Horatio

Only four days until Spring is officially here!!! I am so very, very ready for Winter to be gone.

Ohhhhhhhh, we are getting more snow! And sleet, and more snow, and more sleet... not nice. Time to leave Tennessee and head to Florida.

Dear xMyOwnMindx, Hope your day is extra special as it is your birthday! We are all thinking of you on this day and wish you a most happy birthday, with many, many more to come. HAPPY HAMMIE BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY HAMMIE BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY HAMMIE BIRTHDAY DEAR xMyOwnMindx HAPPY HAMMY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!! *wheels out the birthday cake with twenty-three candles* Please make a wish and blow out all the candles! Let us get this party started!!! Happpy Birthday to you!!! Horatio

Okay... I am tired of the cold already. It is only February and I want summer to be here. It was in the fifties in Florida and I had on three layers of clothing. Now, for all you people who have really low temperatures, I know this is spring weather to you, but to a Florida hamster, this is cold, cold, cold!!!

WILDCAT!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I almost shorted out my laptop when I read your post with a mouthful of coffee!!! We always think of you! How are you? Please fill us in on how you are doing! Come back and visit more often, please!!!

Today is National Popcorn Day! Whoo Hoo! Pop yourself a bowl!!! :D

BRRRRRRRRR... It is really, really cold! Memphis is so cold right now and the contractor only has half of our siding up. For a Florida person, this is really unpleasant!

Hmmm, I guess everyone else is out partying!

Today is already the 3rd of January. It seemed like so long ago when we were waiting for Christmas morning to arrive. Now we are looking ahead to the next set of holidays. HMMMMM.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYYBODY!!!!! *** 2014 *** I would like to wish each and every one of you a most wonderful new year! May this new year be your best ever!!! Horatio

I just wanted to wish everybody a most Merry, Merry Christmas!!!!!

Yes, you are absolutely right. You are always so diligent about putting your writings in the writing forums. I guess I get so excited to read everything you write, that I forget what forum I am in. You two are really smart about your finances and moving back into Sean's parents home. I am sorry about the lease and having to repay that. But I am always here to listen if you want to talk. As for Rocky, hopefully he gets well soon. I am really happy to hear he is getting used to his new home. What we as humans do not realize is that these little guys get upset when their homes are altered by humans. We had to go to a hotel for a night and I needed to take Hiero with me. So, we put her in a cage that is about six times smaller than her normal home. She was in such distress that I did not sleep at all. I kept checking on her and trying to get her to calm down. It was not until she was back home in her house where she calmed down after about one hour of checking every corner. It was then I realized that she had never been away from her home, save one trip to the veterinarian's office, and then she was in her container, but she also had her buddy in his container right next to her. Hamsters communicate with each other on a higher frequency than humans can hear. Anyway, work at least gave you a break away from the Christmas madness of customers. I am sorry that you will be back on the register but perhaps you can move up the food chain with more projects such as this in the future. Glad to know you are writing. I look forward to your next story.

WOW!!! I am so very impressed! You are very smart and extremely talented and I can guarantee that although you did not spend all eight semesters with your friends, you will remain friends throughout your life. The great news is that you have almost instantaneous contact through email and of course there is Facetime, so you have a terrific way to stay in touch with your friends worldwide. What an accomplishment you have achieved with your studies!!! Impressive! You have really worked very hard to be a success in your education, and I do believe it has paid off. Finishing early like you have will give you an edge on other people your age. I am so proud of you that you worked so very hard. Your intern opportunity is phenomenal! I know you will impress them and I do believe you made the right choice with your China program choice. Hopefully you move to Shanghai. Although, Stamford is an extremely nice town. You win no matter what, "when" they offer you a permanent job. I have total faith in you and I believe with all my heart you will be a success!!! We would love to have you post a picture of yourself. As for me, same old stuff, same old places. We are selling our Tennessee house and these people do not even want to look at a place if you have not totally renovated it. So, we are packing up to move everything into storage, renovate and then just move enough back to stage the house for sale. What a total pain in the neck. One of my colleagues reduced his house by one third, just to sell it fast, and because it was not totally renovated, no one would even look at it. He had it on the market for two years. After he renovated it, it sold the very first morning after the renovation was complete. We have decided to learn from his experience and renovate first. Still trying to move to Germany. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish the move this year. My paws are crossed. Other than that, everything is good. Next year I hope to be my best ever. May this be the same for you!

Rocky!!! We want pictures!!! I hope he continues to improve. Cleanliness is a good route to take for humans and pets. Hamsters will become sick and die if they do not have a clean cage. At first I thought you were posting a story, and I was so excited, but then I realized you were telling us about your life. How is the writing going? How is life? How is work? So, please fill us in on things. Hopefully you will stop back in and catch us up to date.

Thank you TBFOF. So nice to see you again. What has been happening with you? Please do fill us in on things!

Thank you. His pal, Hiero was purchased about one week earlier than Hedwig, and she has tumors. Because of this condition, she has lost all her hair, save a little tuft at her tail and her head. She feels good and displays no symptoms of being ill, so the veterinarian said not to worry. She is not in pain. We feed her fat, mixed in with her food, which the veterinarian said helps to keep weight on her. When she passes away, I will certainly be sad. I am not ready for that day.

My little buddy, Hedwig, passed away last night. He was three and one-half years old. This was one of the sweetest little guys ever. He will be really missed. RIP HEDWIG

Oh my goodness... I love the Deutsches Museum!!! I think you could spend a week there and still not see everything! What a fantastic museum!!! Germany has some of the most wonderful museums I have ever seen. As I was reading your post, I was trying to think of what city this fantastic transportation museum was located. For some reason I was thinking Berlin, but I believe it was a different city. What is so interesting, I can still see the location of the museum and the few blocks around the building, and I distinctly remember walking into it and seeing some of the exhibits. The museum was so impressive, it really stuck in my mind. Christmas festivals... it has been a long time, but I loved the Nuremburg Christmas market. It has been a number of years, and it was really large then, so now I am thinking that it has become more touristy. I still have the wooden ornaments I purchased in a number of the German Christmas markets and they all hang on my tree every year! Perhaps I should plan a trip to attend the Gottingen Christmas market some time. If you have a conference in the summer in Munchen, you need to go to the Elizabethan park. There is channeled water through the park, that is really fast moving. You jump in on one part and are swiftly carried through the park to a different end. You get out here and walk back to a starting place and do this all over again. I had such fun! I told two of my colleagues about this and they almost missed a trip by taking this water swim a few times. Ice storms are over, but the cold remains. Spring weather for you... very nice! I do agree, I would also be quite happy if winter was over. But as we are still in fall, this is all wishful thinking. This winter is looking to be a bit worse than the last few we have had. More later. Time to get moving and out and about.

Okay... I am tired of the cold. We need to skip winter and head straight into summer.

Oh noooooooo!!!! Another ice storm is on the way. GRRRRR!

Ice storm in Memphis. Ohhhh, it is was so cold. The ice hung on the trees and bushes for days and finally started melting. Tonight it is supposed to be really cold again. Ugggh!

Thanksgiving was fun! I made a pumpkin pie from scratch using a pumpkin, not the canned pumpkin stuff. It turned out incredibly well! The pie was so delicious, that I went back to Whole Foods and bought more pumpkins to make a couple more pies. Of course, we ate too much food.

Penny sounds like she is doing well. You can count on her always blocking her tubes. That makes her safe. The Hiero and Hedwig both still block up their doors and they are both about three and one-half years old. Please always use a piece of tape on her ball when she is in it. That makes her ball a little more secure and keeping the lid on tight. Black Friday... I hope you made it through the day relatively unscathed. Going out shopping on Black Friday is the very last thing I want to do. Too many crazy shoppers looking for a deal. Then you would have to stand in line for almost a year for the privilege of paying. No thank you, I stayed home today.

LOL... I would have loved to see you two in the comptetition! That must have been hilarious. How are you? Did you have a nice holiday? Please keep us up to date with what is happening!!!

It turned out to be a game. I did win, but the next day my blowing arm was a little sore. But it was great fun trying to get leaves to go exactly where you want them. The food was so much fun to see and I am sure for the kitchen to create.