Believe it or not AWOL is still with us. As some of you may know from prior posts, our dwarf hamster gets out of her cage a lot. I couldn't take the late night chases and was determined to stop the catch and release routine. Same strategy, I caught AWOL going for the food dish, we locked eyes and she bolted. I took to the chase and scooped her up, put her in the cage and then...put the cage in the BATHTUB. Its a good sized space, with nice high walls, the drain is closed and there is plenty of room for her to to do laps when we leave her cage open for "yard time". I told my mom she is a free range hamster. Sometimes she’s a bit freer than I like.

How was she getting out? There was the slightest bend in the bars of the cage and that's all she needed. Did she bend those bars? Hmmm-mighty mouse comes to mind.

Since I closed the breech I've I tested the cage (in the tub) to see if she could get out. I'm happy to say the problem is solved. I'm sure there will be more adventures for AWOL, after all she does have visitation rights and she is very difficult to keep a hold of.

Miss AWOL has an interesting behavior that I can't figure out. She fills her exercise wheel with nesting and food and then runs in it. All I can think is that she craves adventure. Diego and I have decided that she is acting out an avalanche or mud slide and running for her life, hoping not to get dumped on. OR maybe she is trying to build on our chases and the bits that she runs from are ME…For two ounces of furry pet, she does give us plenty of amusement!

AWOL the task brat

This is a true story about hunting for my eight year old son's hamster, AWOL.

AWOL broke out of her cage and has been on her mission for 24 hours now...

Throwing the clothes in the dryer is an every day affair, hamster on the loose or not. I did shake all the clothes out before tossing them in the washer. My first thought when I went to turn on the dryer was...hit the button, my second thought was...no, abort, don't hit the button…my third thought was "what is that thumping noise? OMG, I've done her in." I emptied the dryer pushed the button again. Not sounding good at all. It was making the same sound as the hamster wheel with food in it, only with a little thump and rattle with every round. "OH! So that's how it ends!!" I thought. Good job Mom!!! I think I gave up hope there, proceeding to take the dryer apart just to see what I could to see.

My car was parked outside at that time and the garage had been sealed off. (Almost used the yellow crime tape) Diego and I got home late, quietly entered the garage, and looked around while listening for no less than an hour. Frustrated and gloomy, we trudged upstairs to push on through four pages of homework, front and back. Once that was out of the way Diego got ready for bed. I said, I'll go check again to see if I can surprise her. (With no internal hope at all)

WHO-HA! There she was, cute nose and whiskers a twitching as we both froze and locked eyes for less than a split second. Then like lightening, she shot across the floor darting under the dryer. I used a stick to scare her out from underneath, blocked her in the corner and called for Diego. He ran down the stairs and coeced her in my direction. On my second attempt, muttering under my breath, I scooped her up, tossed her into her cage, and snapped the door shut with a rush of satisfaction and a high five. OH YEAH! LOCK DOWN BABY!

Report on AWOL'S 4th secret mission: Project Spider Web. Intent: to cause a complete upheaval in the garage---Mission accomplished. To put things in order will no doubt take me countless hours. That will take place only after I have rousted out all the eight legged tenants, big and little. Then I’ll I be able to put my dryer back together, which, BTW, includes reassembling the lint vent that leads outside. The only casualties on this mission were spiders. I'm sure Miss Houdini is comfortably spinning on her wheel as I write this.  (Or is she?) Her new code name while on missions is Bratty Rat. A Robo hamster...What the *!#> was I thinking!

As I started to put laundry away Diego lay back waiting to be tucked in. He commented on cruelty while reading about an animal that wears a shock collar. This sparked my comment... "Hey, maybe we can get one of those for AWOL". His immediate response was "Hell no!" I said "DID YOU just say Hell no?" He said "Yeah!" We laughed so hard, after which I said..."Honey, the thing about swearing is you have to know where, when and around who you can use words like that. I'm okay with that one since I deserved it, and we have had one heck of a day. But none of that in school, around your class mates, and older people, except Grandma of course. Why? Cuz she wrote the book on cursing!"

AWOL the task brat

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, A Year of Food Life; Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp & Camille Kingsolver, Harper Collins Publisher, New York, 2007, 354 pages.

This is the perfect book to read in conjunction with, An Omnivore’s Dilemma as it is a memoir and part journalistic investigation of a family of four that returns to a rural farm to test the premise that a family can sustain themselves on only the food they themselves grow and raise or can obtain locally. This makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back in the center of family life and diversified farming at the center of an American diet of locally produced foods. Kingsolver’s family makes out a food shopping list that excludes all items not locally grown and produced to see if they can sustain themselves for a year. Along the way are humorous and poetic descriptions of their gardening and live stock raising efforts interspersed with some great recipes. A great read that will make you think to change your dinner menu from a food industry driven menu to a menu of fresh grown and raised foods.

Curried Spinach and Tofu simmered in Coconut Milk
This is a great vegan recipe that is terrific over brown, basmati, wild or jasmine rice. This dish ranks high among vegetarians and is simple to prepare. Serves 4

Curried Spinach and Tofu

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
4 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 sliced serrano pepper (optional)
2 teaspoons yellow curry
½ teaspoon ground mustard
¼ teaspoon white pepper
1/3 cup water
2 packs frozen chopped spinach (10 ounce size)
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons brown sugar or to taste
1 pack firm tofu, drained and diced
2 cans coconut milk

Pour oil into a 10-inch sauté pan with lid. Place pan over medium high heat then add shallots, garlic, ginger and serrano pepper. When the shallots become translucent add the curry, mustard, and white pepper. Stir for one minute then add water, and spinach; cover and lower heat to medium. Cook for 10 minutes. As the spinach thaws, gently stir in salt, sugar and tofu. When the spinach is completely thawed, pour in coconut milk and continue cooking, uncovered over medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve piping hot over grains or rice.

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