Dammit, I feel like I just kicked a five-year-old girl's puppy while she watched. For the past week, the wife has been working on this animated button in Flash. It's been driving her nuts. She got it to do what she wanted, but couldn't get it to stop. It kept looping and she couldn't figure out how to stop it. Well, today, after fighting with it for like four days, she sends me an e-mail saying "I finally did it!" She sends me the URL and I go check it out and tell her congratulations. Then she tells me it's for my new diary layout. Um...ooops. See, you wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I'm kind of a perfectionist, and when it comes to my diary and stuff, I like to do things myself. So even though the button is cool and all, I didn't really want to use it because I was wanting to do all the stuff myself. So, she basically spent all this time working on it for nothing. God, I suck.

She got a good burn in on me last night, though. I rented the DVD "The Replacements" with Keanu Reeves. The basic story is that all the pro football players are striking because they want more money so the owners bring in "scab" players to finish the season. One of the players for the "home team" is Clifford Franklin, played by the funny black guy who does all the 7-Up commercials ("Make 7 - Up yours"). Anyway, Clifford is like the fastest man on earth, but can't catch for shit. Well, there's a scene where Keanu decides to join the team and the coach asks him if he can still throw. Clifford takes off and goes out for a pass. Thing is, he's watching the ball, not where he's going and runs full speed into the back of this big huge lineman and knocks himself flat (the lineman barely moves). I start laughing because it's a fuckin' funny shot and the wife looks over at me and says, that look familiar? It takes a second for it to filter to my brain and I'm like "What? Does what look familiar?" She starts giggling and says "A guy running into things on the field." Then I realize that she read this entry and was making fun of me. Hardy har har. She got a laugh out of it at least. Heh.

I read Uberhamster's entry of "Hamster Roll Call" and thought I'd give a bit of a run down of our ratties. Since some have come and gone since last time I mentioned them...I think. Anyway here goes (in no particular order).

1. Sara - Sara is a nasty bitch. Sara is the daughter of one of the three original ratties we got and was a bitch from the get go. We didn't realize it at first though. She's a fawn hooded broken stripe and we kept her because the wife liked her coloring. She's named after the character Sara in "The Labyrinth", the wife's favorite movie. Sara's a year or so old.

2. Alyson - Alyson is kind of skittish. She and Sara are sisters. She's a silver fawn hooded broken stripe and we kept her as well because we liked her color. She was my girl. I named her Alyson after Alyson Hannigan who plays Willow on Buffy. She and Sara are the two oldest females.

3. Boy - Boy is one of the oldest males and is a complete sweetie. He's a black berkshire and we kept him for Demonchild. The wife wanted to let him have one and told him to pick and he picked Boy, and also named him.

4. Fella - Fella is the other old male. He and Boy are the only two males left from the original 4 we had with Abigail and Willow. Fella is a big boy and is also a sweetie. They're both very very sociable. Fella is a black hooded broken stripe who was also named by Demonchild.

5. Gizmo - Gizmo is a bit of an enigma. On the way to Ratfest 2000, Holly, the girl who rode up with us, brought a black hooded male with her. She had bred it for someone else who ended up not being able to take him so she thought she would see if anyone at Ratfest would take him. No one did. So, feeling sorry for him, we took him. We gave him the name Gizmo in the car on the way home during a discussion of the movie "Gremlins". He's become a bit of a bully and has had to be put in solitary a few times.

6. Bucky - Bucky is a Seal Point Siamese Dumbo and he's a sweetie...and a pussy. I named him Bucky after my favorite character Bucky Katt in Get Fuzzy. The reason I say that Bucky is a bit of a pussy is because he's a whiner. Gizmo began picking on him when we first got him and Bucky gave as good as he got, but recently he's become a big chicken. Anytime Gizmo or Fella get near him, he just starts squeaking and whining. Even when they don't touch him. Sadly, he's become a bit of a wimp.

7. Partly Cloudy - Yes, you read that right. Cloudy is a Blue Point Siamese, but unfortunately, his points are pretty light. He basically has a blue-gray coloring on his snout, butt, and feet. We named him Partly Cloudy in honor of Uberhamster's hamster of the same name. He's the smallest of the male bunch, but is quickly coming into his own. He was another target of Gizmo's bullying, but he kicked Gizmo's ass a couple of times and now he's left alone.

8. Logan - Logan is another one of "my boys". He's a black self dumbo and man is he black. Even his feet are black. He, of course, is named Logan after the X-men character. He's a big boy, but kind of lazy. He's also a sweetie.

9. Edward - Edward is a black self also. We got him from the wife's friend Jen. He's a pretty big boy too, but he has a tendency to be nasty. Not mean, but icky. He likes to take rat poopy and mush it and spread it all around. The wife calls it his "art work". I call it nasty.

10. Jett - Jett is one of our new females. She's a black self dumbo and is a cutie. She's a bit shy and lets some of the other girls push her around so she's a bit smaller. She's been eating more and is getting bigger however.

11. Padmé - Padmé is a Seal Point Siamese dumbo and is another lovey ratty. She was just recently mated with Bucky and had her babies, all 19 of them, about a week ago. Unfortunately, we lost one, but she's doing an excellent job. I'm sure taking care of 18 babies is tough work. It's rather funny however to go near her tank when she's feeding them (we have her separated in a 10-gallon aquarium). When you get near, she stands on her hind legs to try to sniff you and when she does, she has about 10 little babies all hanging off her underside. When they're feeding, the don't want to let go. Lately all she does is eat, feed the babies, and then pass out. And I mean, pass out. She goes to an empty corner, flops over on her side and is out. Of course, that doesn't stop the babies from making their way over to her and feeding while she sleeps. It's a sight to behold.

12. Tipper - Tipper is one of "my girls". We got her and her sister Bella while at Ratfest 2000. Tipper is a berkshire rex, which means she has wavy, curly fur (it's short though so it's not like she's a walking perm). We named her Tipper because her whole tale was blackish-gray, except for the very tip which is pink. We did NOT name her after that bitch Tipper Gore. When we got her, she barely covered ˝ of your palm. Now it takes two hands to hold her. She's an attention whore too. When you walk by the cage, she climbs up on it and presses her belly agains the wire wanting you to stick your finger in and scratch her belly. She loves that.

13. Bella - We also got Bella at Ratfest 2000. She's a black hooded rex and her fur is really wavy. She's also one of "my girls". We named her Bella after the woman who held Ratfest. Joanne is her real name, but she goes by BellaRatta so we named her Bella. She's a real lovey and loves to sit on your shoulder.

14. Partly Sunny (R.I.P.) - Sunny was a sad loss. Even though she's gone, she still deserves mention. We got her the same time we got Bucky, Cloudy, Padmé and a few others. She was a Russian Blue berk and it just fit that we had Partly Cloudy, why not Partly Sunny. We called them Sunny and Cloudy. Sadly, she developed Mico, a respiratory infection, and we didn't get to it in time. Sunny will be missed. She was a sweetie.

Saving the best for last.

15. Tripod - I love all of our ratties, but Tripod is my favorite. We've had her for about a month now, and she's such a sweetie. Holly, the president of the Florida Rat Fanciers, and the girl we went to Ratfest with bred a litter and out of 12 ratties, Tripod was the only female. On top of that, she was born with only three legs. Hence the name. She's a black berkshire (I think) and she's the smallest of the group, mainly because she's the youngest. But don't think that missing leg slows her down. Nnnnoooooo. When you hold her you have to keep an eye, and a good grip, on her or she'll be gone. We had to quarantine her last week for a few days. Sara kept picking on her and she had a wound on her belly. The wife put her in a separate cage and she healed very quickly. Tipper and Bella have kind of become her guardians. When Alyson or Sara bother her (just being bitches) Tipper and Bella step in and stick up for her. But Tripod also holds her own. She's now back with all the other girls and Sara and Alyson are segregated to their old cage. They've just gotten nasty in their old age. As soon as Holly said she had a baby with just three legs I knew I had to have her. She's a little sweety and she's my "little rattie princess".

Anyway, that's it for the Rattie Kingdom. There are 18 new little faces that I didn't mention, but we won't be keepin them all (if any) so we haven't named any yet. We'll see when they're older and I'll give you all an update.

The wife has done an excellent job taking care of our "kids" and I'm so proud of how she's handled everything. She knows more about rats now, probably, than most vets. She reads anything and everything rat related and has made a great mommy. She feeds them and cleans their cages and takes great care of them. Me? I just pick them up, cuddle them, and then put them back and tell them to stop throwing poop out of the cage. Rats really are great pets. If any of you are interested in more information or what have you, e-mail the wife and just ask. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to tell you all about rats and the great pets they make.

Well, I'd best get going and get back to work. I've been cramming for my FAA written (no, I still haven't taken it) so that I can either get it taken care of this weekend or the first of the week next week. I'll let you all know how I do, like you care. Oh, and since you've made it this far, why don't you go and analyze me. Screw the guestbook, that thing never seems to be working. Oh and thank you Francine for signing my guestbook and notifying me of the problems. Till next entry, y'all take care now, y'heah.

Icebear

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