Bastards!

I had a long post all typed out, then saved it to make sure it was safe whilst I uploaded some photos.
When I went back to it, the post was gone. Damn blogger. This one is being uploaded from an internet cafe, because either my computer or blogger hates me. Does anyone want to buy me a laptop?

So, just some pet news for now - I can’t be bothered to retype the rest.

I’m trying to teach Whit some tricks. Sure, you may scoff at the idea of this particularly dim (but particularly cute) hamster being able to learn things - after all, he’s not yet learnt how to climb the bars of his cage. However, with a bit of dried coconut in my hand, I can get him to turn his head, turn in circles, and stand on his hind feet. It’s pretty impressive for a hamster of such little brain, even if he only does it to get hold of the food.

Hob’s begun to look like a proper rat, and less like a bag of skin and bones. She gets fed very well, and is learning that classic pet trick of taking the food, hiding it, then moping around pretending she’s starving, in the hope we’ll think we’ve forgotten to feed her. She also produces the most impressive stench from her cage if we haven't cleaned her out in a few days. We suspect it's because 1) it's an enclosed cage, and 2) she has an open water bowl (she prefers it) and spends a fair amount of her time splashing water about the cage. This morning, I discovered that she'd dragged all her lovely clean bedding out of her nest, and dropped it into the water bowl. Living up to her slightly mental reputation, there.

Hastings had a good day on Saturday - we let her go for a jaunt around the garden. She tried to eat a pebble at one point, and ate dirt at another, and she generally had a marvellous time running free.
These photos might be a tad blurry...