Sick

I am sick.
I have been sick all today and all day yesterday, and Sunday was when I felt throat getting itchy.
I just finished listening to the Adventures of Huck Finn, and so now there is an intense Southern accent in my brain; it gets doubled when I say my usual favorite Southern words like 'critter.'

My head hurts. It hurts so hard, a pimple popped out of the forehead and I keep picking at it. It's gross.

I've barely left my room, and it's difficult to play with the weasels. Mostly because I huff and puff when I'm trying to stop them from doing something bad and then I want to collapse, and so of course I can't play with them and chase them around. So I lock them in my room with me and color pictures and listened to Huck Finn when I still had it, and then eventually Rudyard would tire and fall asleep. Jack usually doesn't, although I know there was one time he did but it wasn't this time.

Church is in heat and I hate her. She's meowing in my face right now. Right as I type. She's been harassing me for the past few days. I bet I'm sick because of her.

...wait.
...Shhhh.....
She's hushed up.
She's just..... she's sitting on my bed. And she's got her butt all propped funny, but she's not doing anything with it like she's been doing all day....

Ack, I've got Mark Twain talk in my head and its translating to the paper. Or the.... what are these? These machines. These computers. This blog.
Blah blah blah.
I'm just typing what's in my head now. No filters here.

We watched Heavy Metal and it was awesome. I've been drawing nekked ladies and the like since. I've also been trying out some more anime-esque styles the past two days, and I'm not sure if I like it or not but it's something. It's interesting. I need to get my hands on a scanner thing. Then I can show you.

I is gunna kerplode now kthnxbai.

And so, we move on.

Sam and I discussed this late last night while we were driving to Natalie's so we could bury Rocky.

I was trying to explain how I was feeling about the whole Rocky situation. I was sad, sure, but maybe also relieved? I think Sam was feeling the same way. He told me that for his own selfish reasons, the presence of a baby in the house was difficult. It had me stressed, which made him stressed.

But also... to some degree I think while I was stressed out and unable to sleep properly for the past few days, I also enjoyed it. Something about feeding her and seeing her eat and swallow made me feel good. Something about her enjoying being washed made me feel good. I felt like I was putting a lot of effort into something that was very self-rewarding on its own. Even though the realistic part of me knew there was very little chance of her surviving, it still made me happy to be a part of her very little life.

I am TIRED

It has been a very eventful past few days. I've spent a lot of time in my room caring for Rocky every three hours. Also, I'm hungry all the time. But I'm so sleepy all the time too. So I end up falling asleep without eating and then wake-up when its time to feed Rocky and then fall asleep again.

Church and Bowie keep wanting to come in my room pretty badly. Either because they know a funny smell is in there or they are really wanting to sunbathe and my place is best in the morning. Maybe it's a combo of both. Who knows?

Jack and Rudyard aren't allowed in either, and I can tell its driving them nuts. They want to stash all of their toys properly, but since my room is currently off-limits they end up leaving all their toys on the floor in the hallway. Occasionally they will bring their toys into Sam's room, but not often enough.

The rats are constantly curious. They've noticed that I've slept in my room since Wednesday night. Plus there is baby-squirrel smell inhabiting their living quarters (not that they share the same cage; I meant living quarters as in the entire room).

And now I want to go to sleep. Next feeding is around 1:30. So tired....

Today's Schedule

Morning

Wake up! At some point...

Eat breakfast.


Let Jack and Rudyard get their energy out.

Bathe Jack and Rudyard

Clean Jack and Rudyard's ears

Check their nails; how long are they?

Put Jack and Rudyard back.



Noon

Get ferret stuff together.

-Blankets

-toys

-treats

-water (bottle in the freezer)

-food

-newspaper

-wipes (where are the wipes?!?!)



Early Afternoon

Clean up car

Let ferrets out at 3:00

@3:45, leave and go to the library.

Sleeping Not Dead

Almost Here

Tomorrow is the day!!!
Intense FERRET-ness!!
Everything FERRET!
My dreams are coming true-- talking about ferrets for an hour?!?! Having people come to listen?!?! YESSSSSSS......

Makin' Stuff

I just got The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on audio book and man-oh-man, I am excited. I like to listen or watch things while I make things, so tomorrow I'm turning on my iPod and knitting to some good ol' fashioned Mark Twain.

GOD, I love that man. One day, I'm going to dress up as him. I need a white Hawaiian suit and some super cool facial hair....

Pokemon 2: Your Pokemon has Recovered from Fainting

On another note,

I'm signed into the Vet Tech program at ATC but can't actually start the program until next Fall. Right now I'm taking Chemistry. Oh man, this is going to be interesting

Pokemon 1: "Your Pokemon Has Fainted!"

Pokemon! One more time.

When Ferrets Roamed the Earth

September 22nd is coming up in one week and I am SO excited. I've got my lesson plan worked out as well as a killer slide show that I'm going to use for edu-ma-cating. Those kids will come in expecting an entire hour of just petting ferrets, but they will leave with the knowledge of being a ferret care-taker! Theoretically.

And, because I'm a dork, I'm totally gunna amp up the historical blah-blah of ferrets as well as explain what a ferret is.

Oh the excitement! My hands are shaking back and forth Wallace-style.

On another note, Jack is bad! He keeps knocking over the catfood so he can eat it. Bad Jack! Bad!

The Rat is King

I noticed some kind of thing growing on Vincent's side. At first it started off as a scab, to which I thought I had treated. Sam  made some saline solution and we cleaned it nicely. But then things started growing and it became to big... I thought it was scar tissue at first, but the build up was too big.

Turns out it was some kind of... fibrous tumor?

Last night Sam and I sat in the bathroom with Vincent. I held him and Sam tried to take the tumor out. He squeezed both sides, pushed it up. A lot of stuff came out. There was pus and blood everywhere. Vincent didn't so much as squeak. I was very impressed and very proud of him.

He gave me kisses as I held him, and I cooed in his ear. I told him he was doing such a good job; that soon it would be over and he would heal up and he wouldn't have this thing in his side. It was like he listened. And when it was over, he sat on my shoulder. Just sat and chilled.

We set up an extra cage so Vincent could heal up over night without Liam pestering him or attempting to wrestle. This morning I checked up on Vincent. Although he wasn't the happiest I've ever seen him (he has these wonderful trademark ears that droop down when he is sad, upset, or overwhelmed), he was fine. The hole in his side healed up with a scab--a bloody scab, but a scab nonetheless.

I gave him a cracker and yogurt raisins and he took them obligingly. I put him in the cage with Liam. He's moving slowly, but he's moving. He seems okay. I am so relieved.

What Sam Showed Me

Not Perky

Going back to school is just one depressing thing on top of a whole bunch of other depressing things. I don't want to be in school; I don't want to take out student loans; I don't want to buy textbooks...

I want to just do work, pay bills, spend time with the boyfriend, love on my ferrets. I want to focus on fun projects, feel comfortable with financial stuff, etc.

When will that happen? Will it ever?

Little Fuckers

These roaches are driving me up the wall; except that they can go up the wall too!!

Last night, Sam and I are in the kitchen and I notice roaches all in Jack's food. I go over to shoo 'em away... they are everywhere! If there are roaches in the food, then they may be pooping in the food. So I toss the food and bunk Jack in with Rudyard. I promptly heard Jack digging up all the food in the bowl (which drives me so crazy! I don't know how to stop him from doing it).

Today I need to scrub the ferret mansion down and then relocate it into the living room. This is the only way I can think of that will keep roaches out of the boys food and sleeping quarters.

Holocaust of Giants

When I was nine years old
Way back in Ohio
The hired man was digging up a well
On my father's land
He found a fossil there

It was a massive bone
And since then I've known
That a race of giants lived in the northern hemisphere
Ten thousand years ago they lived right here

It seems incredible
But yet it's the truth
That a fossilized and petrified
Calcified primeval brute

Was turned to stone
But he was not alone
There were hundreds of them walking on the sand toward river
Even giants think they'll always live forever

Where a stream once flowed
Into the Ohio
Everything was turned to stone
The bible speaks of this
There were giants in our midst
But they slaughtered one another in a meaningless war

Thank your lucky stars that we don't do that anymore

That gravel-encrusted skull
That was found on a river shoal
Double rows of very sharp teeth
The massive jaw measured twenty-five feet

Well it's turned to stone
There were hundreds of them walking on the sand toward river
Even giants think they'll always live forever

The bible speaks of this
There were giants in our midst
But they slaughtered one another in a meaningless war
Thank your lucky stars that we don't do that anymore

That gravel-encrusted skull
That was found on a river shoal
Double rows of very sharp teeth
The massive jaw measured twenty-five feet

Well it's turned to stone
There were hundreds of them walking on the sand toward the river
Even giants think they'll always live forever

AKDFASIFS0 4395280W FHJFL SDF!!!!!

THESE DAMN COCKROACHES I CAN'T STAND THEM I'M GOING CRAZY AND THEY JUST DON'T DISAPPEAR THEY ARE NEVER GOING AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes the Cuteness can kill you

Rudyard is very precious to me, but that doesn't mean I will allow him to let me bleed. He scruffed me for the first time yesterday and tried to take me somewhere. It was pretty painful. Usually Sam gets scruffed, with little pinpoint needles almost breaking skin; usually Sam is the one who is "dragged" to a stash spot. Yesterday, it was me.

It didn't break my skin, not this time. Ferret teeth are like crab claws I've decided. They are like pit bull jaws too. The more you shake and wriggle, the tighter their grip.  Its like they clamp shut and lock.

You know inside part of your elbow? It's nice and soft and fleshy? That is where he bit me. He's not trying to hurt me; he's either being playful and trying to flip me over or he's attempting to drag me off to his stash because he likes me.

Either way one thing is for sure: ATTENTION!

Rudyard is such a nipper. I'm pretty sure its our fault too; its so damn cute, we have trouble discouraging it. Sam is the worst. I think he's the one who started it. When he heard about "alligator rolls" he would always pretend Rudyard was flipping him over and let Rudyard think he won the fight.

I tried really hard to discourage the nipping and biting. But its hard to get mad at him because... well, because he looks at you with those enormous black eyes... and he cocks his head to one side... and his mouth is open, and its like he's smiling... and you know he doesn't mean to hurt you, not the littlest bit.

UGH! I'm thankful we got Jack as a non-nipper. Imagine having two cute-patooties nipping at you all the time. How could you stop that? HOW, I ask you??

By the way, September 22: Ferret Edumacational Day at the Liburry. Heck Yes. Guess who the teachers are? Rudyard and Jack. Guess who the handler is going to be? Probably me. Guess who will sit in my lap most of the time? Rudyard. Guess who will be most likely to poop in front of everyone? Jack

OH, POOPING REMINDS ME...
I have trained Jack to use a litter box.
Let me repeat this:
I have TRAINED. Jack. To use the L-I-T-T-E-R B-O-X.
Litter Box. Trained. Jack.
As in, he will ONLY POOP in the litter box when in his cage.


See, here's the thing.
Since Rud was feeling pretty blechity Tuesday and Wednesday from his shots, I went ahead and separated the boys up. Jack lives in the top half of the ferret mansion in the kitchen, Rudyard lives in the spare cage in the living room. This way, I can monitor their poops better and see how much food Rudyard is eating (I know Jack is eating. He's fucking 3.6 pounds!!!!!).

So, smaller space? Why not try poop-in-the-litter box? They always say work on pooping in small spaces before big. Right now, I only have one litter pan. The other is at St. Gregory's episcopal church holding water from a leaky AC. One day, I will get it back. Until then... I shall wait... I guess.

So Jack got the litter pan for now; mostly because he's had Pooping In Proper Places Problems.
At first, he pooped outside of the box. I had to PICK UP THE POOP and put it in the litter pan. Then I put the litter pan back in the corner. Then, when I caught him starting to poop, I had to pick him up and put him in the litter pan. THAT is what did it. Since then, he has understood the art of pooping.

Worrying

These days I'm just all about worry. I worry over a  lot of things, especially the ferrets. Ever since Rudyard got really sick, if I see him lethargic in any way I start worrying. Or if I see him peeing without pooping, I start to worry. If he looks bored, I begin worrying.

He's turning three in November; and that's not even his real birthday. For all I know he could be three now. Or three and a half. What if he's four?! I don't know his real age.

He's been very tired lately; I think it has a lot to do with he and Jack being taken to the bedroom and only allowed to play in there. It sucks for them, but while we are bombing the kitchen for roaches I worry about letting them roam free. I wish I could figure out a way to block off the kitchen, but its a wide open room next to the living room. I'm not really sure how.

This morning, Rudyard was obsessing over Sam. He kept trying to take him places; I'm assuming he kept trying to stash him. When Sam wasn't offering his attention because, oh let's say, he was putting on his shoe, Rudyard would get very needy. He'd stand up on his back paws and launch himself forward so he was leaning on Sam. He would look up at him, almost with concern, until Sam turned his attention back to him.

Yes, its endearing and adorable. Yesterday at the vet Rudyard would come up to me after the vet techs and the doctor handled him and do the same; stand up on his back paws and launch his body forward. It was like he was grabbing me with his thumbless hands and begging me to pick him up. My heart melted all over the place.

But I still worry. I wonder if he's okay; is he upset about something? I don't know. Is he trying to tell me something--is he hurting? is he scared? does he need a specific item for comfort? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. All I can do is analyze the situation.

He hasn't been playing with Jack as viciously today or yesterday, or maybe even the day before. Is it because of the vet visit? Is he still tired from two shots in the butt? Is he tired of Jack? Is Jack irksome to him?

He's eating right now, while he's outside of the cage; I can't help but wonder... does he eat enough when he's in the cage with Jack? Jack has a bad habit of throwing food everywhere; does that hinder Rudyard's eating habits at all? He's so thin and Jack is so fat; does Rudyard even have the opportunity to eat when they are in the cage together? Should I separate them in regards to meals? Should I have a second bowl set up?

Worry worry worry.

It's stressing me out. Everytime Rudyard falls asleep outside of the cage, I check to make sure he's well-hydrated; that his gums are pink; that he'll eventually wake when I rouse him; that his eyes still twinkle with life; that his tummy still makes gurgling noises.

Overkill. Worry worry worry. Pretty soon, I'll start worrying about stuff because I won't have anything to worry about.