Weekly Rat Facts: Rat Massage

If you have a rat, chances are you already know they love to be petted. Now there's petting and then there's massaging. Lucky loves getting petted but he also likes a little massage. Giving your rat a massage is easy just watch the video and see how much Lucky loves it. This is a daily thing for me and him. First he runs around the cage playing with me and then he lays down waiting for his massage. I kid you not. He's a real cuddler.

Most rats will go into a state of eye boggling bliss while they are getting a massage or being petted. Rats are very affectionate little animals.



Then he'll put his head in my hand and just want to be petted for a while. My two other rats will lay down once I start petting them and they will allow me to pet them, I can even put Bandit to sleep while I'm petting him but once he's finished with me, he'll get up and go in his house and push me away with his nose as if to say, "Okay mommy, I don't want to be petted any more right now. You may leave." lol

But Lucky will lay in my hand for an hour or more if I stayed there. When we take him out for free time on the couch he'll run around playing attack the hand for a while and then he'll just lay down next to one of us and go to sleep as we pet him.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

This week I had to put it in two pictures because I couldn't get a good picture with everything in it. 

From the first picture:

I won a blog contest from Cassandra Curtis: When Midnight Comes

And won all that cool 80's stuff, including a pair of earrings, sun glasses, T-shirt loops. blondie buttons and a I love the 80's button. 

Second Picture:

I got a sample of Gevalia Mocha latte and a coupon for a free Coke

You can find links to freebies at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark

Thanksgiving Pictures

Me, getting ready to start cooking...

My dad playing with his great-grandson while Ken holds Logan. My dad is 80 years old and was afraid to hold Logan...didn't want to accidentally drop him. 

My daughter gave Logan a mohawk... He doesn't have much hair..so it was a tiny mohawk. lol 

My daughter and her boyfriend, Josh. 

My dad and step mother. 

No one wanted me to take pictures of them eating...lol So we got pictures after everyone was done with dinner. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Review: The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry by Dakota Cassidy

Today I'm a guest reviewer at I Smell Sheep. Take a look at my review of The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry by Dakota Cassidy.

This is the first book by Dakota Cassidy that I'd read and it was a really fun book to read and review.

Recipe: Braised Pork Shoulder Hocks

Sometimes we see different meats and ingredients in the grocery store that we have no idea what to do with but it looks interesting so we get it and then search online what to do with it. Well these pork shoulder hocks were like that for me. This is the first time I've made them and they came out pretty good. 

Start out with 4 pork shoulder hocks and put them in a shallow roasting pan with a lid.

Next add a chopped bell pepper, onion, celery and some baby carrots. Then pour in a can of chicken broth.

Salt, pepper and a little onion powder and put it in the over covered at 350 degrees for 3 hours. 

I served mine with mashed potatoes and Ken loved it. 

Pretty Cool Junk

*Click on pictures to enlarge them*

 I was cleaning out my closets the other day and found some pretty cool junk. I keep things for a reason and I have no intentions of getting rid of any of this "junk". So what most of you don't know is my dad's whole side of the family are Mormon's. My dad gave me some genealogy paperwork he had in a box and along with those papers were these things. This paper is from Feb. 9th 1941. It's the certification my grandfather received when he became an Elder in the Mormon church.   

There was also this, what I am guessing is some sort of mormon map as to how to get into heaven. The top path is the Freeway "The right way" that they think every mormon should be taking to get into heaven. Along the bottom of the road it says, "The straight and narrow way"

The second path is "Broadway" and it has pictures of cigarettes and what I believe to be coffee, which are both no no's. And the little sign on that path says, " The good & honorable but blinded by the craftiness of men."

The last path, highlighted in red is the "low way" and on that path there is a wine bottle and wine glass and a sign that reads, "Go back, you are going the wrong way!" and right after that sign is another sign...

That says, "Detour 1000 years in hell" Wow, that's kinda harsh for having a few drinks, don't ya think?

I don't see a year on this map but it's safe to say that it's old. Everything that was in the box my dad gave me hasn't been looked at in years and most of it belonged to my dad's parents. I wonder if the Mormon's still hand out maps like this?

Then I found this little gem in the same box. It's The New Mining laws...

From 1956

The little booklet is only about 6 pages long but I found it to be really interesting and it's awesome that it's so old. 

Funny Things To Do

1. Put vanilla pudding in a mayonnaise jar and eat it in public.
2. Hire two private detectives to investigate each other.
3. Walk up to a small child that resembles you, and tell them you're them from the future.
4. Go to Petsmart and buy a bag of bird seed and ask the cashier how long it will take the birds to grow.
5. Go to McDonalds and ask for a Happy Meal with extra Happy.
6. Glue quarters to the sidewalk with crazy glue and watch people try to pick them up.
7. Tell a random person they have beautiful ears.
8. While in any store, walk away with someone else's cart and park it two isles away.
9. Hide a walkie talkie under a family members bed and scare them when they go to bed.
10. Hide all of your families left shoes...just the left one.

Book Review: Wicked Wind by Sharon Kay

Hey all, I was a guest reviewer on I Smell Sheep today, where I reviewed Wicked Wind by Sharon Kay. Come find out why I liked it so much! If you like Paranormal Romance, demons and hot sex scenes...this is a book you must read.

Weekly Rat Facts: Rat Temple in India

Picture from Wikimedia Commons: Photo Credit: 4ocima and en:User:Zappernapper.

India's Karni Mata Rat Temple

National Geographic did a great article and video of the rat temple in India, which you can find here.

According to the video there are over 15,000 rats inside and people come from all over to sit, eat and just be with the rats. Inside this temple the rats are considered sacred and are protected, pampered even. They are fed milk and in the pictures I've seen they are brought food to eat. People come to the temple to pray to the Goddess Karni Mata. The rats are considered a form of the goddess and they are worshiped by some of the people. Some of the people there believe in reincarnation and they believe that when they die they become rats and when a rat dies they are reborn as humans.

In order to go into the temple, you must remove your shoes so you don't squish the rats. Since there is just one person who scoops up the rat feces, if you go there you will be stepping in rat urine and feces. But after you are done, you can wash it off, so I wouldn't let that stop me. Some people are afraid to go in at first but once there as you can see from the video, they are laughing and loving the interaction with the rats. And it looks like the rats really enjoy the interaction as well.

I found a site that has great close up pictures of the rats. Be aware that if you click on this link, you will be going to a site with many pictures of the rats. So if rats aren't your thing, you might night want to click here.

If I traveled and found myself there, I would definitely go there and visit the rats. I can't imagine a place that I would like more than sitting around with more than 15,000 rats who are used to being around people who treat them really well.

So tell me, would you ever visit a place like this?

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

 This week I received: So much that I had to take two pictures!

From the first picture:

I received a surprise box from Vocalpoint that contained 2 full size Secret Clinical Strength Deodorants and a coupon for another full size product. 

From the second picture: 

BzzAgent sent me coupons for three full products..a bag meal, salad and bread as well as other coupons to use on my next purchases. 

I also received three tea bag samples from Twinings. I found the links for this great freebie at Freebieshark and Hey It's Free

If you click on any of the links in this post they will take you to the websites where you can either sign up and can start getting free products or you can find links to some great free samples. 

What Are You Doing For Thanksgiving?

This year my family is coming over and I'm making dinner. Or I should say brunch as we eat really early so my 80 year old dad can come over. He has a really weird sleep schedule and had to be home by 1pm so he can go to bed for the day. He'll get back up around midnight and stay up all night and go to sleep around 1pm again. So we'll be eating Thanksgiving 'dinner' around 11am. lol 

That's ok, it'll be early enough that my daughter and her boyfriend can go to his parents house later on and have dinner again. 

So what are you doing for Thanksgiving? Having family over? Going to visit family?

Whatever you're doing, have a good time.

Thought For The Day

What's On Your Shelf

Last month a fb group I belong too did a post about, "What's in your pantry". I thought I would expand upon that and do a post about what's on your shelf...or shelves..

As you can see, 2 of my book shelves are over flowing. So much so that I really need to box some of these books up until I have more room for more book shelves or these shelves might topple over.

Thankfully my living room bookshelves aren't like this, these are in my bedroom and when I finish a book I just put it on one of these shelves. I don't like giving away books, most of the books I have now I want to keep...I just don't have the room unless hubby builds me some wall shelves and he would rather have me box up the books. lol 

So, what's in your cupboard? This week, I have tea bags, seasoned green beans, more cans of vegies, white rice, rice a roni, and gravy. I'm sure there's more stuff in the back but that's the stuff you can see. 

It's interesting what we keep for long periods of time in our cabinet shelves. I know for a fact that I have a jar of wheat germ in that cabinet that's been there for about 3 years and I don't even like wheat germ. I also bought a small can of marzipan, with the idea in mind to make some marzipan animal figurines out of them. But then I fiddled with some clay and tried making a little mouse...it looked like a monster so I didn't even open the can of marzipan.

Do you have anything on your shelf that you haven't used in years?

My Recipe For Homemade Guacamole

For a small portion enough for 2 or 3 people, I use three large ripe avocados. Just use a fork to smash them in a bowl and add a tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Mix well. 

Add a little salt to taste and refrigerate until chilled. I serve it with potato chips or use it instead of mayo on sandwiches. This also goes really good on tacos. 

Weekly Rat Facts: Sprains and Strains

Because Lucky only had 3 legs I am more careful with him and how I let him jump around when he is out for play time. I don't want him to land too hard on his 1 front paw and sprain it. 

Because rats have such small bones in their bodies and limbs, sprains do happen if they fall out of your hands from a tall height and land in such a way that it hurts their legs. If your rat starts limping after a fall or jump it's a good bet that he has either sprained his leg, hurt his paw or has a break in a bone. For most sprains there's not much you can do other than make sure they don't do any jumping or climbing for a while. So taking out all ledges, ropes, ladders and any other things you have in their cage that could get them high enough that they'd have to jump down from, is a good idea. You can also give them children's motrin for the pain but if this is your first time administering this medication, it's wise to get a veterinarian to give you dosages for your rat. 

If however your rat has broken their leg and your vet thinks they can fix it. They can try a cast or they can amputate the leg. Because their bones are so small it's harder for a vet to set their limbs and put a cast on it so that the bones won't move. I have a 3 legged rat who was born that way and he does fine, running, jumping and it doesn't slow him down at all. 

The best thing you can do to make sure a break or sprain doesn't happen is to always make sure you are holding your rat securely when you have them in your hands so they don't jump down on the floor while you are holding them. If you are standing up when they jump, that is a very high landing for such a small animal and it will surely at the very least sprain or bruise a leg. Younger rats are more agile and can handle having ropes, sticks and ladders in their cage but as rats get older and cannot keep their balance as well, those things should come out of their cage so they don't get hurt.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

This week I received:

5 samples of Loreal Youth Code Serum

Sample of Tums Chewy Delights

Sample bottle of Simple moisturizer

I found all the links to these freebies at Freebie Shark and Hey Its Free

I also won a giveaway from I Smell Sheep! I won an I Smell Sheep T-shirt, mousepad and box of moonpies! 

My Rat, Marbles

I took a little video of my rat, Marbles eating a little rice and potato salad. I hardly ever get good pictures of Marbles because he won't sit still. For a 3 1/2 year old boy, he still runs around all over the place. The life span of a rat is around 3 years old so Marbles and Bandit, also seen in the video...are old men by rat standards.

Book Review: Eternal Flame by Valerie Twombly

Hey you guys, today I'm a guest reviewer at I Smell Sheep. I would love it if you stopped by and checked out my review of Eternal Flame by Valerie Twombly.

A Day in The Life Of A Rat

This is my boy, Marbles. He has continuous respiratory problems as well as mental problems it seems. He does the strangest things like snort at us if we try to pick him up. He does not like to be handled and instead of kisses his likes to nibble our fingers. I think that's his way of saying hi. We put our hands in the cage and he'll run over and nibble/bite all of our fingers.

He also likes to tell us when it's time for a Yogi treat. He comes over to the corner of the cage closest to the couch and stares at whoever is sitting there. He'll snort or sneeze or get you're attention and then hop up and down until you give him a yogi. Once you give him a yogi, he retreats and eats it and goes back to sleep or bothers his brother. 

Marbles also has a weird thing about pudding...he'll stick his paw in the spoon and rub his paws on the fleece. Then come back and 'bap bap bap' the spoon with his paw. I think he's trying to slap the pudding into submission so it will stop getting his paws wet, but it doesn't work. lol 

I'm sure both of these two probably thinks they names are "Where's your brother?" Every time I go to their large cage and see one of them, I seem to say, "Where's your brother" to whomever is the first one I see. They probably go back to their bed and try to figure out what their human is talking about. 

It has become my goal in life to find a food that this little guy Won't eat. He's not picky like the other two at all. He will beg, climb the bars of his cage and stare at you until you give him a bite and then no matter what it is...he'll devour it and come back for more. I can't shovel the food in his cage fast enough for him. He wants to try everything I make so I give him little bits of whatever I make for dinner. He appreciates it. 

He's my kissy rat too. He gives kisses all the time. Okay so maybe to me they are kisses and to him he is grooming me. But I call it kisses..He was giving Ken kisses on his forehead here. 

Bandit and Marbles have a big cage to play around in. It's hard being a rat, it sure is. 

They follow each other around and make sure that one doesn't get more treats, petting or cuddles than the other one does. Bandit will actually shove poor Marbles around and up against the cage with his butt when he wants to act like the alpha rat and show Marbles who is boss.

But they play with their toys together with no problems. 

After a hard day of eating and playing with the rat toys, it's nice to have a soft place to take a nap. 

"Are you stalking me?" Marbles meant business. I was just trying to take a few more pictures but he wasn't having it. He grabbed my fingers with his teeth and pushed me right out of the cage. lol 

Bandit resting after hard day of bullying his brother and making sure he got the best resting spot in the cage. 

When Marbles took over the fleece cube in the background..Bandit decided to photo bomb me while I was trying to take a picture. Yeah, they are jokers like that. 

One of my old guys that has since passed away. He liked sleeping with a rubber ducky. It's so hard being a rat...

Two of the biggest rats I've ever had. Both were 3 lbs but Jasper, the tan and white one was 19" long from nose to the end of his tail. I think he must have had ancestors at the Nuclear testing facility.

And more playing...It's hard being a rat.

Have You Started Your Holiday Shopping Yet?

ViewSonic 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame

On Amazon

I have started getting some things already. Actually I started buying things about 4 months ago because if I don't, I'll never be able to afford to get some things. So I do a little bit of shopping each month that I can. I bought this for my dad. I have no idea what to get for the man but he likes pictures of his great grand kids and of the rest of us, so I figured this might be a good gift. 

I have yet to download the pictures to the darn thing, I still have to do that because my dad doesn't have a computer, wouldn't know how to use one and has no use for them frankly. He's 80 years old so I guess I can understand that. 

I also bought him a table book on the Golden Gate Bridge because he is obsessed with that bridge for some reason. He just loves pictures of that bridge. I bought him a clock with the golden gate bridge on it last year for his birthday and he loved it. 

The reason I'm only talking about what I got my dad is he's the only person I know that doesn't have a computer and can't look online at this post to see what I've bought. lol 

So have you started shopping yet? When do you start Christmas shopping? I would start in January but Ken thinks that a bit soon. LOL 

Pot For Pets?

Now Who in the hell thought this was a good idea?

Pot For Pets

"After seventeen years of research and development, and five years of clinical trials, these supplements are now available directly to the public, over-the-counter and without a prescription."

Canna-Pet? Really? Haven't these people read the articles about how dogs can and have died from ingesting medical marijuana from their pot head humans? No? Well, here ya go...

Dogs Dying After Eating Medical Marijuana  

It happened. It's a fact.

I wouldn't give my animals anything made from marijuana. If they are in pain, give them pain pills and if you are afraid they will get addicted like a human *I know, can you say pain killers anonymous for dogs, right?* give them Tramadol. It's not addictive and my sister in law is giving it to her dog who is old and in pain and it helps.

If I have a headache, I'm not gonna smoke a joint..I'm going to take some tylenol..because it works.

Guest Post Book Review: Crazy Ex-Ghoulfriend by Angel Roquet

I did a guest post book review over at I Smell Sheep for a YA (Young Adult) book called Crazy Ex-Ghoulfriend by Angela Roquet.

I'd love it if you went over and read my review at I Smell Sheep.

Weekly Rat Facts: How To Get A Sick Rat To Eat

This is Brodie, I had him a few years ago and he lived to be 2 years old. He was extremely picky when he got an upper respiratory infection but I was able to find a few foods that he would eat. But only a little at a time, so I had to hand feed him from a spoon 6 times a day for about a month. 

Over the last 10 years I've had 12 rats and for the most part they have all been healthy and died of old age. Old age for a rat is usually around 3 year old. But rats do get upper respiratory infections and can become quite sick very fast, which is why I always have antibiotics on hand to give them when they get sick. The sooner you can get them on antibiotics, the better chance they have of getting better sooner. 

When rats get old or sick, they tend not to want to eat. Which can make them even sicker since they will lose weight and even become dehydrated very fast. Sometimes we rat parents have to come up with strange combinations of foods in order to get our sick little buddies to eat. So I thought I would let you know some of the foods I have personally found that my rats would eat when they were sick or getting old. 

If this is your first sick or old rat, you should take them to a Veterinarian and have the vet let you know what medicine's they will need. You may also need to help them drink more water by bringing the water to them on a spoon or by bringing the water bottle closer to where they lay. 

Here's Brodie on the right, looking right into the camera. Hades is the black and white one and in the back was Ares. On the left you can see Jasper's butt. lol 

They are all eating a little chocolate cereal here but Brodie got very picky in his old age and especially when he got sick. I also had a rat that lived to be 4 years old but when she was around 3.6 years old, she stopped eating the hard seeds and hard rat blocks and got a little skinny. So I fed her other things.

Here's are foods my old and sick rats would eat. Keep in mind, sick and old rats will usually only eat a little at a time and sometimes you will have to hand feed them these foods 6 times or more a day because if they are like mine and you just leave it on a plate in their cage, they won't bother eating it. I would sometimes have to scoop a little onto my finger and let Brodie lick it off until he wouldn't eat anymore. You will have to have a lot of patience with them. 

Mashed boiled eggs mixed with ripe mashed avocados. This should be mashed very well with very little chunks or they might not eat it. *This is good for rats that need to put on some weight as well because avocados are a fattening food*

Mashed potatoes that have been thinned out with gravy, milk, butter and/or sour cream. If the mashed potatoes are too thick, they can choke on them. 

Pudding

baby food

egg salad

yogurt

ice cream

Nutri-Cal *A high calorie nutritional supplement for pets you can get from your vet*

Ensure

baby formula

whip cream

mashed ripe fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberry and peaches

cottage cheese

cream cheese

I hope some of this information helps anyone out there nursing a sick rat back to health. 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

This week I received:

A box with 2 samples of Lipton Tea K cups. 

Tyson dipping cup (From a fb promotion)

Nature Valley protein bar

Scotch tabs (for putting pictures and things on the wall)

I found the links to these freebies at Freebie Shark and Hey Its Free

Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color Giveaway!

Vocal Point was nice enough to offer a few bloggers the chance to giveaway coupons for Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color. So I have 3 coupons for free boxes to give away to you and if you color your hair like I do, you know you want this. 

As you can see in my before and after photos, I do color my hair and within a few weeks of coloring my hair, the roots start to show. By using the Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color I can do a quick touch up to just the parts of my hair that need it instead of coloring all of my hair which takes a lot longer. 

Here are my before and after pics. This is the picture before I used Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color, and you can clearly see a few gray hairs up there on top.

This is my 'after' picture. After Using Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color the gray hairs are no longer there and my hair is once again all the same shade of dark brown.

If you'd like to win a coupon for a FREE box of Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color, all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post with your email address so I can get in touch with you if you're the winner. I will pick a winner on November 14th and they will have 24 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be picked. USA only please.

Thanks to Vocal Point I will be giving away 3 of these coupons for a FREE box of  Clairol Nice 'n Easy Root Touch Up Hair Color. Just leave a comment and your email address so I can get in touch with you if you are one of the winners. 

Update: This giveaway is now over. All winners have been notified.