Sakura of DOOM

...well, almost.

Uh, so after polling everyone about non-rat pet options, I promptly cried myself to sleep for two days and decided I was not yet ready for Ed-rat to be my last rat. The new plan: get two baby boys. (I SO want those squishy adult guy rats. But if they die and Ed-rat dies all in a row I will be heartbroken. Also, reasoning for not transitioning directly to new non-rat pets right now is that I don't have enough resources financially to do so, and that would probably cover the older guys' vet bills as well.) When baby boys are a year or two older, transition to non-rat pets (probably guinea pigs, based on people's descriptions, my living circumstances, and etc.).

Alas and alack, I was due to get two baby boy rats today, and although I got to meet one, the other one had apparently escaped into another cage while in the car and couldn't be found until the rescue person had left. Still, I should have them by tomorrow night, and this gives me time to switch the cages around, since the baby boys are a LOT smaller than I thought they'd be. (FIVE WEEKS OLD OMG. They are as small as wee little mice!!!!!! They have giant gallumphing awkward feet!)

Poor Ed sniffed around very excitedly, and then realized there were no actual new rats. I think he is old and lonely without Al; he's been acting fairly neurotic lately, and I worry about him. Even if he doesn't get along with the new babies, hopefully having them in a cage next to his will help out.

Anyway! The real question is, what should I name the new ratlings?

They are both going to be black hooded boys, albeit with slightly different markings, thank goodness. I have zero idea about their personalities yet, so I'm just looking for random ideas.

I took Al-rat in for exploratory surgery today, and the tumor they found was too big to operate on and interfering with his digestive system. He looked fairly noticeably worse when I picked him up from my friend yesterday; he was still eating a bit, but visibly uncomfortable. So I went with the vet's advice and let him go.

Mostly I feel bad about not being here the past week with scritches and etc., even though I know that wouldn't have changed anything. I think he was a very fat and spoiled rat who chewed on everything in sight and tried to drag it into his plastic hut to nest with, and hopefully the last week or so didn't feel too long or uncomfortable for him =(.

Now that I am on DW and DW doesn't have a photo hosting service, I am experimenting with Flickr. Sadly, I can't figure out a way to embed individual pictures without going through all the code myself, which I am too lazy to do. (If anyone has a better suggestion, do let me know!)

Rat pictures - Old rat pictures from November on, including my last photos of Ren =(.

LA trip from 3/09

Pictures from Rachel and Yoon's visit back in July.

Ed-rat has just now discovered one of the crucial skills all devious agouti berkshires (a la Ruki) should possess: how to jump out of the bathtub. The first time, I was so surprised that I went "WAH!" and he got so startled that he fell back down again, but the second time he made it up and ran up my arm.

Al-rat watched jealously, got into position and sprang, only to scrabble at the top and slither back down again. (Twice.)

Dear Ed- and Al-rat,

I understand you are young and crazy rats who immensely enjoy burrowing under the rat blankets and shedding fur all over my bed. But I have never had rats who liked to chew things as much as you guys before! Chewing blankets and occasionally my clothes is an acceptable risk, as is trying to eat my course readers or notebooks. But I draw the line at Laura Kinsale's Seize the Fire (the out-of-print cover too, luridly romance-y though it is), and library books are a definite NO.

Also, please to not be staring at me when I yell at you like I'm cruelly starving you and you can only get nutrition from chomping on book spines. I do not believe you!

No love (ok, I lie, still with much love but also much irritation),
Oyce

PS. The computer cable? Even more of a NO. // note to self, buy electrical tape

Ren-rat is getting balder by the day, and his hind toes are now pretty much always curled in on themselves. Amazingly, he is still a pretty feisty rat for his age, as he is perfectly willing to launch himself off the sofa, into assorted bowls, and out of his cage and off into the wilderness that is the living room floor, which seems fine to him but gives me heart attacks.

Wow, I'm late in writing things up! This year's Thanksgiving was held at the apartment of one of my sister's friends; my sister, her two friends, and I made most of the food. Thankfully, this year we did not have to battle lumpy cream or curtains as oven mitts, but there were other catastrophes instead!

I took the opportunity to make salty egg and pumpkin (really kabocha squash, but Chinese doesn't seem to distinguish between pumpkin and squash). Alas, this resulted in my nearly chopping off my finger... twice! The first time, I escaped with only a bit of skin nicked, but the second time, the knife went fairly deep, I bled all over the place, and my sister and her friend had to make an emergency run to see what drug stores were open on Thanksgiving to buy rubbing alcohol and bandaids. Gah. I think this is not my year, medically. At least I now have a scar on my left index finger to match the rat bite scar on my right index finger?

After we ate dinner, I went back to the kitchen to attempt lemon souffle! I know I can make chocolate souffle fairly consistently (at least, when I remember to turn on the oven...), but I haven't tried any other kind. Of course, there weren't enough ramekins or ramekins of the right kind. And my sister's friend's apartment was woefully underequipped. ("Do you have a spatula?" "Uh. We have a wooden rice scooper." "How about a zester?" "Zester...?" "... A grater then?" "Er...")

I would like to note that making lemon zest without a grater is extremely annoying and I nearly sliced off another bit of finger while doing so.

When I started my recipe, I melted some butter over the stove and started stirring in 3/4 cups of flour. As it clumped and started turning into what presumably would be roux, my sister's friend C turned to me and asked, "Er. Are you sure it's supposed to look like this?"

"Maybe I add more liquid later?" I asked. After we had stirred in a cup or so of milk, only to have it be rapidly soaked up by the flour with no noticeable difference in texture, I decided there may have been some mistake. I mean, I know the souffle is thick, but that doesn't mean it should be solid! I couldn't find the recipe online, so I eventually had to go for a new recipe.

Thankfully, the souffles ended up doing well... or at least 75% of them! The fourth souffle had deflated into a sad, slightly lemony hockey puck, and while the texture was somewhat cake-like, it was dense, unflavorful, and not at all light and fluffy with melty lemon curd at the bottom like the rest.

Every single time I make souffle, I wonder why I go through all the trouble, because really, can flavored batter and egg whites taste so good as the make it worth the effort? And every time I take a successful souffle out of the oven, I remember why I do it (aside from the challenge and ensuing self-congratulations, of course, provided that I turn on the oven...). The lemon souffles were delightfully light and delicate on top, with a tiny crust of caramelized sugar (from buttering and sugaring the insides of the ramekins), and the texture gradually gets denser and more liquid until you get to the bottom, which is rich and buttery and eggy and very much like a hot lemon curd. They are amazing, and I am going to try them again for Christmas.

... Of course, this will be very interesting, as I have no idea as to how equipped or underequipped our kitchen is for making French desserts. And we have no ramekins. And I will have to convert everything to metric.

But this time, I will turn on the oven and only put in a teaspoon or so of flour!

( Giant Thanksgiving pictures )

( Giant rat pictures )

Argh! I am so sick of studying already! It is so bad that I have actually started my Yuletide story as a means of procrastination.

In other news, I've attempted snuggling with the rats on the sofa while studying, as opposed to on the bed. Ren cuddles nicely, especially if I scritch his cheeks or behind his ears; if I stop, he'll keep his eyes closed and stay still for a few seconds in hopes that I'll resume again shortly. But after a while, he gets bored, makes a flying leap off the couch, and dashes to freedom.

I think I have aptly renamed Ed and Al, as Al has grown much bigger than Ed and can probably still beat him up if he so chooses, but doesn't often choose to. Ed, on the other hand, is small and crazy full of energy; while Al is curled up under the covers, Ed is scampering around the bed and sniffing at everything. On the other hand, if I drag Al out alone, he starts at all the scary noises and then stuffs himself inside my sweatshirt sleeve. This is somewhat awkward, as he refuses to come back out, so I have been walking around the apartment for the past half hour with a rat curled up by my forearm.

People! Entertain me! Or else I will just spam LJ more!

ETA: Spoilers for Demon Ororon in comments! (Most is spoiler texted out, but I got my code wrong, so mine is not.)

Help me name the new rats! Here are pictures and descriptions. Like all polls, I have no idea if I will go with the winner, but hey, it'll be fun.

[Poll #1275651]

I have new ratties! One is a berkshire agouti (brownish with a white tummy, looks a lot like Ruki) and one is a hooded agouti (brownish head and stripe on back, white everywhere else).

Unfortunately, I tried to let Ren sniff at them when I was holding him. He was very well-behaved at first, and then he lunged and sank his teeth in my finger. Better my finger than the new rats at least...

Alas, my finger started dripping blood (any recommendations on how to get blood out of carpet?), and then it started to swell up. In a panic, I attempted to locate my new insurance information and find a doctor that was open on the weekend. Let me just say, typing is really hard when one is attempting to not bleed all over the sofa and one cannot move one's right index finger.

Thankfully, I found a nearby urgent care, they amazingly located my insurance info with just my name and the name of the insurance company, and then the doctor ruled out infection, saying that infections just didn't happen that fast. His best guess is that I'm having an allergic reaction. Right now, the swelling has spread so my index finger looks like a giant sausage, and about a fourth of my palm is swollen as well. Also, it freaking HURTS.

The worst bit is, I can only really blame myself for getting between a rat fight and for trying to introduce Ren too soon.