Intrism Mini

The school year has started and along with that, all the craziness of so much extra stuff.  I'll be honest that this year was a more difficult transition than I anticipated after coming from a wonderful summer together.  I thought that my years of experience dealing with this would be enough.  But Joe has had so many meetings that in order to spend time with each other, we've been staying up late and missing out on sleep.  We are both feeling pretty tired.  But the meetings should slow down soon, and we'll once again find our normal rhythm.  Along with that, I intend to get back to regularly taking pictures of the hams.  😊

For our anniversary in July, I bought this Intrism puzzle.  We enjoyed working together to assemble it and love trying to conquer it.  It's actually really difficult.  It has 3 levels to complete and they get progressively harder.  I'm very impressed with it!

Fili is such a happy little guy and is taking old age like a champ.  He's now 2 and a half years old!  He seems so content as he putters around just living his life.  I recently had to trim his nails which he doesn't like, but we've figured out a method that works for us so it's really not too bad.

 

Haleth is sweet, but she can be so stinky.  This week was tricky, and I missed cleaning her bin and giving her fresh sand on Monday and then didn't get to it until Wednesday.  It was so gross.  But I can't resist that precious face and perfectly pink nose!  Haha!

Bike Locks

Summer has a way of taking me by the hand and leading me away from my schedule and routines that I try so hard to cling to.  I used to get very stressed out about this.  But I'm learning to embrace finding a different way to balance this time of my life as I reorganize my priorities around spending more time with Joe during his summer break.  I try to acknowledge the natural seasons and cycles in my life and allow them to each take up the appropriate time and space before allowing one to pass and the next one to start.  So I guess all of that is to say that I'm not gonna apologize for the lack of posts as this just isn't as high a priority for me during summer break.  I'm sure that when Joe is back at work for long hours each day, if I start getting bored and/or lonely, I'll spend more time taking pictures of the pets and I'll make this a higher priority again.  In the meantime, Joe and I are enjoying extra time with friends and family, trying out new restaurants, actually playing board games together, and exploring more of the area around us on our bikes.

I'm happy to report that Fili is still alive at 29 months old!  He is sleeping a little more but still very active and gets around just fine.  That said, I know that with how old he is, he really could go at any time, even though he still seems to be in very good health.  I love watching him do all his hamster things.  He's so cute and even just hearing him awake brings a smile to my face.  😊

Haleth has finally embraced the deep bedding she has always had in her bin and has started making her own burrows instead of exclusively sleeping in a tissue box.  I feel like she's finally all grown up!  😂  And I'm no longer worried about not having enough empty tissue boxes that she can have.  She used to go through about one a week...  😬

Rear Rack Bike Bags

I've been meaning to post these pictures for weeks now...  It's summer break for Joe, but not for me!  Haha!  I've been busy and managed to pick up the flu in the midst of everything.  But I'm almost completely better, and thankfully, it didn't really mess up my work or schedule too much so it didn't add extra stress.  Right at the start of summer break, Joe and I got bikes and had been going on daily rides.  But between sickness and this excessive heat wave, we did take a break from doing that.  So I'm looking forward to getting back into riding because I actually really love it!  We were also able to go on rides with my brother and a friend who both live close which has made this new hobby even more enjoyable!  We bought fun accessories like these rear bike rack bags so that we can carry more stuff with us like drinks, snacks, and even our drone.  😊

Fili is still quite active and doesn't really show signs of aging any more than a bit of weight loss, which was probably good for him anyways.  Although I kinda miss how perfectly round he was.  😂  I can barely believe it, but Fili is 28 months old now, and it's already been 2 months since his brother Kili died.  As you can see, Fili still doesn't care much for carrots and preferred to explore the bike bag.

 

Haleth did a magic trick and made that carrot disappear within like 3 seconds of coming into contact with it.  She truly has a gift.  😂  I think she was hoping a new one would appear, but she had no such luck.  She is super cute and easy to spoil though.

3D Printed Pots

Joe has a 3D printer which (when it's actually working) he mostly uses to print organizers for board games.  Occasionally, he prints these pots for me.  They are the perfect size for transporting plants I've propagated in water into dirt.  But I don't plant them right into here as these are for decoration.  Instead, I found 3 inch clear nursery pots with drainage holes on Amazon which fit perfectly inside of these printed pots.  What is great about this process is that the pots only take an hour to print (compared to some prints that are 20+ hours), so Joe can get a lot of these done in just a day.  For this set you see here, he used some fancy sparkly filament.  😊

Fili surprises me by how active he is for such an old guy.  He is now 27 months old!  He has thinned out a bit, and I think he is finally starting to slow down some as he seems to sleep a bit more.  I know he won't live forever, and I'm so grateful he's lived this long!

I really want to get back to taking pictures regularly of the pets because Haleth is just so easy to photograph.  All I need is some treats to get her to stay in the spot I have prepared and she's good to go.  Even after she finished her treat, she typically stays put and just stares at me expecting more.  She doesn't run off to explore like most of the hamsters I've own would do.  Although to be honest, in this case, I think she didn't move because she barely fit in that pot.  😂

New Flowers!

The weather was gorgeous on Saturday, and I was finally able to start fixing up the landscaping in the front of the house.  Part of my motivation was getting these new flowers planted!  I actually ended up going back to get more from the Botanical Conservatory's used bulb sale they were doing, but I wasn't able to get those planted yet because it got really cold again.  But the weather is looking good again, and I'm excited to get outside today and make more progress towards completing this project.  I've been planning this all out since last fall, and it's been very slow and a long wait!  But before I go out and get my hands dirty, I gotta finish editing pictures.

Fili was not interested in the strawberry or the flowers.  He just wanted off of the stool, which he managed to do and was wandering around in the flower pots before I caught him.  😅  I'm impressed with how young he acts since he is actually quite old for a ham.

Haleth was very pleased to get some strawberry, and I'm sure she would have gladly taken Fili's piece too, but I didn't let that happen.  Fruit is a nice treat for a ham, but does need to be limited like all treats.  I'm fairly certain Haleth lacks self control when it comes to any food, so I have to moderate treats for her.  

Windowsill (RIP Kili)

My sweet Kili passed away on Good Friday.  As I was working on Thursday, I heard a ham running on a wheel.  I was a bit surprised since they normally are sleeping, and Kili was the only hamster that would ever spend a decent amount of time up during the day, but even then it had been quite a while since he had gone for an afternoon jog like that.  I peeked behind me to see who it was and to my delight it was my dear Kili.  He only jogged for less than a minute, but I was still impressed.  He had gotten wobbly and was showing signs that his old age had caught up to him.  I've known for a while now that he didn't have much longer left, and each day that I got to spoil him with more treats was such a joy for me.  I feel blessed to have gotten to care for this little guy from the ACC for 25 out of his 26 months of life.  Sometimes I really wish hamsters lived longer, but then I think about all the wonderful hams I've been blessed with over the last 8 years of owning hamsters.  I'm missing my squeaky little office buddy who provided a bit of entertainment for me while I worked.  For those wondering, Kili's twin brother Fili is still doing well, but he and Haleth are very quiet if they get up during the day so I rarely notice when they are awake.  Below are some of my favorite pictures of Kili.  💓

Fili is oblivious to his brothers passing and is just starting to show signs of how old he is as I've noticed he is slowing down some.  So, I don't know how long Fili will stick around, but now he'll be getting the bulk of the special treats as he's clearly earned it.  😊

Haleth seems like a giant if you are used to seeing a dwarf hamster.  But she is just so sweet and I absolutely love photographing her!  She is gorgeous and poses naturally.  I love my big girl.  😊

Little Basket

These up and down temperatures and cloudy days are getting me anxious for warmth and sunshine.  I feel like I have so much yardwork to do, but I really don't like working in the cold and I get cold easily.  So for now I've been putting off the yardwork.  I've been working on getting caught up with computer projects.  Today I'm working on deleting extra pictures.  As a photographer, there are inevitably outtakes that aren't worth saving and since the RAW filles take up so much space, I regularly go through and clear out anything I didn't use.  I also double check that I've properly backed up the good stuff in all the various places I use to keep them safe.  This morning I made a new playlist which has helped immensely with providing the motivation I need to get through the monotony of this massive project.  😊

 Fili isn't nearly as active during the day as Kili is.  And yes, Kili is still alive and getting spoiled with all the treats.  💓  I mean, not actually all of them because as you can tell from Fili's very round shape, he is also getting more than his share of treats. 😂

Haleth initially decided she could hide in this basket, but I guess curiosity got the best of her and she poked her head out for a look.  I don't have any more pictures because once she got a quick look around, she decided she should try to eat any plant close enough to reach, and I had to put a hard stop to that.  I love these plants!  😅