ByGD
Dwarf hamsters might be even worse pets than rabbits. Where rabbits cower, dwarf hamsters burrow and hide. And they are pretty well camouflaged in their bedding. They actually make brightly colored bedding for hamsters, probably to make it easier to find your pet in its cages. But I was worried about the potential health effects on such a short-lived animal of eating dyed paper. So the closest we ever got to playing with our pet hamster was a Waldo-like “Where’s Hammie?” game.
ByGD
When we first got our rabbit, we were very worried about the cat. Although he was the smallest cat in the neighborhood, he dominated our end of the block – no other cats dared enter our yard. And he routinely dragged prey larger than himself through our cat door to finish them off in the comfort of home.
We introduced the cat to the rabbit through the safety of bars, but we didn’t need to worry. Maybe it was because the cat was getting on in years. But we had this initial standoff in which he deeply considered the options. Then he seemed to decide:
The new thing is not a cat.
The new thing is not a threat.
The new thing is not prey.
The new thing does not exist.
And from then on, he refused to acknowledge the existence of the rabbit, even when the rabbit tried to approach him.
ByGD
At the end of the school year, everyone in my family felt that distance learning was generally successful for us. But we were also very ready for the school year to end. After getting off to a strong start, we barely limped across the finish line for the last week of school. But it was also a strong finish. Because nothing is ever simple.
ByGD
{Well, this is annoying. While working on the blog last weekend, I noticed this post, which I wrote at the end of April. It was scheduled to publish May 1, but for due to some mysterious technical glitch, it didn’t. Well, I hate to waste a blog post after taking the time to write it. So here it is now. Sorry about that.}
Coming back from a remarkably slothful spring break, in the sixth week since the school buildings closed, we entered our fifth week of pandemic homeschool instruction. Nobody was particularly excited to get back to work, and for the most part we skated by on the minimum effort. But it wasn’t all drudgery. We did some interesting things.
ByGD
I have written before about the time I got bumped from a flight out of Shanghai and the airline put us up in an airport hotel of sorts. The hotel seemed fairly nice, except for a couple of sketchy elements – like the no prostitution sign inside the hotel room door. I regretted that I didn’t take a picture of that sign. Then later I found it. Proof that prostitution is not permitted at hotels near Pudong airport. So reassuring.