CenturyLink INTERNET IS DOWN AGAIN…UGH!!

 

CenturyLink is down again – has been for almost a full day. GRRR!!! They hope to restore service sometime today.

 

I know there was a big fire in downtown Tacoma in the past day or so which caused some of the internet companies to go down. Not sure this outage is connected, but it might be.

 

I’m typing this into a Word document for now so I can keep my blog posts going while the outage persists.

 

In Other News…

 

Let the RAT OLYMPICS BEGIN!

 

Since I switched my rats from the critter cage to the terrarium, they have come out of their shells and decided to get to know me better.  (I have a box they can still all hide or sleep in whenever they want, but in the other cage I had long tubes for them to hang out in, and they rarely came out of them.)

 

As soon as I unlatch and open the screen top, they take turns jumping up and hanging onto the top edge of the terrarium, waiting for me to lift them the rest of the way. As soon as I gather them into my hands, they turn around and dive right back into the terrarium, so they can turn around and jump back up again!  It’s like, “Jumping Jacks time!  Here we go!!!”

 

A couple of them want to explore further, so I let them wander along the terrarium top (under close supervision), but most of them just want the jumping exercise and the petting that occurs during it. The babies are no longer frightened. They’ve all been held enough now to realize that I wish them no harm.

 

None of them are biters.  A few are nibblers; that is, they painlessly nibble on my fingers to see if there is anything on them that they can gently remove. (This usually happens after I’ve cut up apples and other delicacies for them. They smell their essence but then realize it’s just a finger. As soon as they do, they stop “sampling”.

 

If you can get past their naked tails …

 

If you can get past rats’ naked tails, you realize how freaking cute they are. They’re just adorable.

 

Rats have bad press, and I understand why. Wild ones can carry diseases, and invade granaries, and cause other unhelpful outcomes.  (That said, they’re not as harmful to the environment as people, by a long shot.)  And when they’re pets—tame and unafraid—they are among the most fun to watch and interact with.

 

This subject should be going into my KrisandKritters.com blog.  I know.  Maybe someday I’ll transfer it over there and take it off here. But for now, it is what it is… Those of you reading this blog to glean what you can about me as a writer-for-hire will have to look at additional blog topics to decide if you want to hire me to write for you.  Meanwhile, it’s posts like this one that can help you get to know me better as a person. My hobbies include reading, writing, critters, biking, pickleball, progressive politics, and hanging with good friends. Maybe you’ll discover I belong to your tribe… or not. That’s always helpful to know! Staying with kindred spirits and letting go of someone who isn’t a good fit, is a good habit to get into. Start here if you haven’t already!

 

Going to take my first bike ride since surgery on Sunday

 

On Sunday, Lisa and I are going to Waughop Lake in Steilacoom to ride our bikes and see how I do with one drainage tube still in me.  I know exercise will help “dry up” the remaining excess fluid but walking twice a day is getting to be a bore, so I’ve decided to see if I can bike on level ground. (I was released to ride my bike after four weeks, but I was hoping both tubes would be out by then.  One is, the other will be soon.)

 

But I have a new getup underneath my clothes that helps make sure I won’t accidentally pull out the tube when I exercise. I retrieved my long chest-to-abdomen binder (the one I wore pre-chest masculinization last year) and combined it with an abdominal compression brief, so my midsection and undercarriage are now totally compressed and supported without a bit of discomfort or overheating.  I slept in the new getup last night and it worked perfectly.  So that’s my new foundation for at least another two or three weeks. (I’m supposed to wear binders for at least two weeks after the last tube comes out.  I hope that will happen on Monday, but if it’s doesn’t, I can live like this longer. The new getup makes it all soooo much easier!)

 

I’ve ordered some assassin snails for my aquarium

 

I finally bit the bullet and ordered some assassin snails for my aquarium. Although I got all the apple and mystery snails out months ago, these Malaysian trumpet (cone-shaped) snails are equally prolific and are threatening to ruin the PH levels in my tank, so I decided to get some assassin snails to take them out. (The other option was putting copper into the tank, which is dicey for the fish, or trying to get them all out by hand, which would take an entire day of sifting through substrate, so that was a no go.)

 

Assassin snails aren’t as prolific as other snails, and they only eat other snails (and fish food), so I expect they’ll have my tank cleaned up within the next few months. There are literally thousands of tiny Malaysian trumpet snails, plus a few snails that came in on driftwood or aquatic plants. They’re tiny, too, but slimy and messy, so I want those gone, too, before they ruin the impeller in my filter.

 

The weather has moderated back to normal for this time of year

 

The weather here is behaving again, so I haven’t had to turn on the misters for the goats or put their cooling coats on them. That’s good.

 

I don’t know how easily they’ll accept having cooling coats put on them, and wrestling goats isn’t a lot of fun.  The coats have a neck portion that must go over their heads, and I don’t think they’re going to like that. Lisa will probably have to help me get them on the first few times until they understand that they’re nothing to fret about…

 

I’m pretty much out of palaver for this time.  I hope all is well with you and yours.

 

UPDATE JULY 10, 2021

 

Terrariums aren’t healthy long-term habitats for rats, so I’ve ordered screening material to wrap the big ferret cage in, moved the panels to the center of it so the critters can’t drop or kick their poop outside the cage, and I bought new rat-friendly unbleached paper litter for the bottom. These measures should take care of the issues I had before when I had them in there.  I’ll keep you posted.

 

Thanks to Beth Randall of Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary and Jessie Richards for the insights on rat keeping. When I had rats before, there were only two and the smaller cage I had for them was adequate, but it’s far too small for nine. The ferret cage is perfect for them.. or will be as soon as I get it wrapped in screening material so they can’t walk out through the bars. The materials will arrive tomorrow, so the rats should be able to move to the rat condo no later than Monday. (If the materials come late in the day, I might not get to the task of wrapping the ferret cage until Monday morning, but I probably will, knowing me!  Until my critters are 100% happy, I’m not happy!