Meet Franc!

franc eating a cucumber and smiling

Last week my friend Michelle posted on Facebook that her friend Joe needed to find a new home for his male rat Franc. Apparently Joe has to travel a lot for work, so Franc got lonely. But Franc is SO cute and so sweet… hubby agreed we could adopt him. This morning at 9 I picked him up and this afternoon I got him all settled in our spare large cage.

Birdie Update #2

birdie checking out the front hall floor

We’ve had our pretty Birdie girl for just over a year now, and the progress she’s made in that year has been amazing. I’m hoping that throughout the next year it continues to improve and she continues to amaze us!

New Fish Tank Friends!

zebra nerite snail

EDIT: Bizarrely, since writing this post the other day, one of my 4 cherry barb fish has completely disappeared… either my new snails are carnivorous, or it’s just a baffling mystery.
I’ve had a 5-10 gallon fish tank on my kitchen counter for going on 15 years. I love having one, even though at times the maintenance can be frustrating & challenging.

Meet Birdie!

birdie yawning on the bed

Birdie is our 3rd rescue cat. Our first girl. She’s very… well, hard to describe. She’s small, black, inquisitive & friendly, yet standoffish. She doesn’t like to be picked up, although once she’s picked up [at least with Jim], she’ll relax and start to purr. She doesn’t like to be patted, although she loves her chin scratched. She loves stuffed catnip toys [like her banana] but not loose catnip like the boys

Invasion of the Rat Babies!

baby rat nibbler - a white and dark grey hooded

On October 26th, hubby and I drove up to Zoo Creatures pet store in Plaistow, NH to get some baby rats. We like that petstore because it’s family run and operated, and they hand-raise all their animals. When we got out of the car a bunch of fat chickens skedaddled out of our way, and when we stepped on the pad to open the sliding doors to the store, we noticed another chicken inside the doors, stuck in the entryway between the store’s outer sliding doors and inner sliding doors.

Groundhogs! – aka Whistle Pigs

groundhog / whistle pig in our yard

In support of my first “Adorable Animals” post about chipmunks, here is a 2nd “Adorable Animals” post about groundhogs! Hubby and I learned on teh interwebs last week that groundhogs, aka woodchucks, are also called “whistle pigs” because when alarmed they emit a loud whistle – neat! Our neighbor’s house abuts a field, and we often see a groundhog family eating together along the edge of the field.

Chippie!

darwin watching chipmunk eat unsalted peanuts

Lately, in addition to the usual birds and squirrel, there’s been a chipmunk visiting our yard. So every morning I’ve been sprinkling sunflower seeds out for him & the birds, and peanuts for the squirrel. However, the chippie has taken it upon himself to stuff ALL of the above into his cheeks and race off with it to his den. I figure after last winter’s Polar Vortex, he’s not taking ANY chances!!!