Here's Frankie...

Nightly routine

Thought I would share a few pictures of our latest addition, Frankie the Hamster.  Of course, I know that after publishing the post, she will either die or be MIA. 

Frankie's nightly routine consists of chewing on these metal bars.  She is a persistent thing, and I suppose that in about five years, she may actually chew through these metal bars...of course, a hamster's average life span is two years, and we're not sure how old she is, factor in she lives at our house...you do the math.

I have, of course, given her a nickname, which is, drum roll please, Andy Dufresne.  Who is Andy Dufresne (pronounced Dew-frain) you ask?  He was the main character in the great movie, The Shawshank Redemption.  He had caught his wife with another man and killed the man, was then sent to prison.  He ends up using these tiny rock tools to slowly and deliberately dig through his cell wall and escape to freedom. 

One night as I passed Frankie gnawing away at her prison bars, I thought of Andy Dufresne and told Jay that was her new nickname.  She is sooo persistent and diligent about her nightly gnawing.  The real kicker is that the lid to her cage is loosely fastened.  So loose that just this past week, she somehow got the right position and used her feet to pop the bottom off.  Fortunately, we saw and heard it and caught her before she too escaped into freedom like Andy.

the hood to my jacket

You know a couple of weeks ago I mentioned the hood of my favorite spring jacket and how Frankie had chewed the hood up.  (See photo at right.)  What a stinker.  I did successfully remove the hood from the jacket and can wear it without it being obvious that it once had a hood.  Look closely at the far right corner at the top, she even chewed the tip of the hood off.  What a little rat...literally.  The pattern shows that maybe she was trying to cut out some of the fabric...maybe she just wanted some extra padding for her little cave.  She could've just asked, I would've given her something.

Frankie goes to church

I have this cute sparkly church that came from Accents (awesome store in downtown Martinsville).  I like to sit it out during Christmas and the winter months.  The kids thought Frankie would like some religion, so she got to explore church for a while.  I have several pictures of her trying to climb out the windows, the doors and even the steeple area.  Church makes some folks uncomfortable...apparently it makes hamsters and rodents uncomfortable too.  Even the little snowman is surrendering.  Everytime I pass her cage and see her little eyes bugging out, all I can think of is, "My, what big eyes you have!"




Frankie meets Hankie

 There have been a few encounters between Frankie and Hankie, the precious, and so far they are both still living.  Hankie doesn't seem too bothered by Frankie...unless one of us is paying more attention to Frankie than Hankie.  I have stressed to the kids the fact that Hankie could gobble up Frankie in a matter of seconds without us even knowing it, so it is VERY important that Frankie and Hankie not be out and about at the same time.  Fortunately, Hankie cannot get Frankie's exercise ball in his mouth...not that he hasn't tried.  I would guess it almost gives little Frankie a heart attack.

Frankie has been a lot of fun for the kids and myself.  There's nothing we won't try with the little gal.  Lane had her riding around on his 4x4 and all she wanted to do was escape.  This little truck has a horse trailer with it and she wouldn't stay in it either.  Again, the reoccurring theme: freedom.  We're starting to get a complex.