The cold and flu bug is going around.

First I caught a bad cold complete with runny nose, sneezing and cough. Kimball told me to stay away from her and I did. Didn’t do any good. Now I’m better and she’s got it.

Gwen went a different route. She called the house Monday morning and said she was sick. She drove all the way to Excelsior Springs Friday to get it. We were so glad she felt better on Tuesday. And so was she.

-If anyone is looking for a four-color printing job, the Nevada Daily Mail has a job opening. See the classifieds.

– I thought I was familiar with The Little Store until I read the ElHiMo article by Lana Wilson and Jeannie Begley. We got permission to put it on the front page so you can read it.

– One of our miniature hamsters gave us seven babies a week or so ago. I guess she gave one back because she is down to six.

The cage she is in had a luxury apartment, I guess, as it was elevated with a view. She spent a lot of time up there and decided her new babies would like it. The little blind babies repeatedly wandered over to the entrance tube and fell out of the apartment. I didn’t think that was good for their tiny brains and might give them concussions even though they were landing in cotton bedding. The momma would climb down, grab one by a leg or what ever and haul it back upstairs, dropping it down the tube several times in the process.

I took pity on the babies and insisted that we remove the elevated apartment. The anti-Trump demonstrations are mild in comparison to the momma’s reaction. She went wild, frantically running around the cage, grabbing her babies and carrying them around, climbing on the wire sides of the cage.

At first I thought someone was leaving the cage door unlatched because more than once she got out with a baby in tow. Then I watched her gnaw on the wire latch until it opened a few times.

At first we secured it with a bread tie. When she ate the cloth off of that, I added three more wire ties,

She didn’t calm down the first day until we put a coat over the cage and in the evening turned out the lights. She finally slipped into and under the bedding and let her hungry babies eat.

The babies have their eyes open now and are really mobile. I have an idea if anyone puts a hand in the cage they will feel the momma’s wrath. She’s very protective and she’s still very angry. The babies appear to be gentle.

Kimball wants the babies go to good homes in a couple of weeks when they are ready. She wants the momma to go to a good home, too, but her new owner has to be smarter than a hamster. I just watched the momma working on the wire ties and the latch. She appears to know what is keeping the door closed. KL