Hands of Horror, Feet of Death

"What place of hell have you brought me to?"

While on the way to the bank with Captain Hill, I realize this sounds odd, taking the hamster out to the bank. I suppose this requires some explanation. The hamster has been in the cage for some time. I suppose I was thinking she needed some air or something in the way of a change from the ordinary everyday scenery that she gets from being in her cage.  I needed to go to the bank.  This brings us to bringing the hamster along for the ride.

Being put into a smaller cage and then into a shopping bag probably isn't much in the way of scenery. Hamsters have poor eyesight though. So being in a bag might not be that bad, at least the hamster would get to experience the different smells from the outside world. As I write this I'm reminded of the oversized lady we walked by wearing some cheap smelling perfume that she bathed in. I winced as we passed her. Hamsters with an acute sense of smell... well I'm sure that Captain Hill didn't enjoy that particular moment in time.


"Hold gently, Do NOT squeeze!"

Anyhooo... while making our way to the bank we were met by William and Irmena with their two kids. They were going to a neighbourhood open house "Welcome to the neighbourhood" party. It was a get together to meet people in the surrounding area hosted by some folks just a few blocks from where we were standing.  They invited me to tag along.  I think they might have also mentioned free food.


Within ten minutes we were in the backyard of someone's house. I noticed that there were a lot of kids and everyone that were considered adults were coupled. Spotlight on the single creepy guy with the hamster.  Thank goodness I don't live in a dark basement.  Oh wait, I do.  Creepy.

Since Asha and Finn, William and Irmena's kids, already knew Captain Hill was in the bag there wasn't much point in trying to conceal the hamster from the other kids. There were a ton of kids.  Luckily there were only a few kids that noticed the others were busy playing on the swings or playing tag further off in the yard. The kids that did notice the hamster were more than enough.  I'm sure to Captain Hill  there were enough of them to freak her out. I let the hamster out of the cage and onto the ground so Asha could have a better look at her.  Next thing you know there's a swarm of little hands flailing out to touch Captain Hill.

 Kids, human kids, are small, uncoordinated for the most part, are attracted to small furry animals and also have a very short attention span.  This makes for a dangerous combination.  Not knowing hold to hold a hamster properly could be very uncomfortable.  Despite trying to teach them how to hold the hamster properly there was still that one kid that went to hold Captain Hill like a toothpaste tube.


Captain Hill didn't seem to mind this little girl's grasp.

There was one girl that held the hamster in a weird way.  The correct way to hold a small creature is to have one hand underneath to hold it's weight, the other hand to cover the animal so it doesn't fall (or leap away).  Despite the two hands clutching the hamster Captain Hill looked like she was falling asleep...  that or the oxygen was being squished out of her.  I couldn't tell.

I placed her back in the cage in the bag.  The kids had started running around the yard.  I was afraid she would get stepped on.  Kids are like chickens with their heads cut off.  Running around, not looking where they were going.  It was all pretty nutty.


One of the kids looks in the bag to see if Captain Hill is doing okay.

Eventually I left the party and made it to the bank.

Captain Hill versus the Beach

Captain Hill eating veal sandwich

Going to the beach seemed like a good idea this morning when I couldn't think of anything else to do.  I figured I should get outside for some fresh air and at the same time bring Captain Hill out for an adventure (aka photo shoot).

Since getting her back from Mean Little Mama she hasn't used the hamster wheel.  I'm not sure why.  It's possible she's gotten too fat...  er... big to use it.  It could also be that it fell over with her in it once too often back when it was supported by a stand and not attached to the cage wall.  What ever the case may be I thought it would be good for her to get out of the cage and get some exercise.   Plus the scenery change couldn't hurt could it?

It took about 3 hours to get the beach.  Stopped off to get a veal sandwich at Nonna's, then stopped off at the hardware store to get a garden shovel, then stopped off at McDonalds to get a large orange juice (the plastic cup would be used to help make the sand castle).  We took the Queen street car leisurely across town to end up at Leslie, about 15 minutes walk from Coxwell.  There was construction that wouldn't let the streetcars  go any further.

I stopped off under a picnic station (a bunch of picnic tables under a roof in the park) to eat my sandwich.  I gave some of the veal to Captain Hill.  She actually liked it and I got some funny photos of her eating.

The hamster book recommends that you feed a hamster some kind of meat once a week.  The protein can be live crickets, dog food, or some mind of cooked meat (excluding pork - because it's too fatty).  So veal it was.

We then went down to the beach where I started creating a sand castle which came to look more like a sand pit with cup shaped mounds.  In my brain I thought it could be a simplified hamster scaled down version of Easter island.  Sure why not?

The shoot went well.  Watching the hamster waddle toward the lake to be caught in the small waves of water was interesting.  Being a desert animal I don't think captain hill liked the water much.  She would wander back onto the sand to dry herself.

Ears back.  Captain Hill seems put off by the new sandy surroundings

In the "sand castle"

"Duck and cover"

The sand blowing has stopped

looking around the beach.

happy trails

Captain Hill meets the water