Happy Birthday Rob

Well, ok, Rob's birthday was 2 days ago.

For Rob's birthday I got him this watch. Yes, it is the epitome of nerdom. It is "geektastic." It is Rob.

And that's not all! Oh no. I didn't stop there. How could I? Rob also got rats. Yes, rats. Those adorable, smart, cute, fuzzy little pet rodents* And look, I've added pictures for your viewing pleasure.













See? Aren't they simply the cutest things you've ever seen? They are, from left to right, Yasmin, Ginger, and Rexanne. So, I go to the pet store** and ask to see the dumbo eared rats. The pet store employee was picking them up by their tail (*gasp!*) to check the sex. He pulled out two girls for me. One of which was a standard ear, which no longer made her a fancy rat, thus now eligible to be a feeder. So I choose to take both. Then I saw another tank with smaller ratlings for sale. One was a little black mismark rex. It was a girl. I took her too. If I could have, I would have tried to rescue them all, but I know that three is more than we have room for. Then I went across the street to Pet Supplies Plus to pick them up a temporary ratitat. Then, when I got home, I called Rob and asked him to come downstairs and get his present out of the car. :-) The little girls are housed separately from the big girls for now. We will make slow introductions and eventually cage them all together. I went out and bought some kitten replacement milk and put a small bit in the cage with the girls. Rexanne is absolutely tiny! She is mouse-sized. She is eating on her own, but I want to make sure that she's getting all her nutrition. Ginger and Yasmin are both smooth haired and I think the color would be considered a "dove" self (no other markings). Yasmin has the dumbo ears (large ears with side placement). Rexanne is a little black mismark (has some white on her belly, toes, and tail, but it's not even) rex (curly fur and whiskers). Rob named Yasmin and Rexanne, I named Ginger (she's a little shy).

And now, just so that my big girls don't feel left out, here's some new pictures of them in their "house."
















The girls wake up in time for a Cheerio treat! Yay!

Then, after we set the new girls up in their home, we went to Red Robin for dinner. I haven't been to a Red Robin in over ten years. Last time I was at one, Carrie chipped her tooth on a broken spoon.... or something along those lines. I don't remember all the details, though I'm sure Carrie does. So, if you're curious, I guess ask her. Anyway, dinner: I forgot how extremely obnoxious Red Robin is. Oh. My. God. I think it's supposed to have a diner feel to it. I think the place just had a serious case of ferret shock going on. All the lights and sounds and oh my. Sensor overload! Sensor overload! Rob ordered their "clucks and fries" (in normal people terms: chicken strips) and I had fish and chips. It was alright. Our waiter was on the obnoxious side. But then again, what at Red Robin isn't obnoxious? Really.

And now, tonight, Rob and I are having dinner at Pizza House with our families. If you don't hear from me for a week, I won't have survived and will be in the looney bin (this is no part a reflection on Rob's family.)



*No, they are NOT vermin. They are NOT snake food. They are wonderful pets! And anyone who disagrees: :-P" You don't know what you're missing.

**Why? Why more rats? Well, as many of you may know, our little girl rat Zig Zag passed away a couple months ago. Rob was feeling sad and thinking about another rat. I was talking to Tammy the other day, and her and Paul went to this reptile specialty pet store. Paul has been looking for live pinkies to feed his snake. I had recommended this particular pet store a while back to them, thinking that because they specialize in herps, that they would most likely have live pinkies. Tammy was most unhappy with the conditions the mammals were kept in (they had more rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc). They are not mammal people at this store. They are lizard people. They honestly could care less. But anyway, back to how I ended up there on Thursday. Tammy mentioned that they had some fancy and hairless rats. I thought I'd go down, rescue a rat (as in singular) from it's likely fate as a snake snack. Needless to say, I ended up with three.