Pets

N.O. No is back!  That's right.  We had a hamster at-large for at least a day around here.  Flannery was not happy, Cayla demanded a replacement, and Collin was pretty neutral about the whole situation.  Needless to say, both hamsters now have about 50 pounds of tools securing down the tops of their cages.  All's well that ends well :)

In other pet news, I'd recommend against taking dogs to Thanksgiving Day Parades.  This was a combination of poor planning and a bit of laziness on our parts.  We were taking Greta (our part-time dog) to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner #1.  And, we were going to the parade in the morning.  It seemed like a poor idea to leave her in the cold, cold car with 4 pies, so we brought her with us.  She did enjoy the 2 block walk to the parade, but didn't appreciate what came after:

• Freezing cold - nope!
  
• Marching bands with banging drums - nope!
  
• Sitting still for 2 hours - nope!
  

So, the parade found me taking a few breaks to walk the dog (?!?!?!?), which of course she loved.  She especially loved all the little bits of crap to eat.  I forgot what walking dogs in the city is like.  Her best score was a spit-out-glob-of-old-chew eewwwwwhhhhh!!!  That dog has a stomach of steel.  Cayla only made it halfway through the parade anyway.  So at 10:30 Cayla, Greta, and I retired to the car.  We blasted the heat, turned on the iPod, drank hot chocolate and some of us fell asleep :)  Next year we shall drag ourselves out of bed 1/2 hour earlier and deposit Greta at my parents house.  Parades are no places for dogs.