Rats...

World Beard Championships!

Speaking of mammals...mommy/baby elephant. I'm with Mimi Smartypants-- baby elephants are dangerously cute. Dang. There's nothing like a baby mammal to just get you. At this stage I'd probably find orphaned baby rats cute...

I'm outraged at the unexplained deaths of these baby rats! I hope NASA gets to the bottom of it very soon...

Of course, baby rats on ecstacy probably find each other very cute...ya know how it is.

Yeah, OK--they're cute. Baby rats are cute! Or is it just the hormones talking?

Here's another childhood memory: I used to have rats. I try not to think about this memory or then I have to remember that I actually neglected my rats and may be responsible for their deaths. I was in denial but looking back I think this is how it might have gone done and I still cringe. (However, I did write a poem on this in college and believe it or not I won! I won money and publication...Suffering--turned into art.)

Anyway, this is what I remember about my rats: They were smart! They would come when you called them. You could let them roam free for awhile. We used to let them hang out and then play but then we noticed that they chewed the toes and fingers off the Barbie dolls. Well, actually, that didn't stop us. We started deliberately allowing them access to other dolls to see how their tastes ran...They wreaked havoc with a Shirley Temple doll but we hated that doll anyway.