Good bye Vince

Thanks for all the good wishes for DD. She is now encased in a blue cast & staggering around on crutches. We spent HOURS at the hospital today so I managed to get some knitting done which was the only good thing about it.

Vince went to the vets this afternoon & is now no more. DD was absolutely beside herself last night but took it really well today. She was a lovely little hamster & never bit any of us so we're all a bit sad tonight.


Vince

Knitting content soon I promise....

Happy Gotcha Day Vince

It's mine ALL MINE!


If I could just lift it up..


whoops.....


wedge my foot here....


Got it!


Bye!

Update on bad news

Finally an update on all our bad news. DH collected his mum just over a week ago & she was pottering around very sore & bruised but just about managing. DD was visiting every day after school whilst I cooked her dinner as MIL lives 8 doors from us & both SIL & I were doing her shopping.

The little finger on her left hand has been badly disocated & the bone is broken in 5 places on the first bone from the hand. She was told that her right foot was suffering from tissue damage & that it should start to feel better in a week or so. A trip to her doctor & the advice that she'd be better off going go casualty at the local hospital as a referral would take weeks. So SIL took her on Monday evening. They finally came home at midnight & we were waiting to help get MIL out of the car. The hospital had put her right foot into a non-weight bearing cast as it was decided that a bone was indeed broken & she'd been given crutches. However as she's broken a finger in her left hand she couldn't walk on the crutches! They did offer her a zimmer frame but she wasn't impressed & refused. She was also given another hospital appointment the next day for her hand.

It took 3 of us to get her upstairs so that she could use the bathroom & get ready for bed so everybody was exhausted but worried about her on her own in the house when we went home to bed. As the limbs broken are on opposite sides of her body if she were to fall over she wouldn't be able to get up. She managed to get out of bed, dressed & went down the stairs on her bum by the time DD & I arrived on Tuesday morning to make her breakfast before the trip to school & work.

SIL then took her to the hospital again to keep the appointment regarding her hand. The prognosis wasn't good & she had to go in first thing this morning for an operation to wire the finger together otherwise she'd lose much of the use of the finger. Luckily that she was operated on first thing this morning so she didn't have to wait long. She is however in a lot of pain so is staying in hospital over night & will be going to stay with SIL (her daughter) once she's out until she's a bit more mobile. She's now sporting a pot on her right foot & another on her left hand & is obviously very sore.

And now for something totally different:

The ellusive hamster is back behind bars again!!! She'd been returning to take the food that we'd been leaving out every few days but apart from that we hadn't seen or heard anything of her. Our neighbours knocked on the door yesterday informing us that they'd woken up at 4 a.m. that morning to see her sat on their bed looking at them!!!

So DH set up our trap (my biggest glass vase) in their bathroom last night & they heard her scrabbling to get out early this morning. She had gotten under the floor & was having a fantastic time flitting between the two houses & coming up underneath their bath! She'll probably sulk for a few days like last time & will no doubt be hatching her next escape within days. DH is planning to get a smooth sheet of plastic which we can lay across the doorway to prevent her leaving the bedroom if she does escape. As her room also hosts the digital server (acts as a clever video) he refuses to close the bedroom door as she'd cook.

Will have to make sure that the prepared hamster cakes that DD loves to buy her don't contain any nail files......

Bad news

We got a phone call last night from my MIL. She has been walking the Coast to Coast walk from St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay. Just over the half way mark her & her walking companion were walking in Swaledale on Sunday afternoon when they had an accident.

MIL was just stepping over a style when the wall collapsed on top of them both. They were both buried under the rubble & MIL had her ankle trapped under a boulder. Luckily she has emerged with just a broken finger, another is dislocated & soft tissue damage to her foot & her friend has broken her arm. Fortunately they were walking with another party who were able to raise the alarm. MIL was at the hospital today as the doctor was trying to determine if her foot was broken & has another appointment tomorrow after which DH is bringing her home. This trip was a year in planning so she is understandably gutted plus in a lot of pain.

Then if that wasn't enough this morning DD discovered that Vince has escaped again Our 8 year old neice slept over on Saturday night & stayed until lunch time yesterday & one of the girls left part of the cage open

Hamster on tour

Vince strutting her stuff


At the window


A girl needs her beauty sleep


Her Official residence

2/7/6 edited to add:


Thank you James

One of Each

When I picked DD up from school today I didn't have a Tracy waiting for me but a quiet, calm child - too quiet. Realising that something was amiss, I asked about her day & was amused to discover that she'd lost one shoe!

One shoe - how on each do you lose one shoe? A pair of shoes yes but just one?

She had worn her PE trainers at break to play football in & left her leather school shoes in the cloakroom. When she returned - one was missing.

A trip to the school office revealed some good news; the renegade shoe was last seen heading upstairs to another classroom as some helpful girls were sure of the one shoe shod owner. The office staff are going to find out what happened to it on Monday so she came home in trainers.

Why am I rambling on about 'one shoe' you might be wondering. A very good question.

Tonight when I returned from a most enjoyable knitting meeting (19 people, the biggest yet & requests for a second meet per month) I could only find one of my slippers.

One slipper, not two.

Now we (DH & I, as DD is seemingly immune to mucky socks or cold feet - or so she says) both wear slippers in the house, as we have laminate flooring downstairs & bare floorboards on the stairs & hallway upstairs, due to soon-to-be-completed 2 year long building work.

Anyway back to the slipper, just one.

After searching under the sofas & other possible hiding places revealed nothing, DH joined my search.

He then discovered that he also only posessed one slipper.

We both had just one slipper (left singles if anybody is interested) - which was too much of a coincidence. I've heard of couples wearing the same or similar clothing but this was taking it too far.

So we both headed upstairs (in our single left slippers with cold, sock clad for DH but bare for me, right feet) to find the source of the slipper thefts.

Eureeka!!!

There in Vinces' room were the two missing right slippers!!!

DD had taken 'One of Each' & worn them to go upstairs to get Vince out of her cage - maybe she wanted us all to be part of the One shoe/slipper gang

Bear with me, this gets better; upon finding the missing slippers & reuniting them with their partners, I noticed that Vinces' cage was open - Yes DD had done it again.

A quick scan of the cage & no hamster

We were furious & as the door had been left open both realised that we'd have to go back to the vase & rebait her night after night until she fell in - again.

DD exploded & it wasn't her fault (again).

A more detailed examination of Vinces' cage (it's big & I'll post pics one day so you can see her palace) & I spotted her at the back of the maze.

DD was very lucky this time.

BTW - for those with young children I can throughly recommend One of Each - a beautiful story about Oliver Tolliver the Airedale Terrier.

The Fugitive is apprehended at dawn......

Vince

I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning after having a horrific dream that Vince was trapped in DD's net bag (which holds her swimming training aids) with a huge snake. DH & I had been arguing about who was going to put their hand into the bag & save her. He was arguing that as I have smaller hands I should do it as was there was less surface area for the snake to strike & I wasn't buying any of it. I woke up & just knew that she was in the trap & sure enough when I turned the light on I saw a small pale brown lump in the bottom of the vase. She was fast asleep & very cold so I quickly put her back in her cage, gave her some food & fresh water & then headed back to bed. When I woke DD later I was the 'Best Mummy in the Whole Wide World' & she's been bouncing ever since.

After 15 days on the run she has lost weight but has gained in another area. This picture was taken on the day we got her (February 17th), this photo was taken on March 19th & today she looks like this - see how much the tufty bits have grown.

So now DH can decorate our bedroom & the carpet can be relaid. She had definately been in the bathroom wall as our neighbours told DD that they'd heard some scuffingly in the wall when she happily reported her news. I had warned both sets of neighbours that she was missing in case they laid poison thinking they had mice.

Thanks to everyone for their help & suggestions, especially Nickerjac who was the first to describe how to build a trap for her. Initally she didn't like the dust sheet that we used to lead up up into the vase but eventually she over came this as we put food on it so she had to walk on it.

AWOL

Vince is still Absent With Out Leave. She ate some hamster seed & a piece of fresh pea on Monday night & some cheese yesterday whilst I was at work.

Last night we set up a trap (thanks for all the suggestions) - namely a huge glass vase that my FIL gave me YEARS ago, supported on a dust sheet, with some bedding & nice food inside. DD ran a little trail of goodies up to the lip of it including cheese & we put fresh basil & parsley just inside the vase.

Nothing had been touched when we got up this morning & I checked as soon as I got home from work & again no sign. So it's been rebaited with some smelly blue cheese, fresh food & a date. We considered using peanut butter but DD hates it so reasoned that her hamster would too.

DD has been really depressed & I imagine that she's feeling very guilty & cross with herself. She has been cheered up a bit with the stories of hamsters returning after two weeks so is still hoping to get her back. DH & I aren't too confident as she hasn't eaten the food left out for her in 24 hours but are doing our best to keep DD's spirits up.

I've now finished work for 6 days & believe you me I was clock watching today. DH & DD are going up North tomorrow to watch Speedway & I've got to get things ready for our Easter break. We're going away for a few days from Friday morning & I've got the wonderful job of packing the caravan with clothes, food & other essentials. They'll be back very late so I'm sure I'll also get some 'me' time in as well

I am also aiming to tackle the Pig Sty that is DD's room in the vain hope of catching a glimse of the aforementioned hamster......

SOS - Vince is missing

Vince

'Somebody' left the cage open & she's gone! DD is destraught & crying her eyes out. We've left a small pile of bedding material out with some food & are hoping that she'll help herself tonight so at least we'll know that she's still around.

If anybody has any better suggestions I'd love to hear them....

Stashalong - here I come......

I've mentioned previously that I have a lot of yarn - far too much in DH's opinion. We have a small house & the yarn used to be stashed all over the house, loft etc but now fits into 6 big boxes:


my stash

There is a box ontop which contains yarn that I got in a swap with Fred which I need to somehow manage to squeeze in - hamster for scale.

I've already got rid of a lot & gave away half a binliner recently at the knitting group that I run in a 'Stash Swap'. The rules were that you couldn't take if you didn't put in. I was really 'good' & didn't bring anything home, my DH didn't believe me at first. The few bits that were left over were taken to a charity shop by another knitter so I didn't feel tempted to adopt them.

I'm signing up for 3 months with a few days off:

April 23rd - it's my birthday & I might get some yarn as pressies - here hoping!

April 29th/30th - am doing the Parent & Child course at Rowan with DD & will look in the bargain bins.

May - we're going to the Derbyshire Dales for a week & I know of two LYS's that stock Debbie Bliss, Rowan & Noro that I can't buy locally. However I'll be good & only buy stuff that would help me use up my stash like the odd ball of Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino to compliment the colours I already have.

I plan to knit some socks, finish some WIP's (now out of date as some items have been finished), baby knits and will still buy needles & books if needed but not much yarn at all.

Meet Vince (female)

Vince



Vince



Vince & DD