Karen,

Indeed, not the most pleasant of Christmas gatherings for me, but I managed through. I did do some retreat and hide tactics a few times, but no one bothered me as they had all heard about the wham bam thump event I had. I am still in recovery from that, but slowly getting better and chasing the rats around makes me get up and down fairly regularly.

About them. I have 7 of the crew housed together now; all but Guinan and T'Pol. It went relatively smoothly and everyone is settling down. Of course there is the occasional squabble, but hey, they are a rather big mischief! (Yes, 'mischief' is the correct term for a group of rats.) Tiberius is doing really well after his surgery and I've witnessed a few dropkicks from him when overly annoyed by some of the girls. Kira has a lump on her elbow that blew up, hopefully it will go away, but I will call the vet next week if it's not gone by then as the medicine is a 2 week course.

The two rexes are doing really well. They actually come to me when I let them run about in my room, though picking them up is a challenge! They are small, slippery and quick, while I am a bit lumbering and slow with my aches and pains. Once they are caught, however, they are much calmer and amenable to my petting and holding them. They love my sleeves and long for some free time in the main room, which will come in time, but not quite yet!

I've taken to letting Dumbledore sleep out much of the time, as she is picked on by the other rats in the cabinet. She is much happier this way and there's always food and water available to her, so the worst I expect out of her is a chewed box or blanket (left out for her anyhow).

More later