September Month in Review

Ah - I so love long weekends - we started off the month with lots of critter time.  Labor Day weekend was relaxing.  Hubby interfaced much more than usual with the littlest critter in preparation for my upcoming business trip.  Emma experienced a couple of days of upset puppy tummy - a large bowl of rice, chicken and broth seemed to do the trick in getting her all fixed up.

I traveled for work for a week and the hubs did a great job of assuming the zookeeper duties.  I missed them like crazy but they seemed to be just fine when I returned.

Phoebe had a swollen lip - this happens every so often and I treat it with colloidal silver both topically and in the water and that seems to fix it right up.  I believe this to be some sort of an allergic reaction - perhaps to the chemical stuff that came on the cat tree?  She seems to feel fine, eats, plays - nothing changes and it doesn't seem to hurt when I poke and prod it.  She is back to 100% and doing great.  The others all seem happy and healthy as well.

We are making the transition from summer to fall which will result to screen doors and windows open which all the critters love.  Emma is still being excessively uncooperative about getting her picture taken.  Don't think we don't love her just because she isn't featured so much these days - hopefully this will be a short lived phase for her.

All in all a great critter month - but then - when isn't having these guys around great??

September Photos

Here are the snaps for this month:

The Elusive Miss Emma

Emma and her neuroses - sigh.  She has been missing from this months posts.  She really has decided that having her picture taken is not her thing.  I am hoping this is a phase because she makes it nearly impossible.  If we are upstairs - she heads for under the bed the minute the camera turns on.  If I am upstairs and she is downstairs I can trap her on the stairs but she is smart enough to duck her head so you can't get a good shot.  Cripes.  Not sure why she has decided that this is a bad thing all of a sudden.  I have been taking her picture for 8 years.

So - here is the stand in emblem - similar to the elusive sacred cow that Clooney hides in a different spot each day.

I miss snapping her cute doggie face.....

Nigel - Again - but how can you help yourself?

I know, I know - we already had a Nigel post - but he was so playful and cooperative when I had him out exploring on the cat tree.  He is so stinking cute - I can't take it....  :)

A Typical Weasel Afternoon

Here an example of the afternoon shenanigans of the weasel:

First we must reverse the weasel butt into the small space by the fridge - he visits this space every day - not sure why he likes it...

Then crawl up on the love seat to share the red fuzzy with Ollie.  My two boys hanging out together - so cute!

Okay - enough resting - lets see what trouble we can get into - first we must "mark" the dining room rug.  This will let all the other ferrets (?) know that is his rug.

OOOHHHH - groceries - Clooney loves loves loves bags and he likes to check out the new purchases as they come into the house....

The other fun for Clooney for this day was assisting the HVAC guy who came to maintain our system before winter.  Clooney stood on the guy's feet, played in his bag and pretty much played welcome committee.  Luckily the guy has 5 cats, a dog and a chinchilla so he felt right at home.  :)

Kitty Snaps

Went crazy with the camera when I came home from my business trip - here are some of the kitty snaps (with a cameo by Nigel):

Who Knew?? - Our Cool Visiting Praying Mantis

In early September I wandered downstairs to take Emma outside and discovered an awesome praying mantis on our screen door.  He stayed there all day long - not bothered by us opening and closing the door.  The hubs took these great pictures of him:

I was happy to have him visit but I didn't really think much of it.  He left sometime overnight and when we got up the next morning he was gone.  Fast forward about 5 or 6 days and low and behold he was back.  This time he was on the window by the front door and I caught him having some breakfast:

He is actually a really cool bug - very attentive - checking me out as I stand there like a crazy person talking to him while he munches on some beetle or some other unfortunate insect.  So - of course I had to look up the interesting fun facts about praying mantis:

There are 2000 species of praying mantis
They have excellent eyesight and can see up to 50 feet away
They can rotate their heads almost all the way around - no other bug can do that!
They are more closely related to the cockroach than the grasshopper - EWWW

Evidently they can live for about a year so maybe we will be lucky enough to see this guy a few more times.

Cute Critter Pictures

I get lots of emails about critters from family and friends - there was a cute one I got from a favorite cousin and I thought some of the pictures in there were way too fun not to share: