The Year of the Rat

This coming Chinese New Year, which starts on February 7th, begins the Year of the Rat.

Reluctantly, I have begun celebrating the Year of the Rat......literally.

I'll have to back track a little bit: My pet rat, Martha, passed away in November. I was sad, but had decided that I didn't need any more animals in the house. I have been outnumbered and it is alot to keep up with. My brother had different ideas. I have always said, don't get someone else a pet for a gift because they are the ones that have to take care of it for life. Well, my brother obviously doesn't go by that little rule and he was just pleased as punch when he gave me a rat for Christmas. Martha was a great pet and never bit and was just really nice. She also was missing half of her tail. Jason found this new rat had a missing tail and thought I would be thrilled to have her as a pet. Not so thrilled, am I. I was even less thrilled when I woke up last Friday morning a little over a week ago and found the above situtation. I am now the dubious owner of one pet rat and her eight, yes eight!!!! babies. She was pregnant! I could absolutely not believe it. What in the world am I going to do with nine rats?!?!? Then, as a topper, the new rat can't count and when she moves the nest about three times a day she keeps forgetting to put one of the babies in the nest. So, then I'm worried it is going to die and although I don't need the babies, I can't sit back and watch it die from cold and hunger. I do a little research and realize that the mothers don't generally reject the babies if you touch them and so now I have to do a head count a couple of times a day to make sure all of them are in the nest. If anyone would like a pet rat (as a pet, not to feed to a snake or something) please feel free to contact me! I know of a couple of little girls out there who might love to have a new pet!!!

The only thing I can say is that they are kind of growing on me and it is amazing to watch them grow. They literally change overnight. The first night they had no ears and then the next morning they had ears coming out! I am starting to enjoy them and I hold them everyday to get them used to humans and they are the funniest little things! Remind me that I am saying this as I am cleaning up after nine rats in the coming years. I also told my brother that my gift back to him was that I promised my nephew he could have one (or more) rats as a pet....so there!

Also on Friday morning, I get a phone call from Trafalgar Elementary that Konnor had fallen during track club and is pretty banged up. I go to school and this is what I find:

Yep, after a trip to the doctor, it was determined he had a broken nose. He was sniffing alot and so they were worried he might be dripping CSF fluid from his brain. He did learn the very important lesson, "Do not stop in the middle of the track when there are a hundred running kids behind you". I then had to spend my weekend at a miserable conference and when I go home Regan and I both managed to get really, really sick for most of the week with first some flu like stuff and then a stomach cootie. On Saturday, she slept off and on until 3 pm, which actually helped me because I was having a difficult time being upright! Then as the topper, Marmaduke got some kind of stomach bug and let me just tell you, having a sick Great Dane is not a pretty sight!

What else is the Year of the Rat going to bring?!?! I guess I'm lucky it wasn't the Year of the Dog or I might have ten Great Danes running around the house!