Sarah's Zoo 2011

[avarocks]

[align=center]Even though my 2010 blog is so short, I am the only one here with a 2010 blog so here is the 2011 one!

Here is the link to the other one:
Sarah's Zoo 2010

I do not start this blog on a positive note. I will leave most of the details out but tonight I had a final explosion with my verbally abusive boyfriend. Needless to say, he's not my boyfriend anymore. But, my rent subsidy is at risk because of him. I'm hoping my worker here in my building can help me sort that out. She is willing to try. I have rent-geared-to-income housing because of being on a disability pension. If I lose my subsidy, I can't pay the market rent for my unit and would lose the apartment. It would mean moving back 'home' to a very negative environment. To top it off, that environment is not wheelchair friendly. I would lose my animals too! I will do everything I can to make sure none of that happens. A worker here is going to write a letter on my behalf. She doesn't know yet what happened here tonight and she won't be in until Monday morning. But she knows about issues. We were talking today and she was waiting for my word on Monday anyway about whether or not a letter would be needed. It is urgently needed now but of course no one is in their offices until Monday anyway. It's a long, complicated story but I have to iron it out so it doesn't mess up my life any more than it already is.

On top of it all, I have a nasty chest infection. I went to the doctor today and got meds for it so it shouldn't get any worse.

I will end this not-so-cheerful beginning with a little funny:

Milo was running on the floor last night and he grabbed a plastic bag and went running under the couch with it at record speed. He never does that. That little stinker knew he shouldn't have it and knew I'd take it. Of course, I did. I dove for the floor and under the couch and wrestled it from him. If he swallowed any or suffocated himself or something...no way was I letting him keep it. I'm not sure how he even got hold of it! So he comes out again and this time grabs one of my shoes and runs that under there. Now he's playing games. I snatched that too. Sent some of his cardboard toys under instead, much better for chewing. He WANTED to be chased the little stinker. Honestly...you'd think he was a little kid! LOL!


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Meet Sam

Sam is one of my 5 guinea pigs. Sam is the runt of his litter and comes to me with his brother, Tigger. Tigger will get his own post tomorrow or the next day but I'll put a pic up of them together. Sam is gray & white and not your typical piggy. For one, he's very attached to Tigger. If you remove Tigger from the cage and leave Sam in, he throws what I call a 'Sammy tantrum'. He flips his house over, squeaks his head off, runs around like crazy and generally let's you know he's not a happy camper. When being held Sam squeaks constantly. I call it telling stories. Something fun about ALL of my guinea pigs is they know the word 'carrot'. If you mention it even in passing they all go nuts. And I mean NUTS. Every night at veggie time I say 'Hey guys...does anybody want...a...CARROT'. And they all come flying out of their houses and start squeaking loudly and chewing the bars. It's soooo funny. You can't spell it either...they know that too. I have to call it the C word like I'm saying something bad. Sam is very high strung and hyper but he loves just as hard. When he was little he would run up your shirt sleeve. Sam also needs to have control and is trained to run to the right shoulder when he wants to 'go home' (return to his cage). If he is getting ansy I put him on the middle of my chest and say 'GO HOME'. If he wants to go, he will run there. Or sometimes he does it himself. I trained him because he used to give a very painful bite when he wanted to go back and he was doing damage when he bit. He now has that control. Here are some pics of my Sammy! AKA Sambo (his version of 'Rambo) Sam I Am, Sammy Sammy etc.

On the deck of my parents' cottage a couple years ago:

Just peeking out:

After a tantrum:

My favourite pic of Sam:

I was bathing him once, and he actually started to play in the water:

This pic was supposed to be of him looking up at the camera all cute. As the flash went off, he yawned, and this is what came out:

Tigger and Sam snuggling:

And my favourite of Tigger and Sam:

 

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I had a problem, but here is the picture that is my fave of Tigger and Sam:

 

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Meet Tigger!

Tigger is Sam's brother. Tigger is a huge 'momma's boy'. He doesn't like much to be held by anyone but me, however there are a couple of exceptions. If I am sitting close by he will struggle to get away from a person, run to my lap and stay there. If he can't do that, he turns his whole body anywhere I go so he can see me. He loves to hide! He ran up my shirt sleeve once and stuck his head out the neck part of the shirt...while I was wearing it! I just looked at him and said 'Are you comfortable?' He will do just about anything to hide. He has this dome house he drags to the water bottle, then he drinks with this house on his back. I think Tigger was a turtle in his past life. He's a huge snuggler. He will snuggle with me all day and night and be perfectly happy with it. Onto the pics:

I love to hide so much, I'll try to crawl under the snuggle bed...with Sam still in it!

The tunnel I used and played in until it died:

Out on the deck a couple years ago at cottage:

Posing for the camera:

Hey, how's it going!

Mommy's favourite picture of me...well, one of them:

Peeking out to say hello:

Having a snuggle with Sam:

Hiding again!

 

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What bunny blog would be complete without pics of the bunny. I just took a bunch of new ones today (there are a bunch of other Milo photos in my 2010 blog which is linked from the first post). Here it is...as adorable as ever! Call me biased, or anything but in this mommy's eyes, this is the cutest bunny in the world :biggrin:

 

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Nela

It's not a silly question at all. I can see them from my wheelchair. I am able to stand if I hang onto something, so I stand up to feed them and to get them in and out of their cage.

Sarah

 

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My ex boyfriend called me 15 times from his shelter yesterday...ugh. I finally called and complained about it. It's very hard to move on when someone is harrassing you like that. As much as there was a lot of verbal abuse, I am now beginning to miss the positive parts and it's even harder to deal with when he won't stop calling. It's bad enough as is. Thankfully there have been no phone calls today. It's a relief. I spent the day at my parents' place as I usually do on Sundays. Mum cleaned all my animal cages before we went there so everyone is happy.

I'm still quite sick from this chest infection. It's a head cold now too so I'm feeling pretty blah. Even more blah is that this virus is transferrable to my guinea pigs. I cannot touch them until I get better and that kills me! But, it's for their safety. If they get sick with a URI they can die from it and would require urgent vet care. They are better off if I leave them. I wash my hands right before feeding them and go near them long enough to provide food and water and otherwise keep away.

Sarah

 

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Dave

Haha so is that why my credit card bill is up so high? My cable bill is pretty up there right now too, maybe he's ordering pay per views and not telling anyone...hehe

Sarah

 

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A cute moment to share:

Milo was relaxing on the floor, and so I got down on the floor with him, on my tummy and put my face inches from his, to see what he'd do. Nothing at first. I went right up and began kissing his eyes and his forehead. I was rubbing his nose with mine and I was rubbing his forehead with my face all the while giving kisses. He closed his eyes and actually stretched out.

Then, I just set my head down and watched him up close. He sniffed me a little and rewarded me with a sweet little kiss on the forehead. He's such a sweetheart!

Sarah

 

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Not much new to report in the land of Milo. He had to have a timeout in his cage for awhile yesterday. He was banging his bunny gate a lot and no amount of 'no' was stopping him. The problem with this is, for one it was 10:30 at night and for two, I live on the second floor of an apartment building and there is someone living in the apartment below me...who likely would not appreciate that banging at that hour. I had to stop him. He was mad for the first while in the cage, I left him in there until he had calmed down for a good 10 minutes. Took about half an hour but after that he got another chance and he was perfectly fine.

I'll be spending more time with the animals at the shelter as well, the small animals that is. The bunnies and the guinea pigs. I go in twice a week to socialize cats, but I have approval to socialize small animals so I'll be dedicating time to just them, on a more regular basis.

Sarah

 

[Nela]

Hey Sarah,

I'm sorry to hear about your boyfriend. Good for you for standing up for yourself and not letting him continue to disrespect you like that. I really hope it all works out with the appartment. I know how hard it is to find a wheelchair-friendly place. :expressionlessI ended up taking a bachelor in a duplex that had a sloped driveway to get into but it was far from perfect. Getting a wheelchair down that kind of driveway in the winter... Oh dear.We had a few very close crashes into the garage door.

I do wonder though... Wouldn't it benefit you to be on your own in terms of subsidies? Meh, some aspects of the system could be so twisted. :expressionlessI hope that letter helps you out but I am hoping it won't be necessary and that you can stay right where you are without any trouble.

I love all the pictures. I am glad you are posting more :biggrin2:Good on you for getting the chance to socialize the wee ones at the shelter as well. I'm sure it'll increase their chances of being adopted.

 

[Nela]

*Knock knock* :lookaround