Been having a bad time today. Tired, depressed, annoyed with people. Judgemental, sanctimonious, mendacious, greedy, mean, vapid, and outright disgusting people. And we're waiting for the results on Zola's autopsy.

While I was writing this post I got a call from the vet. Preliminary tests say it wasn't WHS but she had lesions on all her organs, the least affected was her brain. This came as a surprise to everyone. They're going to send more in-depth pathology reports (or something like that) to see if it was cancer (the doctor says this is more likely) or a really really bad infection (which really would've shown signs much earlier). They're sending her little body to be cremated now. Next week we'll know more.

If it turns out to have been an infection I'm fairly sure I'll freak way the fuck out. Which leads perfectly to the rest of the post which I'd mostly written before the call.

I'm going back and forth over whether or not to get another hedgehog. My parents have already put in their vote which wasn't a surprise. They don't "get" pets. And that's fine. A lot of people don't really see the point of putting time, money, and food into something that essentially shits it out again. They can be expensive, demanding, and make all kinds of messes.

But they also don't care which end of the weight-diet-weight cycle I'm on, or if I don't feel like washing my hair, or care what kind of clothes I'm wearing. They're good at keeping me warm when it gets cold and several times a day I get to see tiny sleeping faces that make me happy. There is always someone in this household wanting to show that they love me which might seem a bit crazy but having it works wonders on depressives like me. Also we can leave the pets at home when we want to go out without anyone calling child protective services.

Another hedgehog. I'm not hesistant because I'm worried this would be a "replacement" or that I would hate to lose another one. Mostly it's because I don't feel like I gave Zola enough care. Nonono don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming myself for her getting sick, I know it was genetic, and she led a very happy, warm, cared-for life. But I don't feel like I took her out of her cage often enough, or bathed her, trimmed her nails, or changed her bedding often enough. She wasn't growing mold or becoming a scary clawed hedgehog I just have a fairly high standard with pet care and feel like I fell short. So I might wait a while. Ask me how I feel I'm not up to par with the dog and cats sometime. I realize that I will always have criticisms about it.

This may sound morbid but I know Kurry won't be around too much longer. She's roughly eighteen years old I'm not kidding myself. Luckily she's in excellent shape and her annual senior workup always comes in with perfect results. Maybe that ol gal will just keep hanging on. And I love that, and her. She still gives what-for to our ninety-seven pounds of love dog. That's pretty impressive.

We had a creepy encounter last night. Cody was shaking one of the dry feeders for the cats with the science diet sensitive stomach food - to my complete chagrin that's the only dry food they'll eat. The other one hasn't been touched in months. We keep trying out different foods but that's the only one they touch. Anyway, something weird came out of the bin into the dish. He wasn't sure what it was but he's not the regular food regulator so he just assumed it was a twig with leaves or something and put it aside. I went into the bathroom later and wondered wtf that was on the floor. It looked like maybe a large old hairball but since this is *my* bathroom it hadn't been there that long. I went over and picked it up with one of the kitty's wet food plates. I kept thinking it was a hairball with yarn or something (which, in itself, would be weird they barely notice the yarn these days) but it was really dry so I knew it wasn't recent. I picked it up then noticed it looked sort of like a squashed dried lizard, squeaked and dropped it. Then I asked Cody to come into the bathroom to look at something. Naturally he gets freaked out because I sound scared and hurries in. I asked him if he knew what that was. He picks it up and looks at it again. Then says "Oh I know what that is and hurries out with it." Ok yeah it was something dead wasn't it?

And indeed it was. It was the mummified remains of half a mouse. In my cats' food - in a closed feeder bin which I had filled directly from the sealed bag of food last week. Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew EW. There were no holes in the bag at the bottom - and being half a mouse it couldn't have gone in there, died, then cut itself in half. The cats certainly wouldn't have put a mouse they killed inside their bag of food. And since they're indoor cats they've never had the opportunity to kill a mouse anyway. So. I'm quite freaked out, I'm definitely over my quota of seeing dead animals. There has been much bleaching, antibacterial soap use, and drafting of a stern letter to Hill's going on. I'm terrified of running into the other half sometime so I think Cody will be in charge of the dry food for a little while.

Bleeeeeah.

Rather than making the usual mondo-jumbled posts I usually end up making I'm going to divide up what I want to write about. So there's more to come.

So, this was the second hedgehog our vet had ever seen. And they'd never heard of Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome. I had a feeling they thought we were making it up. But they were really open to taking us in the back and having us show the websites where they could get more information. They weren't entirely comfortable saying this was definitely WHS but even a vet with WHS experience would know there's only one way to tell for sure. By doing an autopsy. They read all the materials and in the meantime had done a few tests.

It turns out she could roll into a ball she was just not scared enough to do it with us. I hadn't seen her form a complete ball in, gosh, a year? I'd thought she just didn't need to all along but the last week I was starting to get worried. So it was nice to know that not only could she still do it but she was comfortable enough with us to not need ball up.

After reading up on the websites we showed them the ladyvet came in and talked about the different ways and causes, which we knew about, of course, because we'd shown them the websites. In a nutshell it's mostly genetic, some think it's related to diet or a trauma. It's a degenerative disease, the symptoms can be staved with certain supplements. I told her about the food I mixed for Zola and how I'd been adding feline missing link to it for the last year or so. And she'd never had any trauma. So that was out.

We did find out that she was blind. That hadn't even occurred to me. She's a nocturnal animal and relies primarily on scent anyway. But to be that small with such a tiny brain and not be able to see must be terrifying. That was what made us decide that she'd had enough.

Flying Baby Zola June 2003

The vet people were very sensitive about the process. They brought her to us in our room and let us cuddle and say goodbye. She really been enjoying being rubbed from her nose to her headquills and would move her head up to guide my index finger. She was tired though. And we got to see that she wouldn't blink when our fingers came close to her face. But "the hand" was nice and warm as always.

We always joked that while the other pets would call me Mom, Zola just thought of me as "the hand". As in "Oh no there's that hand again" as it would reach into the cage to get her. Or "Oh my god, hand save me!" when she was crawling around in the bathtub. She'd been relying on "the hand" a lot the last few days to eat, drink, and walk, and while there was something sweet in her tired gentleness it was sad to not have her usual grumpy hedgehog mood. Cute grumps are the essence of hedgehogs.

They took her in the back to give her gas before the injection. I'd insisted on that. Then after a few minutes they brought us back there to be with her. She was such a tiny little thing on that big operating table for dogs and cats. The gas mask covered her entire head. Her eyes were half closed and she was on her right side with her belly exposed, left limbs sticking out- as she'd been sleeping a lot these days. They gently gave her a shot in the liver. She didn't flinch. I rubbed her tummy and tiny little paws and she went gently. She was gone in less than a minute and her little fuzzy legs completely relaxed. I was mostly numb. I'd been preparing for this the last few days. Cody had a hard time with it. I think part of that was we were in the same room where he was with Ascii when they put her down. I think it was a lot of things.

Gorgonzola Pokypants Boobiethon 2004

We've sent her little body to the state animal coroner (or something like that) for an official necropsy. We'll have official paperwork about whether or not this was Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome. Then they're sending her back to the vet who will cremate her for us. She'll be in a little box that we can put next to Ascii's big box in the living room.

I have moments where I miss her but I know that we did the best we could for her. I gave her a good home, excellent food, and a good wheel to run on. Two things I think I could've done better: cleaned her cage and clipped her nails more often. That's all. And that's not bad.

We stopped at Border's on the way home. Cody wanted to get some books and I had a DVD being held at the desk. When we were checking out I wandered over to some stuff that looked like jewelry - black corded things with beads. Just looking around. I put my hand on a tangled wad of cords with beads and there was a little brass hedgehog hanging off the cord of something called a "book thong". I quickly untangled it from the mess and told Cody to wait I had something else to buy. It's a black cord with beads on either end and a little hedgehog charm hanging off of one. This was a little gift in memory of my Zola bean.

Zola with Santa, December 2005

(this is sort of a republish of an email I sent to a friend but it covered so much that I would end up repeating in all the emails that I thought I'd just edit it a bit and post it here)

Thanks to everyone who sent good thoughts about my Zola bean. It's breaking my heart that she's so young.

And it's bringing up all kinds of residue from when we had to put our three year old Ascii dog to sleep for severe hip and knee dysplasia in 2001. That was genetic too - which was why we went to a stringent breeder that screened for hips and eyes when we got Winter. And supplement her diet with all kinds of vitamins and things that are supposed to help with general health and connective tissues.

And that experience led us to be more open for a breeder for a hedgehog. And my cat Melon was seriously ill last summer - I nursed her back to health by force feeding her liquids and giving her subcutaneous fluids and shots and pills all at home. The scariest moments were when she didn't fight back. But the good part is after two months of a whole lot of work, Melon got better. She's just fine now, obnoxious and needy as ever, and our bond is even stronger - which is hard to imagine, this is my baby kitty (ha she's over ten years old now) and we were pretty attached before all that.

This and a lot of other issues are at the heart of why we don't (and probably won't) have kids. If losing a pet or seeing them sick like this hurts this much, the thought of seeing my own baby this ill and having to do the things that are incredibly hard but make a good mother terrifies me. Scares me to death. There's also the thing about my not exactly being a high functioning person these days. That too.

Zola's ability to walk has seriously diminished just in the last week. I've been holding her up to walk and feeding her wet cat food and droppers of water. Doing some water aerobics and rubbing her tummy (clockwise only for some reason I can't remember) and her tiny legs. Winter is totally jealous that the hedgehog is getting this much attention. The cats are keeping a respectful distance. They've never really taken much notice of her. We have an appointment at the vet at 8 am. We're hoping that this is just a bad ear infection or something. But I'm prepared for the worst, as usual.

Yes, we will definitely be getting another hedgehog if/when Zola leaves us. Not as a replacement. As one of my favorites of Cody's Aunts says "There will always be room for more, my heart expands to accommodate them." Or something like that. The breeder that sold Zola to us has since moved to New York state but there is another one here in Albuquerque.

My stomach's been hurting so much this week and the only thing I can think is responsible is the egg salad I had at Flying Star Tueday night. I don't respond to eggs very well I really need to remember that. I'm sure there are some stress issues too. I haven't gotten a lot of knitting done because my fingers usually seem to be covered in one hedgehog-related gross substance or another.

Ok I'm going to go get ready.

I'm so lazy these days I've given up any pretense of posting a narrative blog entry. Just lists. And if I get any more morose and whiny on here I'm going to become an official emo blog. But if I'm destined to have a small animal-themed emo blog with occasional knitting posts, then a small animal-themed emo blog with occasional knitting posts I write.

Anyway, this is old-schooll link style bloggin, babies.

1. I'm incredibly proud of my friend, Scout. Where she gets the energy to raise two children, keep a spotless house, work at a yarn store, knit (and finish) projects on a consistent basis, and get quoted in a major US newspaper is beyond me. I envy her energy.

2. I have no idea what I've done to make a sweet guy like Cody love me so much. That he can be woken up with his wife in a pitiful state of simultaneous tears, nausea, and hunger because she's too sick and weak to figure out what to eat, make blueberry toast for her, introduce her to the eighth wonder of the world: apple slices with peanut butter, all without being cranky or upset, then go back to bed makes him a guy who should win a nobel prize for husbands.

3. I'm fairly sure that Zola has Wobbly Hedgehog Sydrome, a misleadingly cute name for a horrible disease. It's supposed to be similar to human MS. Basically her legs are getting stiff and can't hold her body up so she keeps falling over, especially when she tries to walk. Eventually she won't be able to move by herself. And while there are things that I can do to slow the degeneration there is no cure. I've been noticing slight changes since last fall but thought she was just being lazy and enjoying her new heating system a lot. At just under three years old she isn't that old for a hedgehog. And she's been much more vocal lately. For a while I thought she was just getting more talkative, now I think they're little honks of frustration because she can't get to where she wants to go.

This isn't definite yet. We're going to the vet this weekend. But it's looking pretty likely (warning! heartbreaking video of sick hedgehogs in this link!). Another genetics-related disease, despite going to a serious breeder. If there is a god I'm giving it a big middle finger right now. (Kind of explains the above crying hungry nauseous situation doesn't it?)

I've been holding her up to help her get some walking on the table and giving her little massages. The spookiest part (as it was when Melon was sick) is this is the least cranky and most compliant she's ever been. You know they're sick when they're not being feisty. And I don't think she can form a complete ball anymore.

And, yes, we will be putting her down when she's no longer able to move by herself. I believe very strongly in controlling the pain and keeping a good quality of life for my pets. The ability to say that there has been enough pain and to stop it now is one of the few things we can control. So we will. We'll probably send her body to the Veterinary School in Ft Collins where they can perform an autopsy to confirm that it was WHS. If it's positive I'll contact the breeder so she'll stop breeding that line.

4. I've been a greedy little yarn hoarder lately. Not only did I buy the gorgeous Maisy Day pink and green shawl set from Hello Yarn (even though I haven't finished the pumpkin patch one yet), I managed to snag two skeins of Vesper sock yarn (one midnight knitter and one neapolitan). I higly recommend subscribing to her etsy shop's rss feed that's how I managed to grab em before she was bought out. I've also been given the most amazing yarn lately - Lorna's Laces sock yarn, a great pink silk blend from Artful yarns in San Fran, really cool fiber to spin. But I think I mentioned that in a previous post. I should take some yarn porn photos. Especially of the bombyx silk bell. That thing is COOL!

5. I saw a post about fabric by a Japanese designer that used to be in my room when I was a little girl. It was the spookiest thing because I'd totally forgotten about this colorful automobile themed fabric. My mom stretched it over wooden frames like painting canvases and had them hanging in my room. Total freakish flashback when I saw it.

6. This is possibly the most depressing article about body image, women's value, the male gaze, and mental health I've ever read. A beautiful girl has a horrible psychosis - hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, inability to function..the whole deal. The only medication that works for her makes her gain weight. Everyone else is upset by the "loss" of her beauty despite her complete lack in interest in her physical change (presumably because she's happy to not be seeing or hearing things?).

The doctors seem to think the fact that she doesn't have stringent standards of beauty is an indication that she's still "broken". Fuckers. Between the romaniticizing of a beautiful crazy woman, the lack of value in mental health vs. the overvalued beauty standards, the creepiness of her doctor allowing his obvious physical attraction to his patient affect the medication and choice of treatment, not to mention the stilted way in which the article was written makes me, more than ever, Blame the Patriarchy.

7. This, on the other hand, is one of the more inspiring posts I've read in a while. And I read a lot of inspiring posts. Not only do I love the idea of Vanessa Bell, Dorothy Parker, and Henri Matisse being together in the same room, but the idea of sitting around knitting with them..what a delicious idea!

8. On a similar note I've decided, after hemming and hawing about the "commitment" of joining another knitalong, to join Project Spectrum. The concept of knitting with specific colors every month to celebrate the beauty and power of color strikes way too close to home for me to not get involved. So for the Month of March I will be knitting with the Red and Pink Posie color of Silk Road Tweed to make a besotted cable scarf.

9. I'm looking forward to Friday more than I've looked forward to watching the olympics in a long time.

10. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of the night I learned to knit. I know. Weird isn't it?

Believe me, I had no idea I would enjoy this particular hobby to this extent. I hadn't been creative with my hands pretty much since finishing my sculpture degree in 1997. Before that I'd been a tactile creator in one form or another since I was a young girl playing on my electric pottery wheel and painting on my little easel. But that myth about it being hard to be creative when you're happy is kind of true.

It's not a coincidence that I also met and moved in with the love of my life that year. Which is funny because I'd broken a lot of barriers that academic year. A set of my paintings had won an award at the annual student show, I'd joined a life drawing group of professional artists, which was also instrumental in changing how I felt about my own body because I discovered that the plumper, curvier models were a LOT more fun to draw. But I'd also had a major depressive episode, been diagnosed with and put on meds to treat depression for the first time, gone through major changes with some important friendships, and been alone with my mother when she had her first seizure, worked for a magazine that quickly went under, and taught myself html in a weekend. It was a weird-ass year.

So after a long incubation period, I started creating with my hands again. And it, as cheesy as it sounds, has changed my life. Oh, believe me, I'm sure I did my share of eye-rolling about the fiber arts when I was playing the macho power tool welding sculptor game. But I'd taken some great classes on women in the arts and already worked with Judy Chicago. I knew the potential of expression, great ideas, of history behind it. But I think it was when I saw Mac post about the knitty womb that really caught my attention. This was feminism and history and creativity coming together in a crazy fun way. Then I saw the Joey Ramone and Joan Jett dolls and Cody overheard me sqeal about the coolness of it all.

I started to fantasize about making my own DeeDee (the smarter, more pensive Ramone) doll. So for giftmas before last Cody bought Stitch and Bitch and Stitch and Bitch Nation for me. Then helped me buy what I needed to get started. Then took me down to see his crafty aunt when we were fixing her computer. She showed me how to do a long tail cast-on and a basic knit stitch. And the rest, as they say, is history. I was hooked.

And thank the gods for it because I finally found something to create with my hands again. I've actually found a way to be creative and feel somewhat financially successful too. The fact that it has hugely calming side effects has been a wonder too. And I've met some great and interesting friends. Which was incredibly important to me when Jocelyn, my best friend and major link to the rest of the world, moved to San Fran. I've been getting out at least once a week. And getting back into the groove of being a proper socialized person again. Not just some cranky feral woman who sleeps by day and is afraid of most people. Well, I'm being a little dramatic but sometimes it felt that way.

So thank you Cody. Thank you Mac. Thank you Knitty and Debbie and my Crafty Aunt-in-law. Thank you to my Albuquerque knitting friends for being so tolerant of my seeming constant need for positive reinforcement about my projects. Thanks you guys.

Ok, I'm off to take care of my little honking hedgehog I think she wants some food.

Even though I posted about this last year I thought I'd write about it again.

article totally snagged from this site

I haven't done a lick of spinning this week. I have some fiber drafted and ready to go but with the giftmas knitting chugging along and miscellaneous household chores coming up I haven't had a chance. I will this week though. Dammit.

Another thing I haven't had a chance to do is take a photo of the fuzzyfeet I finished for my father-in-law. Mostly because we're on the darker side of the solstice and by the time I have a chance to think about it the sun's already gone down. Grr. And I don't like taking photos of my knitting with the flash my camera just isn't good enough to do it justice indoors.

Ramona took a photo of the Bosque Sunset yarn for me though! Isn't she sweet? I hope she makes something really cool with it.

I did manage to take some photos tonight of an ongoing diy project I've had for a few years now: the hedgehog cage. I was changing her bedding and needed to add a new heater to the bottom of the cage and thought I'd snap a few photos. Hey, it's crafty right?

So basically I bought some sterlite organizer bins, heavy duty plastic zip ties, and had some plastic-coated aluminum closet organizer shelving cut to fit on top of the organizer bins at the Home Depot. I also bought some large connecting ferret tubes at the Petsmart.

This is what the current setup looks like

I took an old soldering wand and burned extra air holes along the tops of the bins and cut large holes to connect the bins with the ferret tubes. (I was basing the idea on this and a good deal of inspiration from this)

This is a side view where I connected the two lower cages with a ferret tube

I then used the zip ties to make hinges that connect the organizer bins to the shelving "lids". I used a shorter piece of the shelving on the longer bin to leave room for the running wheel. The lids keep curious cats out of the cages but makes it easy enough for me to lift them up to check on Miss Zola Bean. Not that the cats have shown much of an interest in the hedgehog unless she's having a free-range run and is coming right for them. Then they run like hell. But she eats a combination of food that includes cat food and even though they have access to at least two dry foods at all times I wanted to cover the cages because I'm paranoid worst-case-scenario pet mom.

The configuration has changed a bit over time. There used to be a third bin on the "Second Story" that Zola would have to climb in the ferret tube to reach but I decided that was too steep for her to be comfortable. So I just covered the hole with duct tape. There have been a few experiments where I tried to hang her wheel from a hole in the organizer bin or had a feeder hanging on the outside. She's not much of an escape artist though.

The smaller bin on the left has Carefresh bedding and a cardboard tube she likes to get inside and rock back and forth making the tube roll. She also has a plastic bird toy hanging from the lid and a small fleece ball with a bell in it. This is pretty much her tubey room - where she sleeps with her head stuck in a toilet paper tube.

The larger bin is the one she uses most often. Probably because that one has food, water, heating, and the running wheel.

It's taken us years to get the heating set up properly in her cage. We used to just use heating pads under the cages but with safety regulations they all turn off after two hours and I wanted something that was more consistent. After a lot of looking around I found some reptile cage heaters that were safe to use on the outside bottom of acrylic cages. They're very low wattage anyway but to be safe I plugged them into a rheostat so they'll shut off if they get too hot. She's a much MUCH happier hedgehog with a regular, warmer temperature and I don't have to worry quite as much to check the temperature all the time.

I taped the heaters to the outside bottom of the larger cage with fire-resistant electrical tape. Right now there are two plugged in to the rheostat and a third one I can plug in if it gets too cold. I try to keep the temperature between 73 and 85 degrees F and I regulate that with a little digital thermometer with a probe taped on the inside wall with some more electrical tape. The heaters aren['t overlapping on the bottom - they are edged with the electrical tape.

What I was doing tonight was adding the new larger heater to get more coverage. The smaller ones were the largest acrylic-safe heaters I could find before. The organizer bins have small feet built in but I also put some extra shelving underneath just to be sure it didn't scorch the desk. It's a tiny old pressboard desk so it's really more about safety than the value of the desk.

Inside this bin I use washable corduroy cage liners that I change about once a week. The water bottle's hanger fits perfectly in the indentation for the handles so I can close the lid. And I use a heavy crock for her food since she has a tendency to tip it over.

Another neat thing from the pins n needles website is a fleece cover for those microwavable heating discs that the
plastic pigloo fits right on top of when it's really REALLY cold or I have a grumpy post-bath hedgehog on my hands.

The all the purple stuff was just a weird coincidence. That's just the color those particular sizes come in.

Until she gets her Giftmas fleece tent I usually just throw a little fleece blanket on top of the pigloo to keep the heat inside. Sherry also sells little handwarmer sets so you can keep them warm while travelling. And yes, I even have the little hedgehog travel bag (in black) from her site. I'm a big fan of the pins n needles website. She's even started selling excellent hedgehog food mixes.

So there you go. My DIY hedgehog habitat.

Winter's bugging me for attention now but this is a cute photo I took of her last night.

When he was here Jocelyn's boyfriend said that while they were really cute the photos of Winter just don't do justice to her sweet personality. I completely agree. But I'm biased.

I finally set up Zola's playground on the back porch work table so I could get a good video of her tubing. She did a lot of standing around and sniffing because there are always interesting smelling things outside and I'd painted the work table with a few coats of clear glossy deck stain last week.

But I managed to get some fun videos of Ms. Rockstar Zola and her amazing empty toilet paper tubes. The videos are big files - definitely not for dialup and barely tolerable for broadband. I cut them down as much as I could but really didn't want to diminish the cuteness. They're worth the wait though I promise.

Near Tubing (20.7 megs)

Tubey Tubey! (10.6 megs)

Isn't she the weirdest cutest thing ever?

Not enough cuteness for you? Take a look at this.

We took Zola to the Saturday knitting group today. Between the fun company and their great knitting creations, Felix the adorable baby, and Ms. Pokypants there were many distractions from actual knitting (like knitting groups are supposed to be just about the knitting! ha!) but I did get a few rows done on the Clapotis.

Le clap and I are old friends now but I'm to the part where I drop a stitch every few rows (on purpose!) so I finally feel like I'm making progress. For those who've had trouble getting theirs going I highly recommend joining the yahoo group and printing out the excel spreadsheets from the files section. Makes an enormous difference having every line written with the number of stitches counted out like that.

Anyway, I was concerned that the Napoli coffee people might not like having a little poky hedgehog in their coffeeshop so I brought her in the zip-up ferret backpack in case I had to hide her. They didn't even seem to notice the hedgehog. Although she wasn't as noticable (or as cute if I may say so) as the sweet redheaded five month old human baby. So a good time was had by all and much attention was paid to both cuties.

I was reminded at the group that the LYS was having their annual sale (although to be completely honest I get almost that good a discount every day with my dropped stitch knitters membership card) and I've been wanting to get a ball winder.

For the most part I don't mind winding by hand but with the dyeing I've been doing not to mention the spinning I've been learning (oh, yes THAT I haven't mentioned that have I?) if I decided to sell it on Etsy or something I think it would look neater if I used a winder. And since we were already in that part of town we went to Village Wools to pick up a ball winder.

I didn't really think I was going to buy yarn (we're reaching yarn overload here at chez hedgehog) but I didn't want to leave the hedgehog in the car while we went in. I mean, I'll be in a yarn store I could end up being there all day. So I decided to wear the backpack into the store and just not mention that there was a live animal in it. I've done this a few times with the much more subtle Pins n Needles Shoulder Bag that looks just like a black purse with a hedgehog button. I should take pics of that bag sometime.

So we were walking into the store, with me wearing my backpack and I saw one of the Dropped Stitch Knitter Ladies coming my way from across the street. We spoke briefly then she complimented me on my backpack. I thanked her and whispered that my hedgehog was in it. Well she had to see it because when the hell else do you run into someone carrying a hedgehog right?

So I went into the store and opened the bag so she could see Zola. Then she called someone else over. Then two employees came up. Suddenly, no kidding, we were surrounded by a dozen people ogling my hedgehog LOL. It felt like I had a tiny grumpy rockstar in my hands. Naturally they all adored her because she's adorable and I'm just so proud of how well she behaves with lots of different hands petting and holding her. That early socialization really does make a difference.

And, get this, one of the women said, "Hey, do you have a website called The Little Hedgehog? I read your site it's cute!" Naturally my first thought was "Gee, I hope I haven't written anything that offends her." but Cody visibly swelled with pride that his wife is a notorious knitblogger with such a popular prickly pet. (Couldn't help the alliteration.)

Oh, I bought the ball winder. And two skeins of Manos del Uruguay (heehee it's Erin's fault) in a purplish bluish orangish color I've been eyeballing every time I've been in the shop. I think I'm going to make My So-Called Scarf with it.

Let the Saturday ballwinding and hedgehog (and husband) napping commence!

Did you know that Groundhog Day used to be Hedgehog Day? S'true!

At the first of February, the days were growing noticeably longer. Candles were lit to help warm the earth and bring even more light to the earth. When the Christians took over the Roman empire, they changed this to Candlemas.

The Germans had a folklore that on Candlemas day, if a hedgehog saw its shadow, there would be 6 more weeks of winter, else it was almost over. This supposedly came from the Romans. When they migrated to the United States. there were no hedgehogs. The local Indians had great respect for the ground hog which they called Wojac (where we get the name "woodchuck"), which they considered an ancestor, so Pennsylvania Dutch changed their traditions from a hedgehog to a woodchuck or groundhog. " per Larry Freeman

In the early 1880's a few residents of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania began to celebrate the legend of the groundhog as a weather prognosticator. If Punxsutawney Phil, upon emerging from his burrow, saw his shadow, there would be six more weeks of bad weather or two winters. If he did not see his shadow, the forecast would be for an early spring. Today, the popularity of Groundhog Day continues to grow.

Someone asked me about a month ago what it is exactly that I like about hedgehogs.

My first answer was that they come off as grumpy and mean but are really cute and sweet -- kind of like my husband. I was saying that to my sister's fiancee so I was teasing him by saying that's clearly what my sister and I are attracted to. ;)

I've had some time to think about why I find these animals so intriguing.

Hedgehogs rely heavily on coming off as scary little things. If they're frightened they immediately puff their quills out and start huffing and clicking like mad. Sometimes they pull the spikes on their forehead up and try to head butt the source of their distress. That's really cute. Since we've gotten Zola we have a lot of fun imitating the huffs and head butts. Kind of reminds me of angry toddlers overdue for their naps.

At first it's really scary to see this little spiky thing huff and puff at you but after a while it gets pretty easy to interpret just how upset a hedgehog is by the stiffness of the bristles and the kind of huffs and clicks coming out. After a while it's easy to tell when they're genuinely upset and frightened or if they're just bluffing.

When they're really really upset they can roll into a complete spiky ball. While they're not very comfortable to hold like this the spikes really don't hurt as much as you think. In essence the spikes are single hairs with air in the chambers and feel like sharp hairbrush bristles - not barbed on the end like a porcupine's quills. Just kind of poky. It takes an experienced hand to pick up a balled up hedgehog without a blanket.

All those spikes were evolved to protect a small harmless animal with a very soft underbelly, extremely delicate paws, a taste for bugs, bad eyesight, and a tiny little brain. They came very early in the chain of evolution so their ability to reason is not really there. A hedgehog's favorite thing to do aside from eat and sleep is stick its head in a toilet paper tube. Sometimes Zola sticks her head in a tube and bonks and trips around the cage. It's really fun when a plastic cat toy ball gets stuck in the other end. Usually she sleeps flat on her belly, head in a tube. If she can't see you you can't see her.

They're not the pet for the insecure that's for sure. Ultimately, they wish you weren't there. Sure they can get used to you holding them and stuff but really as long as there's food, water, a heating pad under the house, a toilet paper tube to stick their head in, and a wheel to run on, they can take or leave 'the hand'. If they're used to being held they can be cuddly and sleep in your lap.

But really, they'd rather stick their head in a tube and wait until dark.

Zola the hedgehog managed to tube around and push all her blankets against her downstairs water bottle so the entire recently refilled water bottle dripped out into the bedding. I'm glad I just use sherry liners it was much easier to clean up than cellsorb or carefresh would have been. But it was very stinky and the poop had, um, reconstituted. Yick.

I really should get photos of the house I made for her. I'm very proud of it. I took partial inspiration from the cavycages people, a good deal of inspiration from this house crafting page, and scoured the aisles of home depot for materials to make a three-room two-story hedgehog mansion with sterlite organizer bins of varying sizes connected by colorful ferret tubes topped with closet organizer shelves attatched with zip ties so the cats don't bother her- not that they would they're terrified of her. My secret was using an old soldering iron to cut the holes rather than a craft knife or scissors. No chance of cracking the plastic then and melting the plastic around the edges of the holes added good reinforcement. That degree in sculpture comes in handy again!

So after putting fresh cage liners and new blankets in her rooms zola really needed a bath too. I usually bathe her about once a month and it's surprisingly fun to do. She likes the warm water and this is one of the few times she actively acknowledges that she likes the hand aka me. I keep the water level low enough where she can stretch out on her belly without getting her nose in the water. Hedgehogs hate to get water in their noses. I use a mild puppy oatmeal shampoo and use a dash of olive oil in the rinse water to keep her skin healthy. I use a plastic cup to be sure she's rinsed off well and brush her bristles with an old toothbrush. After a while of letting her run around the tub I cuddle her up in a super absorbent towel until she's dry. Usually she's sleepy and relaxed enough for me to trim her nails too. I'll hold her in a towel in my lap and she'll doze on and off. Such a sweet little pokypants. There's a great site that shows how cute they can be during bathtime.