Wordless Wednesday - Contains One Serving of Rat

Serving Size - One rat

Servings per Container - About One

Walter, here, is enjoying the current favorite box for lounging.

Can a Hamster Drive a Truck?

Everyone, by now, has probably seen Van Damme and his epic splits between two Volvo trucks.

But, Volvo doesn't only do human tricks.  They do hamster tricks.

(I figured my hamster friends would love seeing this....)

And, here's the behind the scenes ....

Wordless Wednesday - Introducing Stan

Here's Philip being a lovely spokesrat model, showing off the shelf liner that I just made.

Phil says, "Introducing..... Stan, my new buddy.  He may be small, but he's awfully sweet and gets along great with everyone.  Please give a round of applause for Stan."

 Here's my new rat, Stan, named after Stan from Southpark.  This is the best photo that I could get of him.  He needs to take remedial modelling lessons from Phil.

This photo is to demonstrate what all of the other photos of Stan look like.  My nickname for Stan is Dotty short for Dorothy.  And, I get a lot of criticism for the girly nickname.   So, I also call him, Staniel which is better received.  But, he has the cutest little dots on his back which you can sort of see in this photo.

Happy Tail Wagging

Rats typically do not wag their tails.

Carl has not received that memo.

A Quick Update for the Liners

I cut the fabric for the liners.

 I had to do a few adjustments, but the rats should be happy with this.

This was a great solution.  I'd obtained a pair of vintage Dritz electric scissors in one of my sewing thrifting finds.  The resale value is minimal, so it was just hanging around in my sewing room.  WOW.  This was perfect.  It made the cutting out of the fabric go so much faster and easier.

I don't know if I would use these electric scissors for cutting fashion fabric for clothing, but for straight and fast cuts.  PERFECT.

Time for New Liners

Our current supply of cage liners is way past expired.  My naughty boys have chewed them to lace.

Now, for the Sneak Preview.

 The nativity scene cotton fabric will be paired with white polkadots on green fleece.  Christmasy :)

Brown flannel will be paired with childish animals.

Blue green flannel will be paired with the cream fleece.

The orangish leaves cotton fabric be paired with black fleece.  Autumn and Thanksgiving.

Here's my patterns made of foam core boards.  I'm not thrilled with them, but they are serviceable.  They provide a 1/2" seam allowance, but I don't worry too much about that.  The biggest problem is that I don't have a cutting table, so I have to make do with using my bed.

This Week in the Critter Nation - Home made Cardboard Palace

Top story of the critter nation this week includes a handmade cardboard contraption... um ... palace.  I just cut slits in cardboard and slid the parts together.

 Here's a little surprise.  That's Stan peeking out.  He's our new rat, fastest intro ever.  Everyone loves Stan.

 The cardboard "palace" includes an upstairs and if Philip's whiskers weren't photobombing.....

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Here's Peter hanging out in the second level of the palace without Philip's whiskers obscuring things.

The Critter Nation's downstairs are somewhat boring.  We still have the ark out, which they absolutely love.

I really need to do some new liners.  Our current liner collection is getting quite holey.

Stuff on my Rat 6 - Fez like Doctor Who

Mouse versus Cookie

Stumbled across this video on YouTube.

Not a rat.  But, I've seen rats approach problems in exactly the same way.

How to Make a Custom Box

Watch this video.  Amazing.  But, honestly, I think it's more because we have become accustomed to a one size fits all mentality.

I custom make book fold boxes all of the time.  After watching a couple of times, I'm pretty sure that I could do this.  Honestly, it looks magical on the first viewing.

Watching the video reminds me of cutting fabric with a rotary cutter.  Make sure you have your measurements right, and then, just cut the thing up.

Does anyone know specifically what he is using to put the creases in the box?

The video is from www.eatyourkimchi.com

Wordless Wednesday - Hi there

Peter says, "Hi".  He's more than happy to accept any yogie donations.

Stuff on My Rat 5 - Green Soda Cap

The Winner Of Petco's 2013 Halloween Scene Contest Is A......Rat

Oh, wow.  Isn't that an amazing photo?  The little rat won the grand prize.  Check out the other winners at the Petco's Facebook page.  As is to be expected there is a bit of nasty comments about the rat, but surprising not much of the typical.  Most of it is people who know nothing about rats presuming that the rat is stuffed or is a mouse, etc.  So, in the end, hopefully, people will learn about how awesome pet rats actually are.

This does get me thinking that I should do this next year, but I must say this photo puts a very high bar to compete against.

Stuff on my Rat 4 - Snickerdoodle

That's a Snickerdoodle on Philip, and I actually got the photo.