The Great Hamster Escape.

Apparently, our crafty little hamster Snoozer busted out of his cage last night and roamed the house like a king in his palace. My husband and daughter discovered Snoozer snuggled in a blanket on the couch when they went downstairs this morning. After following the trail of poop pellets, my husband deduced that Snoozer got out of his cage, climbed down the chair next to the table where his cage sits, walked through the livingroom, stopped at my daughter's backpack and ate awhile from the reserves in his cheeks before making his way into the diningroom and then back to the livingroom where he climbed up the couch and then settled in for a good night's rest. This was Snoozer's first foray into the big, bad world and we're somewhat amazed he kept to a relatively safe route. There are, of course, numerous other paths he could have taken which would have led to certain death. He doesn't seem any worse for wear, but it gave my daughter quite a bit of fuel for her next book: Snoozer's Midnight Escape.

Snoozer's an old guy. I'm sure he's somewhere around 80 in hamster years. We're a bit surprised he's still alive. He's almost three years old. That's a long time to live if you're a hamster. In my mind, if he were to die tonight, it would be poetically beautiful and perfect. He checks out with a grand adventure. The caged bird that finally gets to fly, so to speak. In this case, the hamster that finally gets to roam. Anything after this would be anti-climatic. If he holds on for another few months, it just won't have the same symbolic meaning or impact and it'll just be crap. It'll just be that time that Snoozer got out of his cage.

If you've been waiting to hear what my daughter's teacher told her about the "talk" she had with the boys involved in last week's schoolyard rumble, join the club. Her teacher didn't say anything to her yesterday. I asked her what the deal was when she got in the car as I picked her up from school and she said, "She never said anything. I was waiting all day for her to call me over, but she never did. I guess she forgot." However, I did see my daughter playing with the boys while they waited in line, so everything must be OK with all of them.