I’m going through a tough time right now, but hopefully things will look up soon.

Going through and clearing out some blogs…

Packed up my rats, dog, and hedgehog this morning and have spent the day at my fiancé’s grandparents house. We live right on the water and my fiancé insisted that we leave the island and go further inland because of the flooding. The house won’t get flooded because it is one of few that is up hill enough that even if it flooded twice as much as it did during Isabel, it would only reach the porch. But to prevent an argument, I packed up and went with him. It’s been a good day. Mostly a bit of rain and wind, heavy at times, but it hasn’t been as bad as we expected. Irene was not at all as bad as was forecasted all over television and the Internet. I have heard of a few deaths so far, but honestly it has been relaxed here on this part of the Chesapeake Bay… Thank goodness for that!

In fact, my sources out on the island say they still have electricity! Can you believe that? We lost power some time in the late afternoon, and reports in nearby cities further inland (Newport News, Yorktown, Richmond) have been without power most of the day.

Won’t be able to sleep tonight. Not just because of the heat, but Nate kind of broke our bed at his grandparents and they have hardwood floor so there won’t be any camping out on the floor tonight… I was told to only open the side window, but Nate tried opening the front window of our room and the window was broken. In an attempt to fix it, he and his dad’s weight in one area of the bed caused the wood to snap. The room is too small to put the mattress on the floor, so now I’m sitting here in the living room typing this entry on my iPad to pass the time… 11:03pm. Hampton was issued a curfew from 11pm to 6am. Gonna try to stay up all night and get home as soon as possible… Anyone else enduring the hurricane, please stay safe!

I finally decided on a name for the hedgehog. Not many people liked it, but it’s a name that has stuck to me since I first started looking for names. I’ve decided to call him Tungsten, Nordic for “heavy stone,” photographic term for incandescent lighting, and also a metal element.

I know I’ve been a little M.I.A. this past week. I’ve been planning and preparing for our newest addition to the family - Zuri. At least, that’s what I think I may call him. I get to pick up my new African Pygmy Hedgehog this Saturday afternoon. I’ve already spent 150$ on supplies alone. I’d like to get him a nice cage, but for right now he will be living in a rabbit/guinea pig Super Pet cage until I can afford an upgrade. By the time I pick him up, I’ll have spent 250$ on the little rascal! I’ll need some recovery time before I go spending hundreds of dollars on my pets again.

I figured you guys were probably having withdrawals, so I’ve supplied you with a quick fix of photos of Eli and Quinn eating Gerber baby food (pea flavor) and Gerber Graduates Puffs (banana flavor). These are a new treat combination I’ve started giving the boys. They LOVE it. So far I have only done peas. After doing all this hedgehog research lately, it occurred to me that I typically go for the sweeter foods, like bananas, pears, etc. and avoid the greens. I still give them fresh green veggies, but sweet fruits are more appealing to me, personally, so I do tend to lean more towards those… I guess for a rat it’s okay, but in the wild, hedgehogs would eat more leafy foods than sweet fruits. I might have to stock up on more veggies this weekend!

Eli and Quinn bicker a lot more than usual these days. I always turn around to see what the ruckus is all about, and end up seeing one rat on top of the other, trying to groom the submissive rat. I want to say it’s usually Quinn trying to groom Eli, who is a total sissy and sits there squeaking like he’s being tortured, but Eli does it to Quinn quite a bit, too. They do it about equally. It’s cute, though, when the other rat settles down and lets his cage mate groom him. :3