Childhood dream come true!

How cool is this? I finally got the Gonzo doll I've been wanting since I was 3 or 4 years old...I remember so well, my Uncle David was going to get me a present and had asked what I wanted - I was lotally in love with Gonzo and this was just at the time that they started making Sesame Street/Muppet show dolls.

Unfortunately my Uncle went with this description when he asked the store clerk for help finding the right doll... "Fuzzy, with a long nose and big eyeballs" - Imagine his suprise when I unwrapped my gift and screamed "Wow! Snuffalupagus!"

He didn't know what I was talking about - probably thought "Suffalupagus!" was 4-year old speak for "Wow, Thanks for the Gonzo Doll!"

I ended up with Snuffalupagos! Not that I didn't love him - I sure did, so much so that at some point he lost one of his huge egg sized eyeballs and just ended up having a flap of fur for one eye - he looked kinda like something out of a creepy Sesame street nightmare, or perhaps "Gangster Snuffy"....

But, my super sister was in Florida and visited MGM studious (I think that was where) and she saw this little guy and got him for me. I added the knitting parephenalia..... Gonzo is currently working on his first knitting project, a jaunty yellow scarf. Also planned in the works is a skinny 80's knitted tie to go with his preppy look. It is hilarious - he has saddle shoes, a sweater vest, and even - get this - old man pants! Yep, the waistband is right up there so the cords reach almost to his little Gonzo chest!




Also the rats are totally in love with their newest cage addition - just a simple wooden box that you get mandarin oranges, or whatever in, attached to the roof of their cage with some rags in to snuggle with and they haven't left it for about 2 weeks! I also tired sticking in a mini mouse, and mini knitted bear to see how they'd react. I wondered if they might be like Mr. Bunny and react to these little stuffed critters as tho they were alive. They were not fooled however, and seem to use the toys as just more stuff to sleep on.


I guess Mr. Bunny really did have some ulterior motives though - he was an un-fixed Mr. Bunny you see, and rabbits are really into pair bonding. It took only moments before Mr. Bunny turned the tiny teddy I gave him into his bitch, just like he was in real jail instead of a protective Bunny cage... It was both disconcerting and hilarious to see Mr. Bunny's uhmm ... Interactions... with the teddy. It might not have been true love, but it was definitely passionate.....

In other rat news, we had our first escape scare the other day... I wil often take one or both rats out and put them on one of a few wooden dining room chairs we have in the living room... They know that it is too far for them to jump down, and they are extreemly happy just hanging out on the chair seat for long periods of time. Not sure why this makes them so happy, as the total surface area is much smaller than the cage they live in, but they seem to feel all happy and free on the chairs. I made a bit of an error though, and one of the chairs was too close to the couch. Baby thought he could make the jump so he did, and promptly slipped off the blanket that was on the couch.

I had read and had experienced that Rats will instinctively run for the edge of the room where a wall meets the floor - makes sense as this allows them to sort of keep their "back to the wall" and only have to worry about what is coming at them from limited areas. Baby in particular (the previously more shy one) was always wanting to squirm away and get against the wall. We have some large storage drawer type boxes under the couch, and of course he darted right under there, so I was frantically moving the boxes and checking there and calling him.. a few seconds later I heard Pierre say from the other room - "Why is the rat in here?!" It took him like 2 seconds to get to a place that might take me 10 or 15 seconds to walk to - and my legs ar about a billion times longer than a rats! super speed!

Our cat Ranger quickly alerted Pierre to the little fugitive, by looking confused and kind of half-assedly chasing him. I scooped him up and put him back in the cage, and vowed to be much more careful about their outside the cage adventures! They are never let out unsupervised of course.