingies that blows air all over the place. Noisy thing...Anyways, I'm bopping along and "POP!" I had the stereo on so loudly that I blew a fuse.
So, off to the electronics store to buy a new fuse. Stared longingly at the ipods, asked to touch one...then went next door to the "big store full of cheap junk" store and bought too many impulse items, mostly handmade papers and leather bits to make cards. (Note: I never make cards. I just think of making cards).
And now here I am, waiting for the big Steve to make dinner. But he doens't know that. So I think he's downstairs waiting for me to make dinner. We'll get on the same page soon - we're getting hungry.
...what do you know. He just asked me what I wanted for dinner...tofu dogs, tater tots and peas...gotta pack back on what I just burned off!

2006-02-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

I've been cleaning the house since 10 am, I have a splitting headache and 4 people are coming over for dinner in 2 1/2 hrs. I just want to have a long bath and start reading Harry Potter. Waaa.

2006-02-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

2006-02-24T19:33:00.000-05:00

Apologize for the poor writing in advance, but my goodness this is a long blog entry.

I used to work for a company that did building restoration and renovation. The company is based in an historic and extremely affluent city. We worked mostly on historic homes, some as old as 225 yrs. (That's another exciting blog entry). We also did renovation on newer homes, and sometimes built custom homes, ground up.
One of the company's carpenters, I'll call him X, used to work for a real jerk, I'll call Y. Y promised X's mother to do some much needed work on her house. Y took X's mother's $10,000 (be way of contractors, folks) and took off without doing any work. Rumor has it he drank away the money and now lives with his disgustingly wealthy sister in England (track him down, girls). At any rate, X asked the owner of the company if the company could fix the job on his mother's house.
Owner of company sent two foremen to look at the house. The verdict? House should be condemned. Not safe for humans. X said that his mother would not be able to handle it. Could we just fix it? Mind you, the men hadn't even gone inside yet..
blah blah blah...job gets done. I am one of the 3 first people sent to work on house - 2 carpenters apprentices and one engineer foreman.
The first few days we worked solely outside - siding rotted, big holes. We suspected that animals lived inside the walls. We take away siding, we poke at the walls. Our awls slipped right through the rotting wood. We scratched our heads. What the heck was holding up this house!!?? We saw cracks in foundation wall - house was sliding down the hill. The back deck had fallen completely off the house and was lying on the grass. We walked around the back of house - the back sliding glass doors were shattered, glass was just lying between screen and storm door. Large vines had actually grown from outside, through the cracks around the door, and into the house. We also saw a window with several dead plants in it. I mean, been dead and dried up for years. All that time, big, black trash bags had been appearing in multiples outside of her front door. Each morning, we'd have to haul them down to the end of the driveway so that we could get to where we should have been working. We had been using power tools this whole time and had been using the neighbor's electricity. X's mother kept making excuses as to why we could not go into her house.
Finally, time came when we had to get into her house to replace windows, etc. Foreman talked to X. X admitted that he had not been inside his mother's house for 10 years, nor has anyone else. Foreman says, we must get in.
So...we finally get in. There was a horrific, oppressive smell. Something had literally died in there. Milk jugs with the previous year's date on them were lined up on the floor by the door - with milk still in them. The milk had separated into a cloudy white liquid floating on top of a murky grey liquid. Pizza boxes were piled up 5' high. There were old doughnut boxes, broken dishes, papers, cardboard boxes, videos, photos, books, magazines, you name it, covering every surface. This woman had created a small pathway from the front door to the stairs. part of the ceiling had fallen into the first floor and was resting on top of a book shelf. Vines crawled down the inside of the living room walls. Since there was so much junk everywhere, the outlets were covered up, so she had strewn extension chords all over the place. Upstairs was worse. We tried to open a door and there was so much junk, the door would only open about 6 ". No matter how many details I recount, I will never be able to properly describe the horror that was this house.
One of the carpenters brought onto the job later was standing on the scaffolding outside the 2nd story window. He crawled through the window, put his hand onto the floor/piles of paper and something moved underneath him. He hollered, quickly retracted his hand and refused to go back in again. When I was working outside, I saw a raccoon run from inside the walls of the house up into a tree. We had apparently disturbed his slumber. He very clearly had been living inside this woman's house. Which would account for the horrible dirty animal urine smell.
The most amazing part of this is that this woman drove a shiney new mercedes and every morning left the house looking impeccable. She kept a prestigious job at a well known and well respected private school.
Crazy, I tell ya.

2006-02-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

A Three-Rat Vase

hee hee hee

The coils in the kiln that held my rat bowls burned out, so the kiln never reached the temperature needed to properly fire the bowls. No worries - apparently the bowls will be run through another, properly working kiln and all will be well.

And yes, my Univ. is apparently in the top 5 in the nation for graduate fine art programs, and THIS is what I made. ha hah...I had lots o' fun. And really, the pictures just don't do these guys justice.

Will not post pics of my serious work, because well, it's too serious.

2006-02-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

This morning I did a quick search on mapquest and took off for the social security administration office - for what I thought would be the long and painful process of changing my last name on my social security card. But it wasn't. Mine was the first number to be called and I was in and out in less than ten minutes. The office even opened up early! What!? The U.S. government operated efficiently and in a timely manner? Well, blow me over.
I've been dragging my feet about changing my last name to Steve's. I felt like doing so would be abandoning my blood family and my true identity. I suppose I feel that way mostly because my family is pretty left and Steve's family swings way to the right. Mmmm...my father is straight from France, complete with heavy and hard to decipher accent and Steve's sister campaigned to boycott France and even called french fries "freedom fries." You can see why I'd be hesitant to bid farewell to my good french name and take on Steve's family's last name. But bid it farewell I did. I suppose I could have hyphenated. Or kept my last name. But I could tell it meant a lot to Steve for me to take his.
Then I made a quick stop at the Univ. library to pick up some Harry Potter books. They only had books 2-4, so I grabbed those up. Oh, excuse me, they had several copies of each book in Chinese, but I can't read in Chinese so it did me no good. Multiple copies in Chinese? We must have a large Chinese community at school, though I haven't noticed. There weren't any copies in any other languages. Oh well.
And then I got lost in the book stacks - literally. I always get lost in that library. It's because it's 4 or 5 floors and I keep losing the stairwell, so I can't find my way out. They keep the stairways behind these little brown doors...little brown doors that look like all the other little brown doors to the restrooms, offices, closets...

2006-02-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

I got to the vet's a few minutes early, so I had to wait for a bit in exam room 1. When the vet came in, she greeted me warmly, asked how I was and then said, "Well, we found some answers." Then came the hand on the shoulder. "She has both hip displaysia and arthitis of the spine."
*sigh* We had these ex-rays taken to determine which of these problems Molly had, we never thought she had both. The treatment for arthritis is to get the dog up and moving. For hip displaysia, rest. Poor Molly.
Anyway, she's on two types of meds daily and a return to the vet every 3 months for bloodwork to make sure that the meds aren't affecting her kidney function.
The vet kept saying that she was sorry, that it stinks because we just adopted her...but it could have been so much worse. We are just happy that the vet had options for us and that there are meds to take. Some dogs need surgery for hip displaysia or tons of steroids for arthritis. Hopefully Molly's condition won't deteriorate too quickly. If it does, I'll be on the internet looking up those little wheely things that hold up the dog's back end.
Molly is currently recovering from whatever downer they gave to her. Her 3rd eyelid is still up, so she looks so tired and out of her mind. She did recognize her Mom and Dad at the vet's office, though, and gave us an excited whine and an exuberant bum waggle.
Off to spoil her rotten.

2006-02-22T16:07:00.000-05:00

This is outrageous. I just pulled the cage away from the wall and what do I see?? The wall has pale yellow streak marks. There is even, *gulp* a rat "raisin" stuck to the wall. I'm appalled. What are these girls doing? My freshly painted "pink bauble" wall! Yikes!
Oh well. Best find a solution to this dirty little problem.
The funniest part of all this is that the next time I meet a rat-ignorant person, I'll delve into my same old schpiel - "...and rats are so clean. They wash fastidiously. They really are so wonderful..."
(It's been a week since the last cleaning, and I didn't notice any signs of this before...they've been working hard at being filthy)

2006-02-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

Just finished the last written exam for the quarter. Still have 2 papers to go and two crits - 1 crit tomorrow and papers and last crit on Fri.
I miss my dog. I dropped her off at the vet's at 9 am. She was so good. Sat still and proper on the scale while the tech weighed her. She made me so proud.
And then the ugly time came, the time when I handed over the least to the techs and watched as they tried to pull Molly into the back room. Molly kept pleading with me not to leave. She strained on the leash toward me, then hunkered down. If she wasn't going back to Mom, she was going nowhere at all! I know it's only a day that she's there, but the poor girl has been pysically abused and dumped at the same animal shelter twice in the past year and a half. God only knows what happened to her before then. I can only imagine that she feels abandoned again and I cannot wait until 5:40 tonight when I can pick her up. We are supposed to be talking to the vet about Molly's ex-rays, too, but good luck, Doc! I'm gonna be making smoochy noises at my dog and giving her pats. To heck with your analysis!
Anyway...I'm going to stare at the rat cage for a while and try to rationalize putting off cleaning it until tomorrow.

2006-02-21T18:54:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted today and barely thinking straight. Had a full 9 hrs of classes and almost fell asleep in each one. But I have recently been reminded of the three little pearls of wisdom that my mother gave to me when I graduated from high school 10 years ago.

1. If he calls past 11 pm, it ain't nothing but a booty call (yes, she said "ain't nothing but a
booty call")

2. Drive a manual shift car. Even if you can only afford an old brown station wagon, if it's manual shift, you'll be able to pretend it's a sports car.

3. Watch out for people. Anyone can be "nice."

2006-02-20T17:18:00.000-05:00

Day 1 on Vick's "formula:" House is dusty, but Manda got in a good 2 hrs of pilates. Legs wobbley...bum sore...abs ache. May die before the night is up, but if I do I will die happy.
Almost popped a vein this morning when I went to put in my pilates dvd. Could not get friggin thing to work. Pushed all sorts of buttons, said swears, you know, the usual. Nada. Zip. Had to ask Steve for help and he lovingly obliged. Well, he probably responded more out of fear than love. I probably said words that he thought I'd never heard of. I tried to go for a run, but brrrrr! Too wimpy. It's windy out there! I thought about joining a gym again, but we are trying to be frugal. We hate frugal. Steve has never known frugal before. Frugal is such an ugly word! I could use the gym at school but the thought of working out with a bunch of 18 year old meatheads really puts me off. We had some of those at the gym I belonged to before, but they were a small group and the rest of us there were young professionals going in after work. (Young professionals translates into "guys that make comments about women behind their backs so that they cannot hear, as opposed to the 18 yr olds who are proud to be loudly obnoxious). That and I am sick to death of seeing 18 year old girls bum cracks. Ladies, please, wear some jeans that fit. This look is never attractive. Never. So I'm left to my pilates dvd's and the 20 yr old gold exercise bike. And oh, yes, a dusty old weight bench that's been mended a few too many times with duct tape.
Glazed 2-rat bowl today. Made one a tan rat, one a tan hoodie, like my Roxy and Gloria. Think the glaze on the inside is too thick. May crack. I stink at glazing because I do not take my time. Always in a rush to be somewhere other than where I am.
so...eeek, gotta go!

2006-02-19T15:02:00.000-05:00

2006-02-19T14:06:00.000-05:00

Confessions...

Hi. My name is Amanda. I am 27 years old. And for the last two weeks I have been a real bitch.
I cannot count the times I have snapped at poor old Steve, nagged him, made faces and blamed him for...oh, anything.
Is it the dark, bleak weather? Is it my old complaint of too much to do, too little time? My vote today is that I'm a little whiney and feel entitled to generous amounts of down-time and relaxation, which I just can't have.
And here is where the resentment begins....Steve gets down time. Relaxation. Whole evenings and weekends worth. He'll sit and read the paper while I'm cleaning...or doing homework... Hey! This misery wants company. Get off yer bum and do some cleaning, Mr!

I did see a movie last night. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was at the $1.00 theater, but the tickets actually cost $1.75. It was the first Harry Potter movie I've seen and now suddenly I'm all impatient to read all of the books and watch the first 3 movies. I'm slow, I know. These books have been around forever. They've been here for me, but I haven't been ready to receive them until now;)

Going to make my amazing nephew (who had a bout of projectile sickness just this a.m.) a ratty bank - just a huge ol' ceramic rat with a slit at the top and a whole at the bottom for collecting coins and bits of paper money. I'm going to try to get permission to use the ceramics room over break. I do plan on taking ceramics again next quarter, but more seriously this time. I hadn't anticipated enjoying it so much. And now that I've seen a couple pieces glazed and done, I wish I had put forth the little extra effort.

Rats are napping soundly, dog just finished chewing a ham bone and is bathing in a sunbeam downstairs with Dad. And I am off to study high renaissance art.

2006-02-18T11:44:00.000-05:00

2006-02-17T08:59:00.000-05:00

yay! Vivi (Olive) just went for a dip in the ratty pool. First time anyone's been brave enough to try it.
(For those who are wondering, the ratty pool is what Steve formerly called his lasagna pan. Don't worry, folks, he's got another)
heeey.....there go Mary and Brie!
Must go admire rats now.

2006-02-17T08:47:00.000-05:00

Ooops, forgot to mention. Bowl below is not fired or glazed. Ah, hell, you know what this means? I now have two bad-art blogs.
Thing #2 - Molly has to go in for x-rays on her hips to determine if she's got back arthritis or hip displaysia. Poor lady. She has to undergo anesthesia and stay at the vet's office all day. She will be so confused.
Not to mention (selfishly) that this does nothing for my argument about why we should have two dogs. Steve's gonna whip out the money issue, and boy is he gonna win. I hate when anybody but me is right;)

2006-02-17T08:33:00.000-05:00

This is my two-rat bowl, "lovingly" crafted in less than one hour. I have to admit that I don't take this class very seriously. Just stick a rat on it and it's great. That's my philosophy!

2006-02-16T17:01:00.000-05:00

I just saw Ratty's blog all done up in stripes with tunes and a webcam and everything. I'm jealous!
School is beating me up. Finals week is week after next, which means everything is due next week, which means this week sucks! Went to school in the wee hours of the morning this morning to use the ceramics room. I was a tad afraid of being the only sane (ok, that's questionable) person there. After all, it's only the crazies that lurk around when it's still dark out, right? But, I worried for naught! Turns out I was not the only student to wait 'til the last minute to whip out a clay masterpiece.
By the way, Ratty, I've glazed my big ceramic rat and he's marvelously goofy. Did a rat vase, too, that's been a favorite with a few classmates and the instructor.
My brilliant 4 yr old nephew was watching his own pet ratty, Carrot, eat a piece of broccolli the other night. He laughed and pointed and then, when Carrot chewed open-mouthed (never seen that one before, has anyone else?) on a mouthful of yogies, he squealed, "That's so cute! I wish I were a ratty! I wish I were Carrot's brother!" That kid. I love him. I only want a human child of my own if he'll turn out just like the nephew.
Molly is sitting expectantly beside me...oops, no, she just threw herself to the floor with an enormous, pitiful sigh. She's desirous of attention, that one, even though I just gave her a 30 minute cuddle.
Well, off to think about cooking dinner and homework and then to bed early, for early must I rise and...play with clay again.

2006-02-13T16:09:00.000-05:00

There is scientific research being done to try and discover how rats think. Here is a link to a short article about rats memory: http://www.physorg.com/news10796.html

2006-02-13T15:48:00.000-05:00

This weekend was just about the best I've had since school began. (Try not to feel too sad for me once you read how uneventful it was) Steve cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed upstairs without my asking! Then we went grocery shopping together, instead of me alone. Steve tried to convince me to buy the yogurt on sale, but I insisted that we buy only organic. Then I left him to pick out only the most wholesome of the organic flavors while I stocked up on oreos and doritos.
On Sunday we made omelettes and bagels and potatos...yum! and read the paper for a good long time while the sun streamed in through the dining room window.
And today it's snowing like mad and I'm back to homework.
The end of the quarter is fast approaching and I've decided that along with organizing the pantry and the linen closets during my break, I am going to turn my office, i.e., rat room, into a full-fledged rat playground. Jungle gyms all around, cardboard castles, little bits of this and that for them to discover and stash...I can't wait. This, of course, means that all of my "important papers" will have to be stashed into the closet, out of harm's way. Which means that I will have to clean the closet...
I have also been lurking about on the pets-for-adoption sites. It's an illness. I can't stop. When we adopted Molly, Steve and I told each other that we would eventually have two dogs, but it turns out that his "eventually" and my "eventually" don't mean the same thing.
I PROMISE I'LL STOP LOOKING FOR PETS IF I CAN GET JUST ONE MORE!!!

2006-02-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

The babies are crazy. Despite saying the word "gentle" when I reach in for a pat and "treat" when I reach in with food, Mary has nipped a few times. Did not break skin, but I'm afraid of where this may be heading. And Acorn bit Steve and broke skin when Steve stuck his fingers through the cage bars. No one has ever fed them through bars. Naughty girls! We "eep" when they nip/bite...Anybody got any other ideas? We're not sneaking up on them, so startling can't be used as an excuse. Aaah, probably just ratty adolescence and excitement at the mere thought of food. Hope the habit doesn't get worse. I've had two good rat bites in the past and am not interested in experiencing a third. (please, folks, no suggestions to keep our fingers out of the cage bars, we've thought of that one already).
I did go to the extreme materials art show. Amazing stuff, really. There was a newborn boy there made of dirt. His expression was so vivid and needy that I felt compelled to pick him up and comfort him - although I did not. The piece made of duck sauce packets was one of my favorites. The artist -name already forgotten- used a large grid to structure his piece and the play of light and color was amazing. There were pieces made from tiny (found) animal bones, human teeth, fish skins, drug baggies, sand paper, garden hoses and zip ties, human hair...and then there was a beautiful piece that I noticed right away from across the room. It was gold and red swirls and pattern. I stepped up to take a closer look and discovered that the artist had used gold leaf and her own menstrual blood to make this piece. Now, I like to think of myself as a forward thinker, open to new ideas and different kinds of folks, but I was sort of taken aback by this. And I guess that was part of the point. I tried to google image some things to post up here and show you, but had no luck. I admit I didn't try very hard...
Oooh, I just spied Mary head-sleeping...Must...go...pat...her....too sweet...

2006-02-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

Printer Jam

These are pictures from an actual printer jam at John Deere Seeding. The little guy was stuck but someone was able to extract him safely. Poor little guy! But check out those lips in the last picture. So cute. (Picture was emailed to me by my sister - not sure of its origins, but was assured mouse is safe and sound)

2006-02-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

*sigh* What did I do to deserve such cuteness? (Brie)

2006-02-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

I saw The New World. This man, Christian Bale, was in it. If that isn't enough reason to watch the movie, I don't know what is. Seriously, it's a very good movie. Definitely worth a wide-screen watch.

2006-02-07T17:54:00.000-05:00

Long day today. Prof was out of it today, distracted. Then he finally admitted that his dog was hit by a car yesterday and it was all he could think about. The dog will be fine - has compressed lungs and has to be watched closely. But I guess he and his wife spent all yesterday at vet's, all last night monitoring dog...He said he found her in a field, blood gushing out of her mouth, standing stock still. Wouldn't move. He got choked up when he talked about her and referred to her not as his dog, but as his best friend. I like that man.

Babies are out and about again. They are still so tentative and nervous. While they are fine with me poking my hands about in the cage and scooping them up and patting them, they scatter and scurry back into the cage if I make the slightest movement while they are outside of the cage - hence the blogging while they're out. They're not comfortable enough to play out here yet.

I love how they're little feet sound on the hardwood floor. CUTE!

Going to try to talk Steve into going to the local pub (not even a mile away) for dinner. Don't feel like cooking. Made salmon, mashed taters and sweet green peas for dinner last night. How do I top that? Can't, so might as well go out.

Going to extreme materials gallery show this week. Tried to go to a gallery opening last weekend - illustrations of the mundane by various artists - but the gallery mispublicized its opening date and a bunch of us ninnies were left out in the cold, all jazzed up and staring dumbly at a locked gallery door and black windows. This new show should be great, though, and I'm not trying to make the opening, so....Anyway, I hear artists have used hair, blood, duck sauce (!?) in their pieces so...should have a full report soon. Either going Thurs or Sat.

And...I hear odd noises, things falling, so...must pay attention to the kids! They've no doubt chewed something precious by now!

2006-02-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

"Nobody loves me"

"Hey, is that food?"

"Maybe he dropped something..."

"If you give me some food, I promise to be the best dog ever!"

"Oh, thank you, thank you! You DO love me!"

2006-02-06T11:36:00.000-05:00

The babies are free-ranging. Olive and Ace are under my desk wrestling and Brie and Mary are watching from the sidelines, probably making bets. I put down a big pan of water for them to take a swim in, but so far nobody's interested.
Class was cancelled today. WHOOPEE! This means more time with the babies and Molly and more time to cuddle up with a good book.
Spent all morning doing what should have been done this weekend - vacuuming, mopping, thinking about dusting...
Tried to go out for a run today but got as far as the driveway and almost fell on my arse - icey! So, I went back inside, stared at the exercise bike and then sat down with a cup of coffee.
Gotta run, Olive's just found the power strip...

2006-02-06T11:25:00.000-05:00

A scarf for those blustery winter days

Fashionable skirt, for those unseasonably warm winter days

And, of course, evening wear.
I just love Japanese fashion, don't you?

2006-02-05T19:24:00.000-05:00

Well, today's been heaven - a 2 hr soak in the tub that brought Atwood's Penelopiad to a close. Then a run in the sun, which turned into a run in the driving snow (funny how that happens) and now I'm off to cuddle up with Martha Grime's Winds of Change. I'll be paying for this mostly- lazy weekend tomorrow. As you can tell from the previous post, I got sidetracked during my one attempt at homework.

2006-02-05T18:30:00.000-05:00

Whilst doing research for my 3D nesting project, I popped onto the online OED database and looked up "rat."
Here are a couple of the definitions that I found:

g. to get (or have) a rat (or rats): to be eccentric or insane. Austral. and N.Z. slang. [1890 Barrere & Leland Dict. Slang II. (American), 'to have rats', to have wild or eccentric fancies.]

ADDITIONS SERIES 1997
rat, n
e. rat-arsed a. slang, drunk, tipsy

2006-02-05T15:19:00.000-05:00

Click on the image and read the text. It's an actual excerpt from Housekeeping Magazine, 1955

2006-02-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

The Saturday Afternoon Rodent Report

with Molly

...because this inquiring dog wants to know

Three rats were involved Thursday in a high speed chase. The chase ended when Mary and Brie, the victims turned heroes, cornered their assailant and pinned her between a pvc tunnel and the back of their rat cage. When asked to describe the scene, human Amanda said this: "I was actually proud of Maribo and Brie for standing up for themselves. I'm surprised there wasn't bloodshed when they finally caught her." Human Amanda had little to say about the attacker, Olive: "No matter how hard a mother tries, there is always one child who won't listen." She refused to comment further, stating that it is just too painful to talk about.

This reporter did invite all three rats involved to make a statement. Their publicist and cagemate, Acorn, released this statement. "These girls are just like any other group of sisters. They have their arguments and then make up. They're just like everybody else, but the stress of having their lives publicly displayed on a blog gets to them sometimes."

And as if four rodents weren't enough for this household, it looks like there may yet be another.

Last Saturday, lazy humans Steve and Amanda went to bed without properly cleaning their dinner dishes. Upon entering the kitchen on Sunday morning, they were shocked to find that the contents of the dishes had disappeared and had been replaced by mouse droppings. This reporter asked the humans just what they were planning to do about it. "I sprinkled the kitchen with peppermint and spearmint oils to try to humanely deter him from coming back, but it's not really working. So...Good for him! He's keeping warm and eating like a king," said human Amanda. Human Steve declined comment. Both humans have resolved to fastidiously clean the kitchen each evening in the hopes that this mouse will stay in the basement. When asked what she would do if the mouse reproduced and brought its young upstairs, human Amanda just rolled her eyes.

And that's the ratty news. Stay safe, stay tuned, and this reporting dog will see you next week.

2006-02-04T05:57:00.000-05:00

A Stephen's Kangaroo Rat and a Pacific Kangaroo Rat. 1990 photo, AP, California.

2006-02-04T05:32:00.000-05:00

Up obnoxiously early this morning. Must have something to do with the amount of Riesling consumed last night.

Brie gave me a fright. I fed the girls their evening crunchies (homemade rat cereal - includes human cereals, fresh blueberries, dried fruit, soy beans, etc) and was still cooing over them when I spotted Brie in the corner. Her head was lurching back in forth in a gagging motion and white foam gathered around her mouth. First reaction: panic. Second Reaction: stay calm, sides still heaving in and out, must be still able to breath...I watched her for what seemed an eternity, and then she sat up, washed her face and ran to retrieve another rat crunchy. Clearly, the incident was more traumatic for me than it was for her.

So I ran to the internet to find out how to help a choking rat - in case it ever happens again. Turns out you do the ratty swing.
And foods with skins - like blueberries - are dangerous to rats. Peel before giving it to them...

Still feeling somewhat guilty about not yet inviting S's friends K and C over to the house for dinner and whatnot. We've been to their home several times since moving here. Reciprocity is necessarry, but evil. I don't know them well. What will I do? What will I say? Had K and A over, but they are so boisterous and laid back, they put anyone at ease. K and C are more reserved. Plus they have kids. Kids who will touch my stuff...
(brilliant nephew not included in general complaint of grabby-hands children)

Off to find a cute ratty pic and then to school to trim my bowls - I threw 5 yesterday. Finally getting ahold of the pottery wheel thing. And then...I must do battle with photoshop...wish me much luck. I will be working in the school's lab and will have to refrain from loud swearing, which is how I usually get the computer to carry out my commands.

2006-02-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

In this undated photo released by DOC Image, Razza, a brown Norwegian rat, searches for food on New Zealand's uninhabited and unforested Motuhoropapa Island. The castaway rat was left to fend for himself on a deserted island in an experiment New Zealand scientists say has given them insights into why it is so hard to eradicate vermin that can seriously damage fragile island ecosystems.
(AP photo, DOC Image, HO)

2006-02-03T07:45:00.000-05:00

It is the Wisdome of Rats, that will be sure to leave a House, somewhat before it fall

Sir Francis Bacon