A Lovely Saturday

Today was the first slow Saturday we have had in what feels like ages.  We spent the morning with the ferrets playing and wrestling - they are all doing just great!!  The bulk of the day was spent downstairs with the piglet, the kitties and the dog.  They napped, played with toys and hung out.  We did a few chores, hubs caught up the laundry and we did a whole lot of nothing in between - it was quite lovely.

In just a bit we will head back upstairs and take ferret attendance.  I am fairly certain I will find everyone but Violet - she seems to be on a schedule where she is sleeping very soundly in the evenings.  I saw her on a trip upstairs in the late afternoon and that will likely have to suffice.  Everyone seems to be happy and hanging out and I have enjoyed having some downtime after a whirlwind week starting back to work.  I do adore my little zoo....

Pet Product Review - Pet Pig Busy Ball

Yes - the Bento Ball is still quite popular with Mr. Piglet - but I am always looking for new things to keep him stimulated and out of trouble.  I ordered him this:

It's a Pet Pig Busy Ball and Winston loves it.  You unscrew the red plug and fill the ball with pig food and then when piggy pushes it around food comes out the holes.  It works great - its a slow process so it takes a long time for him to empty the ball.

There is only one problem with said ball - its about the size of a bowling ball and Winston has bowled several strikes - knocking over all my kitchen chairs playing with his ball.  Needless to say - this is definitely a day time only toy - not something that I can give him and head upstairs to bed.  The downstairs would be wrecked.

I am happy he likes it and it does certainly keep him busy....I give this one two thumbs up...

Stories of the Day

Yesterday just got away from me - it was my first day back to work after 17 days off - it was like my brain forgot everything.

Yesterday was Theo and Violet's birthday.  They turned 2 years old - wow - time goes fast.  It was a bit of a bittersweet day as it would have been Finn's birthday as well - we do miss him so.  Violet and Theo were given some special treats - a bite of yogurt covered pretzel....and - their most favorite thing ever - a chance to help change the bed.  They love to play in the sheets and blankets!  It's quite entertaining to watch.  They had some company - in fact everyone but Madison took part in bed making.  Its a bit challenging to get anything done with a five ferret assist but its much fun.

Little Mister Piglet is just too smart for his own good.  He is now obsessed with the gate that keeps him downstairs.  It started with him pushing it open - I was able to easily rectify that by putting something behind the gate.  Then he figured out how to pull it open.  Geez - after much trial and error, realignment and work with a wrench I think we have secured him once again.  Smart and very strong is a tough combination to combat.

Bento ball wars continue - somehow we are down one ball - I can't find it anywhere which means that piglet and pup have to share.  That goes over like a lead balloon.  There is much refereeing required.  Hopefully tonight when I scoot the furniture to do a quick carpet shampoo I will find it.  Emma is pretty good about letting Winston play with it once he has it but if she has the ball in her possession she is barky and snarly. Winston tries to be sneaky - cuddling up to her and slowly making his move for the ball - sometimes it actually works.

Kitties and ferrets are all doing well - quite happy with everyone's level of engagement and energy.  Life at the zoo is happy!!  :)

Pet Peeves - 2015 Editions

I have decided to resurrect the Pet Peeves posts for this year because lets face it - there are some pretty annoying things that happen when you live with twelve critters...

1.  Posting about pet peeves at 6:30 am on my last day of vacation courtesy of Oliver.  He is not a fan of being shut out of bedroom at night so he breaks in by sliding the room divider and hopping over the gate.  This annoys me for a couple of reasons - first I worry that we will have a ferret escape with the room divider out of place and second - Oliver is just obnoxious when he gets in our room getting onto and into things he shouldn't.  So - as a result I am up incredibly early.

2.  New and improved ways to get into trouble by Mr. Piglet.  He is so smart that he discovers new and annoying ways to get into trouble.  Lately he has decided that it is a necessity to splash water ALL OVER the kitchen by shoving his water dish.  This makes the kitchen rugs quite soggy...  Additionally he is now obsessed with the gate that keeps him downstairs - he is quite strong so we are having issues with keeping it closed.  So frustrating....

Of course - as I type this both Oliver and Winston are curled up sleeping angelically now that I am awake... sigh!

New Post Headers

I designed some new headers to use when I post the kitty, ferret and pup/pig updates on the blog!  What do you think?

A group of kittens is known as an Intrigue - who knew

A group of ferrets is known as a business...

60 days and 6 months

I can't believe its been 60 days since we lost Finn.  In some ways it feels like forever ago and in others like it happened last week.  I would say the pain of losing him so suddenly has diminished some but in all honesty I miss him desperately.  I adore our new babies and I am so happy that Theo has Kai and the baby girls in addition to Vi and Maddie but even with all of those wonderful distractions - I still miss my boy.

On a much happier note - we have a six month old piglet today!!  Winston is growing up for sure - not just in a physical sense but also in that he is 100% potty trained (unless he has access to the stairs - not sure why he loves to pee on the steps).  He is much more independent as well - a big boy who sleeps downstairs and who does a pretty good job of entertaining himself while his humans are occupied....  I can't b believe we had had him for 5 months.  He is a trip!!  Love that bovine boy!!

A Shiny New Year - and Some Garbage

I love the changing of the year - a fresh clean slate and an opportunity to celebrate the successes of the previous year and forget about the rest.  New years day we spent the morning playing with the ferrets and lounging upstairs. Then we moved downstairs to spend some time with piglet and pup and kitties. It was not a day for accomplishing much....love those days - they are too far and few between.

So far the theme of this year from a critter perspective has been garbage - I hope that is not a sign of how this year is going to go....  Winston has discovered garbage cans and has tipped two and spread garbage all over the downstairs. They have been relocated to places where he can't get to them - fun times.

Theo and Kai have decided that playing in the upstairs garbage is fun!  While its much less messy than when Winston does it - they don't tip the bin - they get messy and smelly rooting around in there - joy!

Geez - give me a break boys - I have enough messes to clean up without adding this to the mix.  Today will be a heavy chore day - lots to get done around here and the goal is to finish up today so I can relax over the weekend and on Monday before heading back to work on Tuesday.  We will see how far we get...

Fingers crossed for well behaved critters today...