Source of the Stink

Bags of stinky fleece are coming from

our five newest family members:

 Golly, Benny, Bailey, Digby, and Gilly.

All are black hooded male rats; Digby is the largest and was

someone else's pet before he was put up for adoption,

Gilly and Golly are brothers, and so are Benny and Bailey.

 The four little guys had never been handled, and spent the first

day frozen, and the next few days grabbing food and hiding.

 This was as close as they wanted to get.

 Then big Digby joined the little guys and he has been calm and

sweet enough to settle everyone down.

 All of a sudden the boys were frolicking together in the open.

In three weeks, we have five growing and inquisitive boys.

 So it was time for a big-rattie cage.
Some assembly required...

 The "Skyscraper" rat cage from Martin's Cages.

Their service and cage design are exceptional.

 Digby fell over with excitement a few times when he found

his new luxury suite.

 In the past few days the boys have been climbing, ripping,

gnawing, wee-ing, exploring, and loving their new home.

Luckily these cuties live at school, they would be way too

tempting for three Bengal boys.

Good & Stinky

 Tanji and Uschi have made a marvelous discovery: a

laundry bag full of dirty fleece bedding from the rattie cage.

 Uschi's tail is indicating that this is a really good stink.

 Mmmm, this is heaven.

 Uh-oh, someone's coming.

 Vladi gets a deep breath-full too.

 Wow, that's really wonderful.

Now Vlad smells good enough to lick.

Vladi's Pink Friend

 Somehow Vladi missed seeing the giant fleece cupcake

until today.

My head fits in here.

(He checked four or five times just to be sure)

 A loving swipe.

 Thank-you for my cupcake!

(Nope, its headed back to the ratties)

 Oh no, it just attacked me!

(It didn't)

Kick, kick kick.

Cupcake

 Wow! What's this?

 Uschi is fairly sure this is for him, after all, its pretty too.

 Its actually a nest for our newest family members: five rats

who live at school (more on them soon).

 This seems a bit small for me.

At least it smells good.

Nap for T

 We got home early enough for one of Tanji's favorite things:

curling up on the bed with a reading or napping parent.

 Tanji's tail circles the perimeter like a shark fin trailing prey.
After a few rounds, T pops up next to the pillows...

Hiiiiiiiii, what'cha doing?

A bit of traveling up and down the bed...

 Then its time to find an open area of fleece blanket to knead

and plop down on.

A little gentle meowing to make sure none of this went unnoticed,
and then its cuddle time.

More Time at Home

Today was a 13+ hour work day for both of us,

hopefully the last for some time.

We've gotten a lot done, but the price is high,

we come home to the most guilt-inducing

situation possible...

 Tanji waiting for attention and Fancy Feast.

Luckily we are quickly forgiven.

We're Coming Back!

O.K., its been a shamefully long time since the last T,U,V posting.

Life has gotten busy, something like:

"Work, work some more, walk the boys, feast, everyone asleep,
and repeat."

 So, its all been awesome, but blogging got temporarily put aside.

 We're getting a grip and will be back soon...

Kennel Restored

The boy's kennel had been reduced in size,
because we were going to build a room off that
side of the house. We changed our plans, so
their kennel was restored.

Once it was buttoned up, the boys came out
to inspect their new/old kennel and the
finishing up around the outside.

Daaaaaad, can I help?

I'm a good helper,...

Vladi is glad to have his big climbing pole back.

Dad,... Daaaad,... Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaad,...
I can climb too.

V zooom up the ramp.

Headed back down.

Tanji inspects the clean-up.

Whoa there, dad is compacting the soil
a bit too energetically.

Thanks for putting our kennel back together.

What Is Going On?

What is going on out there?

Did you see that?

Wow, this is exciting?

I'm going to get to the bottom of this,...

Brave Tanjiro

Hmmmm this is interesting.

Look at all this dirt.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad,
what are you making meeeeee now?