introducing......

as i am writing this, and the soft breeze blows through the windows, the wonderful whiff of hamster poo wafts past my nose. yes, hamster poo. not the sexiest scent to begin my day with.

mr pet seller, you lied. you said as long as we changed the shavings that lined their cages regularly, they won't stink like a rotting dumpster. but they do. and now i have to live with that smell as i am typing on the keyboard.

their names are nibbles, the handicapped 3-legged hamster, and echo, the hyperactive convict who is forever trying to escape. i am considering renaming them to 'smelly' and 'poo-ey'. the names fit, i think, but daughter will probably not be too pleased with that. pets beget responsibility, in case you didn't know. and instead of a doggy, which mr condo manager frowns upon, these miniature hamsters, which are smaller than half the palm of a hand, are the next best thing.

they are cute, i give them that much. with their soft golden fur, twitchy nose and inability to bark their heads off or poo anywhere else except their cage. even their habitual midnight run on the threadmill is adorable, once you get past the creepy squeek of the wheels that are turning at supersonic speed when all is quiet in the house and everything is asleep, almost. they do have a strange tendency to decorate their plastic house with poo the very minute that you return it newly cleaned, sterile, sweet smelling to them though, almost like poo is the newest latest interior decoration fad. faster than the speed of light, they will soil it again. hamster logic, i will never understand.

now, if only i can train them to flush their toilet or wipe their bum after poo-ing, they will be the dream pets of all time.