R.I.P. Little Clyde

Dude, you was my leezard. 😭 I could never touch you for fear of stressing you out. Hell, I was always a little worried about lingering near you for too long lest you puff up and turn dark.

I liked watching you eat, though. You were a pretty neat fella. I always loved the pale shade you would turn after a good meal of crickets, which meant that you were satisfied.

And your toes! You had the cutest toes of any animal, EVER! I enjoyed watching you climb around all shaky like a leaf. The things you could do with your eyes was pretty awesome, too. It always tripped me out every time that you would have your back to me, but would turn your eyes around to look at me. You were just neat. All over. For real.

I’m sad, Clyde, because I’ll probably never have another chameleon... you kids are just hard to keep alive. I wasn’t really ready for you to leave me. I already miss turning your lights off and on every day. ... Bye, my little buddy.

R.I.P. Tiny Alice

Last night we found Tiny Alice dead. She'd been sick for a while so we were expecting it. It's actually kind of a relief because there wasn't much we could do for her aside from make her comfortable while she was here. Chameleons are pretty fragile creatures by nature... so much so that I don't understand how one could ever survive in the wild. They have a high mortality rate whether in their natural habitat or captivity.

She appeared to have some some sort of respiratory infection which affected her eyes. (Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either, but read up on it and you'll see). She couldn't catch and eat crickets if her eyes weren't working. Attempts to hand feed her baby food and such failed because we could not get her mouth open. I think that was the worst part... her not eating. She always had such a hearty appetite that I nicknamed her "Hogzilla."

Anyway, she looked so peaceful for the first time last night that I only felt a little sad. I held her for a few moments (which is not something Alice would've ever tolerated) before putting her in the freezer. I suppose I'll call the crematory tomorrow and see if they'll get her and Mr. Sam done for me. (Yeah, I've been saving him because I knew this was coming). Oh, and the picture I chose of her was her at her best... always puffed up over something, LOL. Well, I hope the little lady now rests in peace. She will be missed.

Sort of an update here...

Expect a longer blog later, (with pictures, even) of the awesome time we had last night.

BUT FOR NOW - hear this:

So things are pretty ok around here... still feeling the burn of being laid off so much in the last quarter of the newly-ended year, but I think things will be back to normal soon. I'm not sweating it too much I guess.

Tiny Alice, (our female veiled chameleon), is not doing well. From pet stores, talking to other owners of chameleons, and lots and lots of reading we've found out that they usually aren't fixable (even under a vet's care) if they ever get sick. They're very fragile creatures and I don't know how they ever survive in the wild. *sigh* ... Unfortunately, Tiny Alice seems pretty sick. She's normally the more hearty of the two (so much so that I nicknamed her "Hogzilla"), but she hasn't eaten in a while. She looks like she really wants to, but one of her eye's is all jacked up (I think Nick read that that's a sign of respiratory infection) and she can't focus in on her food, I guess. I feel really bad for her... We were told to feed her chicken baby food and Pedialyte to help her get some energy back, but we can't get her mouth open. I really hate this... I think it's hitting Nick harder than me because Alice was his girl. As bad as it sounds I think we both wish it would go ahead and be over with... it's really hard to see her and know that you can't help.

Anyway, on to a lighter subject - we're pretty sure we're having a baby. Yep, Yorda has a wiggly little lump in her pouch and I couldn't be more stoked. For a while there she went through a phase where she wasn't very nice even though she's normally the sweeter one of the pair. Then she started being nice again and got all fat. Now she's back small again and there's an obvious lump on her belly. Sounds like a typical sugar glider pregnancy to me. Yay! Of course, we won't know anything DEFINITE until we see a little head peek out, but I feel certain. Male or female I think me and Nick have decided to call it "Wander," pronounced "Wanda," in keeping with the name theme from Shadow of the Colossus. (Yorda, Ico, Wander).  Unless you're a video game nerd you probably don't get it. But whatever.

Well, I'm pretty disappointed with myself lately... I haven't been writing as much as I'd like to. I've actually had a few good ideas and not forgot them... I'm just not motivated. I don't know what it is... maybe I just have too much other stuff going on... *shrugs* I dunno... but it bothers me.

You know what else bothers me?? My damn shoes won't stay tied lately. It's like somebody greased my laces or something. What the hell?? What's up with that?? I'm clumsy enough without having to worry about tripping over my laces all the time. ...

It's Monday & I'm pooped.

Well, I hope to keep this one kind of short so I'll just get to it. Thursday I had to pick up Shadow from school because he was sick and that's pretty much lasted until now. Over the weekend he seemed to get better with a little TLC and Tylenol so I sent him to school today and ended up having to go get him again. 😐 I took him to the doctor and he had a temp of 102.8°F and strep throat. 😕

He had to get a shot. Ya know he's 6 years old, but that still doesn't stop me from getting all teary-eyed when they have to do that. It sucks. 🙁 Also I felt really bad for him already because one day this weekend I closed the car door on his head. He knows not to get out of his seat belt until he's told to do so and we were in a parking lot about to get out and a car was trying to park right by me so I closed the door... Unfortunately, Shadow had decided to stand up and stick his head out right about then. I didn't see him until it was too late. 😭

He has a bruise and that's all. I felt terrible (and will probably have nightmares for a while), but that's just one more reason why kids should listen to their parents. I probably could've killed him if I'd closed it harder and I told him so. I don't think he'll be doing that again. I truly hope not.

Anyway, since he was sick this weekend he slept a lot. So I had time to get one more room sort of situated. It's the front room - the room you walk into when you come in the front door. We have a lot of the animals in there and I think it looks pretty nice. It could still use a little work, but it's fine for now. So... that leaves 3 rooms to finish. They will probably not be completed anytime soon.

On to the pics.

This is our porch type area. I like it out there. 😄

If you look to the left after you walk in this is what you'll see. (It's where the gliders and the parakeet live).

If you keep looking around you'll see Shadow's desk (complete with a hedgehog on top )(who, btw, is rather cuddly - or at least tries to be). 😍

The chameleons' fancy setup.

And finally: the mantle with a bunch of random stuff on it such as: the Matrix box-thing, a lamp, and a shark fin and hand print that Shadow made, and his cap & gown pic. SO cute!! 😁

And that's pretty much that room. It's not perfect, but it's better than being crammed full of ugly boxes and stuff. I'm pleased... at least for now. 😄 And exhausted so I'ma go. LOVE!!!

Karma karma karma karma karma...

chameleon(s). 😁 So... do you even have to ask why I have up a picture of them? 😂

Also... I turned in the keys to my apartment today. 😐 I'm not sure how I feel about that yet...

However, I am enjoying our new babies. 😊