How's your week going?- Week of June 7, 2021

[ProudTVJunkie]

Hi All,

Well, we got our hamster! Her name is Butterscotch and she’s a six week old Syrian hamster. Kate didn’t want to get one from a chain pet store. After all of her research, she learned that just like there are puppy mills, there are rodent mills. So we found an ethical hamster breeder. Yes, there is such a think but it's not easy to find!

A very nice woman on Long Island specialty breeds rats and hamsters (I never knew rats could be so cute.) But she is about 3 to 4 hours from us. So my brother-in-law and his girlfriend, who live in Brooklyn, drove out to pick up our hamster (about 1 & 1/2 hours each way), and then we drove to Brooklyn to pick up Butterscotch (about 1 & 1/2 hours each way.)

That probably sounds rather excessive but my brother-in-law was happy to do it for his niece (earning him the Best Uncle Ever award) and we got to visit a little while with them before heading home.

As for Butterscotch, she’s adorable and quite friendly as she’s been handled from a very young age. Her habitat is a 40 gallon breeder aquarium tank with a lid because she seems to be a climber!
I’ve attached some photos.

So what’s new for all of you this week?

[tycho657]

Aww she looks very cute. She is lucky to have such great parents to watch over her. Kate will be so good to her. Glad you got her from a private owner and not a pet store.

[nathanfan1]

Welcome to the family, Butterscotch! I think it's wonderful that you found an ethical breeder and hope she and Kate have a great time together.

[geezer2008]

It's so nice to start to live again   Last Wednesday, we took a daytrip to the Shalom Zoo which is about 2 hours away. The paths are all gravel so we rented a golf cart to protect Rikki's knees. The zoo was awesome and also had a few albino  animals. We never saw that many in one place before. We had lunch in a restaurant on Lake Michigan. A very enjoyable day.
 
Friday, we took the twins to see Cruella. We all enjoyed it and it was wonderful to spend a day with our beloved twins again. We went through a drive-thru and brought lunch to our house so we could visit and get all caught up. They are 10 this year but still enjoy being with us so will enjoy it as long as we can before they outgrow  us. We made plans for more movies this summer. 

If you are fully vaccinated, you can go mask less, but they recommend social distancing. You also have to wear masks in stores that require it. We continue to shop early and avoid crowds. We are surprised by all the things we can do without being in a crowd. We go to lunch when the place first starts serving, dinner the same way, and movies at small crowd times. For Cruella, the super screens were sold out so we went to a smaller screen and there were only 6 of us for the 1 PM showing.

We have been going to Pete's baseball games and tonight is Penney's first soccer game. Family's group together and distance from other families. It works nicely.

Rikki will have her left knee replaced on August 9. Her surgeon wants to do one at a time and feels the right knee will be okay for a little longer. Because she had cancer 3 times in 2 separate areas, she has to have major checkups in both areas this summer. Those are coming up soon so please say a little prayer for her. Thx in advance. We appreciate it

Have a good week!! 

[nathanfan1]

Geezer, so glad you guys are enjoying life again, especially the time with the twins! I hope Rikki's replacement brings her relief from the pain but I know from the experiences of friends who've had it done that you do have to really work hard during the recovery. I sure hope it goes well for her. 

[larryholmes]

From personal experience [both knees replaced], tell her to be sure to do all the exercises the doctor recommends. Be diligent but do not over-do it. Both times I was up and walking within four hours. They would not let me do more or walk further but were pleased that I progressed so quickly during recovery. The most frequent comment was, 'If only everyone would do the pre-surgery exercises, their recovery would much quicker and less unpleasant'. Hopefully she'll recover quickly too.

[geezer2008]

Jun 8, 2021 20:43:58 GMT -5 larryholmes said:

From personal experience [both knees replaced], tell her to be sure to do all the exercises the doctor recommends. Be diligent but do not over-do it. Both times I was up and walking within four hours. They would not let me do more or walk further but were pleased that I progressed so quickly during recovery. The most frequent comment was, 'If only everyone would do the pre-surgery exercises, their recovery would much quicker and less unpleasant'. Hopefully she'll recover quickly too.

Thanks for the advice, Larry. Others who had successful replacements echoed your sound advice.

[geezer2008]

Jun 8, 2021 15:32:20 GMT -5 nathanfan1 said:

Geezer, so glad you guys are enjoying life again, especially the time with the twins! I hope Rikki's replacement brings her relief from the pain but I know from the experiences of friends who've had it done that you do have to really work hard during the recovery. I sure hope it goes well for her. 

T H A N K S , Bobbie