Spring Break!

Spring Break was a lot of ups and downs for us with Joe spending so much time at church working.  But the network project is done now which is a huge!  I had time while waiting for Joe at church in which I completed this pretty embroidery piece I got from https://little-dear.com/.  I also snagged a couple Thai Constellations from Kroger for me and my friend.  And of course the best part was meeting up with some of my family and our friends in Rockford, OH at New Horizons Community Church to get 3 1/2 minutes of totality during the Solar Eclipse.   All in all, not too bad for Spring Break. 😊

Glorfindel is so stinking sweet, and I love taking pictures of him.  He's such a happy old ham.  💓

Míriel is getting a bit calmer, but is still pretty crazy.  I don't fully trust her yet to not bite my fingers when I'm holding her, so I don't hold her too long and mostly use a cuddle sack to transport her and carry her around.  She getting more and more accepting of pets and doesn't run away from me when she sees or hears me.  I think she'll turn into a sweetheart soon enough.  Especially when treats are offered.  Haha!

Palm with Gemstones

It's spring break and I'm loving being home with Joe!  So far though he has spent most of his time doing IT/tech work for our church (specifically working on the network).  Unfortunately things have not gone well which has been frustrating to him.  We are going in today to wrap up a few other projects that haven't been finished yet and for him to try a doing the network stuff a different way that he thinks will work and not take too long to set up.  I'm really hoping he is right so he can finally be done with all that!  Hopefully the rest of spring break can be fun and relaxing for him.

Glorfindel is often up multiple times per day to grab a drink and putter around looking for a snack before he heads back to his burrow.  I love seeing him so much, but I can tell he's getting older.  I often pick him up for a quick kiss on his head before I let him go back to bed.

I mentioned in the introduction post for my new ham, Míriel, that she is crazy.  I think she can best be described as a guard dog.  Whenever she hears a disturbance near her home, she comes right out to investigate.  She often stands up like she's ready to throw punches.  If you reach your hand in towards her, she'll go right for you, ready to bite if she thinks you are a threat.  Thankfully I've been careful and while she's gotten her teeth on my fingers before, she's never drawn blood.  And she is getting more and more comfortable with me so I decided to just go for it and do some posed pictures with her outside of her aquarium.  I took these pictures last week, and for her first time out of her aquarium, Míriel did great! 

Meet Míriel!

I meant to do this introduction a while ago...  This is my new hamster, Míriel!  I've had her for a few weeks now.  After Olórin passed away, I decided I really didn't want to wait to get another hamster and that I wanted to get a young one that I could have for hopefully a long time.  So shortly after cleaning out Olórin's aquarium, I filled it back up and brought home this cutie.  I initially thought I had gotten a boy, but after a week I realized I most definitely had a little girl.  😅  These pictures are all from the night I brought her home and within the first week after that.  My expectation was for a chill guy, but instead I have this insane girl.  She's seriously crazy, but I adore her.  ❤

Míriel is another name from Tolkien.  In his works, she was the queen of the Noldor and was known for her silver hair and skill with her hands.  Míriel means "jewel-daughter".  The more I've gotten to understand this little hamster's personality, the more I think this is such a fitting name for her.  She doesn't seem to be afraid of anything!

In a Tube

I've really been enjoying the sun and seeing my front flower beds getting greener and greener as more leaves burst through the ground and the beginnings of buds appear.  I am so excited to see what blooms!  For the last couple of years, I've bought used bulbs from the Botanical Conservatory.  Most of what I got was tulips as I already have lots of daffodils.  The squirrels have done a bit of damage to the bulbs, but thankfully, I think most of what I got has continued to survive.  Two years ago, I planted everything I got in the front of the house, and I got to see most everything bloom last year.  Then last year I bought tulips to go around our deck, so this year will be the first time I see those bloom.  I can't wait!  I'm hoping that whenever we finally rip out the deck (which is still falling off of our house) that the demolition and construction (which will likely be a stamped concrete patio) won't damage my flowers.  I think whatever I buy from the used bulb sale this year will likely get planted in the front again, just to be safe.  😅

Glorfindel is such a sweet ham.  I'm hoping the time change doesn't make it more difficult to see him when he is awake.  Although he doesn't seem to mind at all if I end up waking him up when I put food in his tank before I go to bed.  😊

Tigger Too

I have a propensity for over evaluating everything to make sure I'm doing it to the best of my ability and/or in the wisest way possible.  Unfortunately, I also struggle with making decisions so sometimes I get trapped in a cycle of evaluating and considering decisions without actually doing the thing.  😅  I feel like this is already describing my day today.  I have a lot I'd like to do so I find myself trying to evaluate the best order to do everything in and figure out the priority of the things I'd like to do so I can hopefully get it all done or at least get the highest priority things done, but I feel like I'm actually just wasting time evaluating things when I could stop overthinking and just do things.  So here I am writing a blog post.  I could (or even should) be doing other things.  But I've recently been reminded of how much I love sharing my cute hamsters with you all.  Social Media can be such a dark place to be, so I hope that my silly pictures can brighten someone's day.  😊

I think these pictures of Glorfindel cuddling under a blanket with Tigger feels appropriate for the cold we've had the last couple of days.  I know it isn't spring yet, but I am looking forward to the warmer days we have predicted for this weekend.  Glorfindel is such a great little model for me.  If I have an idea for a picture, I can always count on him to get it right.  He's just the best!  💙

RIP Olórin

Yesterday I found Olórin curled up in his nest in his forever sleep.  He seemed so old last week as he slowly meandered around while I cleaned his aquarium.  He sometimes would squeak at me while I cleaned to tell me how annoyed he was to be disturbed, but he was very kind and never bit me.  I noticed before I went in to clean yesterday that he hadn't touched his food, so I suspected his time had come.  He looked so incredible peaceful.  💙

I adopted Olórin from The Pipsqueakery in August of last year.  I met a Pipsqueakery volunteer who lives in Indy who went there to pick a hamster out for me so I wouldn't have to drive as far.  It was fun getting a mystery hamster!  I was told when I got him that he was already around a year old and from the beginning I could tell he was likely past the prime of his life.  He was such a quiet ham who didn't like to be seen.  Since I didn't see him much, I didn't interact with him much, so I never got to bond with him the way I have with my previous hamsters.  He tolerated me getting him out for pictures because I provided treats, but he seemed to prefer to just be left alone.  The first two pictures were taken shortly after I brought him home.  The rest were taken just three weeks ago.  I'm used to having hamsters for much longer than 6 months and while I hoped for more time with him, he was already older when I got him so I tried to spoil him from the beginning.  Despite the fact that he was a grumpy old ham, he was always so sweet to me and I will miss him. 💙

Cat Bed

I'm already missing the warmth and sunshine we had yesterday.  But I'm trying to use the gloom today to motivate me to just focus on my to do list and get a lot of things marked off.  I'll admit I'm getting distracted by the birds outside.  They are trying to eat from our window feeder while Arien crouches on the desk next to me waiting for them to land so she can pop up and pounce against the window, making them fly away.  No amount of scolding Arien seems to make a difference.

Glorfindel is doing well and is such a precious little guy!  I often catch him awake in the mornings when I get up.  He's also occasionally awake before I go to bed.  It's been so nice seeing him more and more.  He definitely knows that I am the giver of treats and stands on his hind legs to reach as far up the sides of the aquarium as he can when he hears me.  It's utterly adorable.  💗

Olórin is my ghost ham.  I don't know exactly how old he is, and my estimate is that he's actually about the same age as Glorfindel which is about 1 year and 5 months old.  However, while Glorfindel doesn't seem to be slowing down at all, on the rare times that I do see Olórin, he's acting more and more like an old guy just puttering around.  I don't know if he's actually much older than Glorfindel or if his genetics are just way worse.  I suspect that Olórin won't have a long lifespan like I've had with most of my other hams.  But he is getting spoiled.  And even if he doesn't recognize that I'm the one spoiling him, I still love him.  😊