Yesterday, my most wonderful parents drove me down to Amesbury, Massachussetts to pick up my rats from their foster home. We left around eight, supplied with enough Harry Potter for eleven hours, and a kennel full of fleece. I still can't believe my parents are crazy enough to do this for me.
Yes, Amesbury is just over the border from New Hampshire. But it's still a good three hour drive. Three hours!
After much consideration, I had decided to go with the two rats that had initially caught my eye, Madeline and Pimento.
The foster mother was a tiny middle aged woman named Ruth. Madeline and Pimento had only been there for one night, transported from a town just south of Boston. As we walked to the door, cat kennel in hand, I could hear what sounded like a full pack of wolves barking. It was terrifying to find out that this woman not only had several rats, plus the fosters, but perhaps four dogs, a new cat, and Heaven only knows what else. I didn't doubt her ability to take care of them, and indeed, she seemed very able, and very caring. But I couldn't imagine the time she must have had to put into these animals. After we came inside, past the door for the designated "rat room", Ruth opened up the door to the top cage, where I could see a recognizable dumbo-eared head poking out from inside the hammock. I had looked at the pictures of Maddy and Pimento so often that I could tell them apart with ease. They were much fatter in person- the pictures must have been taken when they were quite a bit younger. Ruth picked up Pimento, who isn't as shy as Madeline, and she handed her over to me. Pimento sniffed curiously, and then scampered up to my shoulder, where she burrowed through my hair and then sat, balanced. Rats like shoulder rides, and they'll stay there for awhile. Soon Ruth handed Maddy over to me, too, who was a little slimmer than the plump Pimento. She also sniffed, and ran up to my other shoulder. Soon they were both sitting together on my shoulders, while my parents signed a form. We pried them from their perch and put them into the fleece- filled kennel. The ride home seemed significantly longer than the ride down. It's always that way with road trips. As soon as they were outside of the foster home, Maddy and Pimento both got shy. I kept their kennel door open, assured that if they decided to roam out, there was no place for them to really go. For the most part, they stayed sleeping in the fleece at the back of the kennel. They did seem to like the oranges I gave them, but they didn't care for me too much.
On the way back, we stopped in Freeport at the L.L. Bean factory outlet for some hiking boots, my intended birthday gift from my parents. I've been having some serious ankle problems on and off for a few years, and they've gotten worse since the Acadia Challenge. And as I've been planning on doing a significant amount of hiking this year, my parents thought some mid-height boots were in order. I settled on these, eventually. They're lightweight, have super ankle support (wearing them feels so nice. I don't even need my brace), and are waterproof. Bad. Ass.
Back in the car, the rats were friendlier. I fell asleep at one point, and was startled awake when they both crawled out tentatively onto my lap.
They settled in pretty quickly at home- they've found the litter box, and love the hammock. I think I made it a little bit too comfortable, actually, because now they won't come out. They'll both need a couple of days to warm up, as they're quite shy around me or any other people.
All in all, it was a very successful rat and boot trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment