Funk and Fish

There's been a lack of posting due to general malaise and personal funk. I had a fine birthday - spent with good friends sharin' the love at a Thai restaurant. I bought myself three CD's for my birthday. I am in love with the Avett Brothers - they are like crazy bluegrass punk! I've kind of got a crush on them, but they're too young for me and all their songs are about girl troubles. They are funny and good. The second CD is in almost constant rotation, it is Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell's album Begonias. I grew up on country duets and this album is like a refreshing blast from the past. Great lyrics, great 70's sound without over-production. I cannot get enough of it. KT Tunstall's album Eye to the Telescope is also very amazing. This woman performs by herself, playing everything when she's live. Gorgeous voice, beautiful lyrics - she's got it all. So, even though I'm in Personal Funkland I'm listening to good music.

We have had a pet trade at our house. A little background is necessary to explain this one. About four years ago I had this wild idea of breeding guinea pigs. I am an early childhood educator and we had several female guinea pigs at work and parents kept asking about having them as pets. I decided to breed some and give them away. Well, as you can probably imagine, it soon got out of hand. I put one male (Tree) in baby pool in the kids' room with three sows and soon had a whole passel of pigs. Oddly enough, the interested parents vanished like smoke on a windy day and I was left to find homes for all of them. Many of them ended up at the child care program. I gave four away (two each) to my sons' first grade classrooms. In Bowen's class there were Scooby Doo and Captain Underpants (I had nothing to do with the names). After a couple of months Captain Underpants died from injuries sustained at the hands of one of the children in the classroom (it was really sad). The surviving pig came home to live with us (Scooby Doo). Scooby has lived in the laundry room and was then in the boys' room on their desk. He has had quite the time being held by the children, riding in Chicky's baby stroller, being put to "sleep" in her doll bed, and left to run around on the sofa.

A few months ago at the child care program, a woman knew of an African Pygmy Hedgehog in need of a rescue and asked if we wanted it. She came to us in a plastic tub; scared, very dirty, and neglected. We tried letting her out to run around when children weren't there- and she would after about an hour or so of sitting all curled up in a ball and making her huffing/hissing sound. But she didn't seem very happy. It just didn't seem fair to have a scared nocturnal animal living in a place that can be quite loud during her prime sleeping hours. So, that's where the trade comes in. Fish (named by a child at the program, we think she was thinking about a pufferfish when she came up with the name) has been enjoying our house. Here is a picture of her on a recent explore under my desk:




Even though I'm funky I've got cute prickly company.