I FOUND A REALLY NARROW LONG CARDBOARD TUBE YESTERDAY... I'm not sure exactly what where this originated from but I'd assume it was some sort of clingfilm or something like that. The diameter is slightly under 2cm wide or just over half an inch wide. It's so tiny that when I pick up Baby Itchy and say, "Come on you Bunnyhopper; hop inside!" and she does, scurrying end to end unless something in the middle grabs her attention (though I cannot for the life of me imagine WHAT?!? she appears at the other side and sticks just her head out which looks so entertaining. Then she bunnyhops out and I point her back in the tube and do the right thing, which involves kind of squeezing her body slightly which makes her bunnyhop back inside and out she appears at the other end - it is like a Roborovski magic wand! Occasionally she panicks, rambles the entire length, is maybe put off by my incessant cooing and does a quick reverse (it is too narrow even for a roborovski to turn around in and so she must simply scoot backwards) out she appears all ungainly and undignified, all backbrushed fur looking really entertaining like a powderpuffed sandy vole...
I managed to coax Bashful inside but she got all nervous and stalled midway through for over half an hour. Never made it all the way inside and reversed out again . Then she stood on her haunches, peering at me superciliously as if to declare "you think I'm stupid enough to fall for all your tricks; I'm not like that Baby Itchy, you know".
Poor Baby Itchy, being the tiniest and the tamest does all the tricks. (Actually the magic wand trick is the only trick she will do, but it does look entertaining with her bunnyhopping in and out and looking so surprised as she emerges as baby rodents are so apt to do...)
Spherical I got to walk on my hands yesterday but she still doesn't like me.
This occurred as they were housemoving back from their holiday gite to their ordinary fishtank. They're only allowed in the gite (which comes complete with turret) at weekends when my landlord is far away from our building as I wouldn't trust him not to knock their gite open or deliberately kick at it even...
Their "granary" came with them. This is a small cardboard box stuffed to the brim with hamster cottonwool style bedding complete with a pair of nibbled holes for entry and exit (this is the box I had to enlarge when Bashful packed her pouches to extremely she was literally globular and could not fit through the chewed out front door. Imagine coming home so laden down with shopping you couldn't fit in your house. So what do you do but start rabidly nibbling your way in! Hamsters are funny creatures, to be sure... It is so full of seeds it's literally weighed down. I can't usually tell by weight alone whether it's just seeds or there's hamsters in there, it weighs so very much...
This is the box that when I put wild bird seed down they go mental stuffing their faces... only for an entire handful (which is a lot for three thumb-length gremlins) to demolish down... Only in deep privacy or when they're convinced nobody sees them do they ever disgorge their pouches. They do this by pressing the sides of their face with the front poors (oops! paws!!) In a quarter of an hour they can easily stash between the three of them as much grain as they physically weigh between themselves. I find it odd that between them they've decided that this box should be their granary. And none sleeps there, except for Spherical, occasionally. Because she is top-peck and most superior...
Righty-ho that's my roborovskery for the day. Take care folks!
Daily video:
Australian Animal Bloopers - yes the last one really is a dreaded REDBACK toilet seat jumping, arse-biting spider!
Video II
An itchy and a burrowing robohammy
Video III
Cute robohammy clambering all over hand
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Blog of the day:
Response Plod http://responseplod.blogspot.com
A British policeman's (so it seems) blog...
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Photo of the day - daddy and little boy - click here to see it.
from Jonathan and Melissa Baird's blog
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Photo Blog of the day - another Finnish blog. I keep coming across this lady's lakes and forests "avatar" amongst comments as I spread my bloghopping tendrils far and wide...
Joensuu Eastern Finland Daily Photo Blog http://joensuudailyphoto.blogspot.com
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Travel/tourism blog of the day
Portuguese Man of War http://portuguesemanofwar.blogspot.com - well worth a look for the current post - all pixx of wine and cheeses and the gorgeous Portuguese countryside and Atlantic coast...
fun videos and animal story's.
ReplyDeleteI had a baby moose running around my house and up and down the side streets of my neighborhood last night. I followed it around with my video camera but it was on pause when I thought it was filming and recording when I thought it was paused. I was too exited, and maybe a little drunk. haha
Shame you could have youtubed that & everything.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to youtube baby Itchy's tube trick just as soon as I get a mobile phone/digital camera to record it in motion...
Really enjoyed the roborovskery tales. Would be great to see some vids of yours. Re your comment about the rosehips; the boys did exactly the same when I was at school!!!
ReplyDeleteRx
Some things never change ;->...
ReplyDeletekinda note to self:
ReplyDeleteOH I was gabbling about farmworkers the other day... reason being in an island population 60 million a full 1.2 MILLION mostly agricultural workers have PILED IN over the last few years to fill lowly paid jobs the Brits don't want. And I don't blame the Brits. These jobs ought to be paid a bit MORE then our people might do them then OUR people might not be unemployed then OUR country might be wealthier. As it is globalization is only going to impoverish the poor even further by doing them out of even more jobs in the clerical and similar spheres... totally unfair!
Well that's MY rant of the day!
Okay, in my endless trying to catch up on what's going on in your life, I suddenly discover you use the name "Gleds" instead of Gled. I've officially moved to the preferred name. Take care, Gleds!
ReplyDeleteo yeah but it doesn't really matter - i call Deb Debs but to everyone else she is Deb but I add esses to everything so one more or less ess is neither here nor there!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Finland!
ReplyDeleteI have to thank you for your compliment on your and my blog.
I took a break from DailyPhoto blogging and I try to organize all old photos of family history starting few photos of grand - grandparents.
And of course you can easily see, that my English is not quite best quality,faraway, I know :)
But we had to learn in our school at first Swedish, then Germany, after that English and Latin. So we, in my age-class,did not learned
any of those languages well. Our children speak quite well English and my all three children also French.
I went also to this blog, which you mentioned in your comment. She is very good writer, I think, you could like her style of writing.
I bookmarked her, very refreshing
acquaintance, I will visit her often, thank you!
Seriously? How odd.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to someone earlier (in their comments box) also from Finland about WHY on earth do you have to learn Swedish at school. Do the Swedes also learn Finnish?
Or DO THEY CONSIDER THEMSELVES TOO SUPERIOR TO HAVE TO BOTHER???
;->...
Do you our history?
ReplyDeleteFinland was one part of Sweden about
five hundred years before Russia took us into their "gentle arms" 1809.
We got our independence 1917.
Our second official language is Swedish, and yes, they are still a little "better folk" ;)
But, there it is a big but, most Finn speak better English than Swedish :)History is so strong- too strong in this case, I could say.
And no, Swedes do not learn Finnish in their school:) Why should they ??
Hi there... glad you found us on PORTUGUESEMANOFWAR. That's a project that is beinh made by Quintarantino, Damularussa, my sis Carol, Daniel, Ouvido (Ear) and Paulo. Joshua is a lazy guy so he isn´t writting.
ReplyDeleteHope you keep visiting us.
Today I guess Carol will be posting some poetry... See ya... and, by the way, I'll come back to read more...
Sounds like you're having as much fun if not more than Baby Itchy and Bashful, Gled. :)
ReplyDeleteCool site - I'd be all about the escape from plastic tubs by any means necessary as well!!
ReplyDeleteHave a good 1.
hi gledwood,
ReplyDeletejust drop by to say hello... I'll come visit when I have more time
thanks for helping out at my post
best
tim
I came to thanks you, for your lovely words about our blog, and saying that you are always welcome.
ReplyDeleteI'll be back to read you with more attention
;)
correction "come"
ReplyDelete;)
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog for quite a few months now and have commented here and there. Have to say that your willingness to share your life is pretty impressive (especially considering what your weaknessess are). I hope that you can make it through this so that there can be a happy ending to your memoires. Keep on writing and BEHAVE.
E from Canada
Leena: No I never knew about Finland having been part of Sweden... I actually thought (for some reason) it was more likely to have been part of RUSSIA!!
ReplyDeleteWhy should they learn Finnish?
Erm... let me think about that one...
Quintarantino: You're welcome!
Lee: I sometimes wonder whether they do HAVE fun or just exist... it's so hard to get inside the head of a pygmy dwarf hamster... on the one hand they're so intelligent and inquisitive; on the other they startle so easily and get so scared... so it's hard to say how much they really enjoy life... surely more so than living in the wild, where the average lifespan of rodents is meant not to exceed 2 months... they can live 12 times that easily in captivity...
Yeah Him: yeah. Plastic tubs = not good hamstery-wise, quite right. That's why I have to fill their aquarium with toilet tubes and wheels etc etc
ReplyDeleteDDrips: That's quite all right!
Damularussa: you're welcome too!
E: you must have commented as a different name ..?
Glad you like my blog...
I will try to behave.
That was made impossible today by my "speed" find...
Luckily as I write this, about 2 hours later, it's tapering off a bit already as I didn't take that much...
Hey Jim by the way... baby moose... wow! I bet that looked like Baby Itchy with antlers... ;->...
ReplyDelete