The Abe Report (subtitle: When Hamsters Escape)

Yesterday morning, I woke up and came into the office to say good morning to Abe and Willa. To my shock, Abe's cage door was open and Abe was nowhere to be found. I absolutely could not believe it. I knew I had closed his door firmly. How could he have escaped?

Leo was sure I just hadn't closed the cage, but I knew I had, so I took to the internet to find answers. It wasn't long before I found around ten YouTube videos of hamsters escaping from the very CritterTrail where Abe lives. Here are some of them:

Hamster Escape 1
Hamster Escape 2
Hamster Escape 3
Hamster Escape 4
Hamster Escape 5

So it's a thing, this escaping hamster bit, and more than that, it's something that happens regularly with that cage!!! Obviously, they should sell a lock with the cage.

Abe was missing and possibly hurt (his cage usually sits about four feet off the ground, so I'm pretty sure he fell), and the only clue I had was a dropping near the bookcase where his cage sits. And worse, I didn't even know what room he was in. Much of our house has doors with two-inch gaps at the bottom, because the house used to be carpeted pretty much everywhere, and the bottoms of the doors were cut high to accommodate the carpet. I replaced the carpet with hardwood and now there's a gap, which isn't a problem most of the time, but obviously, that gives a wide berth for a curious hamster, so I was afraid Abe had left the office, which left at least seven possible rooms he could've gotten into, on the second floor alone.

Have You Seen This Hamster?

I read on several different "How to find a lost hamster" web sites (and there are tons of these sites, so you know it happens all the time) that you should put out some food and water and sprinkle flour around the food and water so the hamster makes a trail wherever he goes. I figured that was a good bet, since Abe has kind of a "hair skirt" now, what with his development into a longhaired hamster. 

I sprinkled flour everywhere, sitting on my floor like a coke addict, using two Business in Blue Jeans business cards to create tidy lines of flour in front of doors and around piles of food and water in virtually every room on the second floor.

And as of this morning, Abe is still missing. None of the flour was disturbed and none of the food was eaten. However, there was a dropping just outside the pile of food just outside Abe's cage (duh, why did I put one there anyway?!) and some bedding next to it, so I think Abe ignored the snacks and went for the food and water he knows in his cage. Duh. At least I have some indication that he's alive.

I emptied the bookcase next to Abe's cage and had Leo pull it out to see if Abe was behind or under it, but Abe wasn't there. I'm pretty sure he's still in the office, so I'm ready to move to Phase Two of Operation: Abe, which involves a bucket with peanut butter and snacks in the bottom and a wooden plank (or books) as a ramp so the hamster can get to the yum-yums. Hopefully, we'll catch Abe and get him back to his home and I can stop freaking out with worry and missing him.

In the meantime, Willa's still mothering the babies, they are starting to look less creepy, and the pet store confirmed they'll take the babies, so I have no worries there. Whew.

My Power Minestrone

This is a recipe that Leo absolutely loves. I make it in the autumn, just around back-to-school time. It's warm and comforting, but it's also packed full of nutrients and good, healthy stuff! It's also easy to make. You start with a broth - you can make your own or you can use store-bought. I used to make this with my own broth that I made from scratch, but Leo introduced me to Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes, which I still haven't found in Indianapolis. We've found beef, chicken, and tomato with chicken, but not vegetable, so when we go overseas, we stock up. Last January, my checked bag aroused a little bit of suspicion due to the massive quantity of Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes and paella mix packed inside (at least now I know I can get Knorr from Amazon and avoid the raised eyebrows from airport security).

Ingredients:

3 1/2 c. vegetable broth 

1 29-oz can Italian-style (or fresh) diced tomatoes

10 oz frozen green peas

1 c pasta (macaroni, shells, etc.), uncooked

1 lb fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried

1 19-oz can white beans, rinsed and drained

Parmesan cheese

Combine vegetable broth and tomatoes (with juice) in a large soup pot or Dutch oven; bring to a boil over high heat. Add peas and pasta; reduce heat to medium and cook 7-9 minutes until pasta is tender. Stir in spinach leaves and beans; cook over medium-high heat until spinach leaves wilt and soup is heated through. If soup is too thick, add water or broth and heat through. Serve in individual bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese just before serving. 

Variations: 

• You can substitute half of the tomatoes with 3/4 cup salsa for a little kick.
• Substitute half the spinach with 1/2 lb of kale or rainbow chard.
• Or, do both substitutions!

I've made this many times and it freezes really well, so you can make a giant vat of it, freeze it, and have yummy, healthy soup all winter long.

Raw Food And My DIY Dehydrator

Last year, I decided to embark upon a test of the raw food diet. I have no problem eating vegetarian, but raw, while probably the healthiest dietary option, is a completely different choice, and I wasn't sure if I could tolerate it. So I borrowed a couple of basic books from the library and started my research.

It wasn't long before I discovered that "raw food" is a lot more complicated than it sounds. I assumed that people eating a raw food diet just ate a bunch of salad and fruit. Not so. Raw food is far more interesting, complex, and diverse than I ever imagined, and in fact, some of the most delicious food I've eaten to date came from a raw food cookbook.

"Raw" in the raw food diet doesn't mean, "completely uncooked" or "cold." In fact, many raw food dishes are served warm (a particular favorite of mine is a spaghetti dish made from zucchini - look for the recipe in an upcoming post). The theory behind raw is that critical enzymes are lost in the cooking process. But the destruction of the enzymes doesn't start until the food is heated to 106 degrees Farenheit. So as long as you keep the temperature below that, you're good to go. That means you can heat food and you can also dehydrate food, as long as you stay below 106 (I stayed around 100, just to be safe).

And that's where my dilemma came in. Quite a few raw food recipes require equipment, whether it's a food processor, a blender, a specific kind of rotary chopper, or a dehydrator. Now, I had a bunch of this stuff already, but the one thing I didn't have was a dehydrator. There was an awesome pizza recipe that called for a dehydrator, and I love my pizza! But as I did my research, I discovered two things: a) most commercial dehydrators heat food to over 130 degrees, and b) raw food dehydrators are kind of expensive, if you want to be able to control the temperature of the food. The Excalibur, for example, is over $200.

My DIY Dehydrator

Well, my birthday was coming up and Leo had recently proved his building prowess by remodeling a shed into a chicken coop and building a chicken run with his own two hands. So I asked for a dehydrator for my birthday, and the very next day, Leo took me to the hardware store, picked out some wood, had me choose handles and hinges and before I knew it, I had my very own, handmade dehydrator. And instead of costing over $200, it cost just around $30 for the materials, which is a far more reasonable investment, when you're just conducting an experiment and aren't ready to commit to a full-on lifestyle.

The dehydrator is heated with a lightbulb. It's controlled with a dimmer switch, and we use a simple kitchen thermometer to determine the temperature inside the box. There's a screened hole in the top for ventilation, and the shelves are removable. In this photo, I think I was making either pizza crust or flatbread - I can't remember which. 

Most importantly, for my birthday, I received a beautiful, handmade gift that was made with love. What more could a girl ask for?

HamWatch 2010: Day 4

Today I had a minor panic. Since the hamsters live in my office, I'm able to keep pretty close tabs on them all day long, which means I'm usually here during the rare moments when Willa gets up for a stretch. I keep my camera next to the hamsters and as soon as I hear Willa rustling around, I can hop up and snap a photo of the babies (as long as I'm not with a client, LOL).

This afternoon when Willa went on a little walkabout, I snapped this photo of the babies. I was editing the photo and it's become my habit to count the little critters a couple of times each day to make sure they're all there and healthy. This early, it's not uncommon for a baby to get lost, especially since their eyes aren't open and they're so vulnerable that getting lost means certain death, which I'd like to avoid. When I looked at this photo, though, I could only find eleven of the twelve babies.

I panicked, went back to the nest, and lured Willa out with some multigrain Cheerios so I could count again. Luckily, I discovered that all twelve were there, so it's possible that one was just covered up with bedding when I took the photo. Whew.

Well, as you can see, some of the hamsters are turning a bit dark. Four of the twelve, it seems, are going to take after their dad, Abe, who, as you know, is a lovely black hamster. It's fascinating to watch these babies develop daily and see them grow this way, and they make the most delightful squeaks throughout the day.

Speaking of Abe, Leo and I have been spending more time with him since Willa's been occupied with the babies. Abe's CritterTrail has an upstairs "condo" that's removable, and he'd brought all manner of bedding and snacks up to the condo, so the other night, we brought him (in his condo) downstairs to watch TV with us.

Here's the thing about Abe: he's kind of slow-moving most of the day. He only starts to pick up speed around 11:00 PM. So as we snuggled up in a blanket on the sofa, I felt confident taking him out of the condo and settling him on the sofa with Leo and me. Abe was quite happy to curl up on top of the blanket with some Cheerios and lettuce, and really seemed to enjoy "Top Chef" and "Leverage." But then he got curious and wanted to explore the entire sofa, and we were worried he'd fall off, so I brought him back up to the office.

This morning, though, I discovered that Abe has moved all his stuff downstairs, so I think maybe he didn't enjoy having his condo moved around. That said, he's getting much more comfortable with being handled, and actually seems to like being held, so I think there's more TV and movie viewing in Abe's future.

Oh...I've been getting e-mails about the cats. People want to know, "How are the cats handling the hamsters?" and "Where are the cats?" Here's the scoop: the only one of our cats that lives in the house full-time is Kate, who's almost twenty years old. Kate's almost blind, mostly deaf, and the fact that we even have hamsters barely even registers with her, so that's a non-issue.

Kate has no claws (certainly not my doing) and doesn't get along well with the other cats, who all have all of their claws. Kate's old and also has a heart murmer, and Leo and I don't want to get her riled up too much, so the other four cats live in a large sunroom and come into the house during the day, as long as they don't upset Kate. And when they're in the house, the door to the office (and thus, to the hamsters) is closed. I don't think the other cats even know we have hamsters, but I'm sure if they did, there'd be a lot of interest. Rest assured, though, the hamsters are totally safe and protected at all times.

Stay tuned for more HamWatch 2010, as we await the opening of the eyes, fur, and movement out of the nest!

My Love Affair With Airborne

I have loved Airborne for the better part of two decades. Airborne is a dietary supplement that's purported to boost the immune system. It's also, by the way, an excellent entrepreneurial tale.

Airborne was developed in the early 1990s by an elementary school teacher who found herself catching cold after cold and was tired of catching all the bugs her students brought in. So she set about finding a way to boost her immune system to try to protect herself, and Airborne is the result.

Airborne contains Zinc, Ginger, Echinacea and 13 other vitamins, minerals and herbs. The ingredients have all been scientifically shown to boost the immune system.

Airborne rates quite highly in both my winter-stocked medicine cabinet as well as in my travel bags. I drink Airborne whenever I travel and several times throughout the year. Leo's adopted the same policy. We'v enoticed that we tend not to get sick when we follow this protocol, and recently when we traveled to England, I forgot the Airborne, and sure enough, Leo caught a cold and was sick for a few days when we arrived back at home.

I've been in love with Airborne for such a long time, I can't recall the last flu season I spent without it. My favorite flavors are the original orange and the newer lime. Pink grapefruit and berry were never my thing. The great thing about Airborne, though, is that it tastes good. I actually enjoy it, so it's not entirely uncommon to find me sitting in an airport Admiral's Club, reading and enjoying a glass of Airborne in between flights.

I still take my multivitamin (despite my recent post about vitamins, I do still taken them, just in case), but whenever I'm flying or planning to spend any quantity of time in a large group of people, I drop an Airborne into a little cup of water, wait for it to fiz down, and chug it like I'm at a frat party.

Willa's A Good Mom!

We're heading into Day Three of HamWatch 2010, where Willa has had her babies (official count: 12) and is performing her motherly duties with absolute perfection. So far, it appears that all twelve babies are still alive and kicking and growing exactly as they're supposed to.

Willa is turning out to be a really great mom, which isn't always the case in the animal kingdom. When I was a teenager, we had a Yorkshire Terrier who had no idea how to give birth, much less take care of her babies once she had them. We had to help her a lot, and it was like she had no maternal instincts whatsoever.

As a result of that experience, I was worried that Willa, being a first-time mom, wouldn't know exactly what to do. But my fears were completely unwarranted, as Willa's instincts have really kicked in. She's maintaining her nest and continues hoarding food, but more importantly, she doesn't leave those babies alone for more than a few seconds. She will move about to stretch a little a couple of times a day, but for the most part, she's covering those babies, keeping them close and warm and letting them nurse, and doing everything she's supposed to do. And as far as I can tell, every single one of the twelve babies survived and is still thriving.

I don't think I'll feel totally safe until we've past the 10-day mark, but at this point, I'm cautiously optimistic that all of the babies are totally healthy and strong.

Baby hamsters; credit: ighor.info

Quite a few of my friends have e-mailed me to say that the hamster babies are really creepy looking. Indeed, they can seem a little odd, if you haven't seen them before. When I look at them, I see what they're about to become - tiny, sweet, irresistible little fuzzy hamsters. And even if they look a little...naked...when they first arrive, there's no doubt that they're absolutely adorable in just a couple of weeks.

From The Mouths of Babes

As told to me by My Sister The Dentist....

Recently, My Sister The Dentist was at home with her three year-old daughter. My Sister The Dentist was doing an old Cindy Crawford workout tape and her daughter was watching and sucking on a pacifier. Somewhere through the workout, My Sister The Dentist stopped (I assume huffing and puffing was involved) and said, "This workout is hard!"

My niece took her pacifier out, looked thoughtful for a moment, and asked, "Is it hard for Cindy Crawford?"

Hotel Review: Marriott-Owned Hotels, United Kingdom, Part 2

Last week I covered four Marriott-owned hotels in London. This week, we're heading north to take a look at a few other Marriott properties. 

First, two "utilitarian" properties, one of which we've used quite a few times as "home base" when visiting the kids and one which was a recent stopover. 

Newcastle Marriot Hotel Metrocentre

The Newcastle Marriott Hotel Metrocentre is not one of my favorite Marriott properties, but it's located near an IKEA and the Metrocentre, which is Europe's largest indoor shopping center, located in Gateshead, in the far northeast of England. If you want to get to the Metrocentre from the Marriott, you actually have to walk across two giant parking lots, which I don't mind on a pleasant day, but find cumbersome in the rain or snow. Unfortunately, the train station is located inside the Metrocentre, which means if you're coming straight from the airport, you have to drag your bags across these parking lots, unless you can get really lucky with the shopping center shuttle.

This property is a bit older-feeling than most. It does have a couple of rooms that are considered "fanta-suites" which was kind of a cool concept in the 80s, but I can't imagine that I'd enjoy staying in a "Wild West" or "Arabian Nights" themed room these days. At any rate, the hotel itself isn't a place I particularly enjoy staying. The service and food are good, but not great, which pretty much sums up the hotel itself. But in a pinch, if I need a place to stay in the Newcastle/Gateshead area, the Metrocentre property is pretty much the  most convenient Marriott in the area, so unless I discover something better, it's the "go to" place when we're in town.

Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County

Not too far from Newcastle is the Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County, where Leo took me for a birthday weekend. Situated on the banks of the River Wear, the Durham Marriott has sections dating back to the 17th century. Plus, bonus, it's located quite close to a dynamite pizza joint (LOL)! Seriously, this hotel was gorgeous and we had lovely service and food there (the dessert menu was particularly delightful). The hotel wasn't located too close to the train station, which means taking a cab (or a long walk, if you arrive late at night, as we did), but it is located close to Durham Cathedral, which is absolutely stunning. Walking around the town of Durham and investigating the castle and cathedral is a wonderful, romantic way to spend an afternoon, and finishing the day at this hotel is the perfect way to cap off a lovely day. I'm surprised that Marriott doesn't rank this hotel higher. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I think the Durham property is very nice.

Dalmahoy, a Marriott Hotel
and Country Club, Edinburgh

Hey, did you ever want to get lost in Scotland? Well, if that's what you're looking for, there's no better place than Dalmahoy, a Marriott Hotel and Country Club. Now, I can't complain much, as this particular hotel in Edinburgh is where Leo and I stayed over Valentine's Day weekend when Leo proposed to me. So I have very fond memories of this place. But I have to say, this hotel is one of the most confusing hotels I've ever seen, owing in large part to its historical architecture. There's just a lot of "you can't get there from here" to the hotel, as certain stairs lead to some corridors that don't connect to other corridors, and it's all very confusing.

The spa at the Dalmahoy is nice, but nothing particularly special, same with the restaurant, and the service is just okay. You can take a convenient bus into downtown Edinburgh, and the walk to the bus stop takes you across the hotel grounds, which are awfully pretty. I'm not a huge fan of golf courses in general, but this one is kind of nice. 

Manchester Airport Marriott Hotel

Similarly confusing and maze-like (albeit not nearly as visually appealing) is the Manchester Airport Marriott Hotel. I stayed here for a night recently. The room was pleasant, the pool was gorgeous (including a steam room, sauna, and cold pool), and they had what looked like a very nice spa. However...while the room service menu offered less pricey options than the actual restaurant, room service itself was highly inconsistent. The kids and I had room service twice and they forgot a couple of side dishes the first time, and forgot completely different items the second time. Plus, we ordered the same Spaghetti Bolognese dish both times, but it was prepared with spaghetti first, and penne the second time, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Still, the convenient location (just a very short and inexpensive shuttle ride from the airport) was worth it, and overall, both the kids and I had a good night's sleep, which is, after all, the entire point.

What it comes down to is that across the United Kingdom, Marriott has properties ranging from fabulous and incredible luxury hotels where you want to stay indefinitely to serviceable, convenient overnighters that deliver a tolerable place to rest your head.

Stay tuned for more hotel and condo reviews down the road!

Do People Really Enjoy Counted Cross Stitch?

Do people really enjoy counted cross stitch? I don't. It makes my head hurt. I have a problem with the grids and counting the stitches, and maybe that's ADD-related. I don't really know. But truthfully, I don't think my lack of love for cross stitch is because I'm impatient. Rather, it's that I love crafts of two different varieties: 1) the kind that allow me to flow with my creativity and 2) the kind that allow me to relax in front of the TV. And cross stitch doesn't really allow me either of these things.

For creative flow, I love spending time in my craft room, where I can get tangled up in ribbons, get my hands dirty with rubber stamping ink, heat up the room with a lampworking torch. I just love seeing where my creativity takes me. Now, counted cross stitch...it's just something that requires constant, vigilant attention...attention I simply don't have. I've done some pretty cool things in cross stitch, but I sure had to force myself to stick with it. It wasn't easy.

Now, having said all that, I do envy cross stitchers. I think their work is stunningly beautiful, and I confess to having more than my fair share of cross stitch kits that I was absolutely certain I was going to complete...but didn't even start.

My favorite pattern from
Subversive Cross Stitch

Of course, today, I have a fairly firm grasp on the fact that I quite simply don't enjoy cross stitch and shouldn't invest any more money into that craft. That said, if I was going to try again, I think I'd like to try the kits available from Subversive Cross Stitch. Julie's been in business for several years and now has a wide variety of hilarious patterns, including one that says, "Shut your piehole" in the style of an old Amish sampler. The irony is what makes me giggle most.

So that's my take on cross stitch. Maybe it's just me.

Abe & Willa Are Parents!

This morning, I had to go see My Sister The Dentist about a funny feeling in one of my teeth. The drive to My Sister The Dentist's office is pretty long, so Leo came along to keep me company (rockstar hubby points scored: 423).  When we got home, I came upstairs to the office (where Abe & Willa live, currently in separate cages on opposite sides of the office) and started working. That's when I heard it: teeny tiny little squeaks. Sure enough, Willa had her babies while we were gone.

It took a few hours before she moved, so for awhile, all we could see was a teeny tiny leg here and a wee little pink tail there. But finally, Willa got up and ambled over to the wheel and there they were. And wow, there were way, way more of them than I ever expected.

When I was a kid, I had gerbils that procreated rampantly. I loved it, because I had a little business (always the entrepreneur) selling the babies to a local pet shop. But the gerbils, it seems, only had four to six babies at a time. And while I'd read that it was possible for hamsters to have up to fifteen, I never imagined that little Willa, herself only around twelve weeks old, would have such a massive litter! My best count is around eleven or twelve, but since we can't actually get close or touch them, we can't say for sure how many are there. Plus, it's not uncommon for one or two not to make it. I really hope they all survive, and I think we're going to need a bigger carrier when it's time to take them to the pet store for sale.

In the meantime, Abe's missing Willa like crazy. We moved him a couple of days ago because we were afraid that when Willa had the babies, he might eat them, which is quite common for males to do. Since he's been away from Willa, Abe's been moody and bored and stands up in his new cage across the room and looks longingly at "the main house" where Willa still resides. 

Abe's escape attempt
from the CritterTrail

Er...actually, right now he's looking at me, which I attribute largely to the fact that earlier this evening, I discovered that Abe's learning. He's been living in Edison's old CritterTrail, which has bars and a door that opens. Abe's discovered where the door is and when he sees me come over, he waits by the door and attempts escape in a number of different ways. Luckily, he's not super-fast most of the time, though his speed increases as it gets later into the night and his nocturnal brain starts to wake up, so I have to keep a close eye on him, especially if I decide to feed him late at night. And now, he's making this frenzied attempt at escape, trying to chew the bars of the CritterTrail. He really, really wants to get home to Willa and the kids.

That said, this time that Abe's been forced to spend apart from Willa has given Abe and me a chance to bond. He comes out for sleepy cuddles throughout the day. This evening I brought a salad up to the office to eat while playing a computer game, and I gave Abe a couple of salad greens and we ate our salads together, Abe comfortably settled in his little colorful cage and sitting right next to me. It was sweet.

Abe and Willa, 6 weeks old

At any rate, I know many folks find the babies pretty weird-looking. One of my friends described them as "creepy" and "embryonic," which made me giggle, because I know how absolutely adorable they're going to become in a very short period of time. Heck, their eyes aren't even open yet! Remember, this is Abe and Willa at 6 weeks. It won't be long before these little babies are just as cute. Stay tuned for more updates!