A crazy step...

So on  Saturday I took a big, crazy step...

I've wanted to do something crazy, wild, and completely different with my waist length hair, that was full of split ends, for several years now, but just haven't a) had the money to go to a professional hairdresser, and/or b) had the courage to actually follow through. So it's been put off time and time again, and I'd pretty much given up doing anything adventurous to try and throw myself out of the same old rut I seem to keep falling into. Then on Friday I was at the library and came across a book on how to cut your own hair, had a brief flick through and decided it was worth getting it out. That night I sat and read it properly and decided it didn't look THAT difficult, and that if I continued to wait until I had both the money and courage to do it, it was probably never going to happen! The seed had been planted... I know of several others who cut their own hair, surely I could too? I don't tend to leave the house much anyway, so if I made a disaster of it, I'd just throw a hat on or stay at home more until it'd grown out again. I went to sleep wondering if I would actually go through with it... really wanting to do it, but not sure if I could get past the fear of stuffing it up and getting laughed at. The lack of self confidence was playing ping pong with my determination that I wanted a change... and a BIG one.

By the time I woke up and had my shower, I was still wavering a little... I had been like this for so long now, the thought of looking different, despite hating how I looked, was rather terrifying... but oh so tempting.

Remember this photo from an earlier blog post??

So, I grit my teeth, took one last look at the page that showed me what I was going to try and attempt to do... then grabbed the scissors and started cutting!!!! I took what felt like a rather big chunk off my hair... but it really didn't make any noticeable difference... and I KNEW this had to be totally different, and therefore very noticeable!!! So, I lopped another big chunk off! Ok.. now we were getting there!! My hair had gone from being down to touching my waist, to not sitting on my shoulders. I tidied/evened things up, and thought it looked alright... with it now shorter, I could see the wave my hair gets when it's short starting to make an appearance, which I rather liked. I felt both exhilarated and nervous. Had I just screwed it up... did it look hideous??? I showed my partner and Mr12, who both did a double take and stared... then both said it looked good. Different... shockingly different, but good. So I washed it and left it to settle for a while.. couldn't keep my hands off it because it felt so weird, so much shorter, lighter! We went out... the whole time I was torn between feeling worried that I would get people pointing and staring, that it would be so obvious that it was a poor amateur attempt, and wanting to just not care and focus more on how free I felt, how liberating it had been to cut my own hair for the first time ever! Heading out of the house after that haircut definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, and made me face that insecure part of myself. By the time I got home though... I'd dealt with it, and was actually starting to feel comfortable with what I'd done.

Crappy cellphone photo... 

See the waves?

I still wouldn't say I LOVED it... but I did like it, especially the length and the waviness it was getting. So I thought that was it... nope! When I woke up, it just felt too thick and bushy still. I was going to have to remove more! Looking through the book again, I remembered the times I'd had my hair cut before, by a professional of course, and the times I'd liked it the most, was usually when it had layers. There was a section on how to cut layers in the book... so taking a deep breath, I started cutting again. This time, focusing more on the laying effect, and wanting it feeling lighter, thinner. Keeping a close eye on the image in the mirror, I kept cutting, thinning it out, slowly bringing in more layers... until I reached a point where I was not just liking it, but really starting to LOVE it! Ok, it had ended up quite a bit shorter than I'd really wanted, but it FELT good, and I liked the look! REALLY liked it this time!
It's since been washed, played with plenty, slept in... and I still love it. I didn't wake up this morning feeling the need to change it, or regretting what I'd done or anything. I feel free, and happy.. and all because I took that crazy step and cut my own hair for the first time! I don't think I'll be going to a professional hairdresser again... I know it still looks rough, but I don't care. It is my first time doing it myself after all. Normally, I'd be getting upset about it not being perfect, ignoring the whole "1st time ever" fact, and focusing more on how it's not perfect straight away! Not this time.. for some reason, I've been able to let that part go, and just enjoy the freedom of doing something this big, and liking the results. I know some people may get annoyed with me "prattling on" about something as "trivial" as a simple haircut... but for me, this IS big! Both the doing it myself, and the fact that I'm NOT feeling all that self conscious about it. Big steps... hopefully the start of more to come.

The end result...

Look.. you even got a smile at the camera!!

The sides and back are a bit rough.. but this will hopefully improve as I practice more

Happy "girlie" feeling me!!!!

Mr4 just had to join in with the photos!

Like a drowning yoyo!

Anyone seen my enthusiasm lately? Yep, it's like that again!

Arrakis (Arri) - 22 months old

Lately I've been, well, all over the place, with most of it feeling rather grey and sludgy as I've tried to wade through a rather long patch of depression. Struggling to find the sunshine in the last few weeks, I've been spending far too many days staring at my computer screen, unable to find any enthusiasm to do much of anything, with only a flicker of interest in crafts on the odd occasion, and very much having a case of "too many minds" (from the movie "The Last Samurai"). During one of those "flicker" patches however, I got involved in a "Hometown" swap on Ravelry, which I'm actually a wee bit excited about, despite that numbing "greyness" of depression that throws a curtain over everything and keeps causing me to take rather long breaks. Thankfully I have 2 months (well, one month now) to complete this swap, so plenty of time. I've been running around finding lots of lovely little local (or at least NZ Made) goodies to include in the parcel, and have actually been having a LOT of trouble NOT going overboard! LOL! But, it has at least got me knitting again, with 3 projects currently on the go to include in this parcel. I will reveal photos of these projects once they have been sent off and received by my swap partner. ;o)

As you'll see, my camera has also started to get a bit of a workout lately, just a gentle one though. I've gotten several new rats lately... 3 young girls and an older boy who's quite probably a slightly younger sibling of Rufio (introduced a couple of posts ago), plus I am also currently looking after a young mumma rat and her accidental litter of 12 gorgeous bubs for a friend. I'm absolutely loving having babies to watch grow up again, and at least 2 will definitely be staying with me (which I am VERY excited about) after the others have all either gone back to my friend, or moved on to new homes. So of course there's been lots of photos of the new additions, and of course regular photos taken of mumma and her bubs to keep a record of them growing, plus a few photos of the rest of my ratty family, taken when I've been doing intros with my new boy, Sampson.

There is a bit of a story to Sampson too... as I said, he is quite probably a slightly younger sibling of Rufio's as he was at the petshop at the same time as Rufio when I brought my black boy home (Rufio had looked older than the other babies that had been there, as he was quite a bit bigger). I went in many weeks later and found there were 4 of the bubs who'd been there when Rufio was, still there. Two of them had started biting. :-/ So I started visiting semi-regularly, taking the two bitey boys out for cuddles... and not getting bitten even once... having nervous rat inexperienced petshop staff tends to lead to them not really knowing how to properly pick up an unsure male rat whose hormones are starting to kick in, plus of course they were barely getting handled at all in there. Both boys were actually very sweet, and I knew they simply needed to be taken home and given a lot of one-on-one attention to get them past these naughty habits they were picking up due to being caged on their own (poor Sampson will always have a seriously bumpy, scarred tail now after being attacked a few times by his brother when they'd been caged together, so they got put into separate cages), and getting bugger all handling. I had ONE space available at home, after having just lost one of my boys... but Rufio at that time was still unneutered, plus was starting to get a bit rougher with his playing and showing signs of his hormones kicking in, so I didn't want to risk having another unneutered male in the house at the same time. By this stage though, I'd had several cuddles with both boys, and was already falling just a little bit for them... then I went in and the dominant biter (Sampson was more of a fear biter, not dominant) had found a home (and apparently a really good one where he would get plenty of handling and be spoiled), so it was just Sampson left, and the 2 non-bitey brothers. Now I love the challenge of working with a rat like Sampson, but with the situation not quite being right for me to take him then, I suggested to one of the staff, who'd already been thinking of taking him and the other two boys home and working with them, but was worried there'd still be trouble finding them homes afterwards, that if she took Sampson home, once I'd gotten Rufio neutered, and saved up the $$ for a 2nd neuter (for Sampson), I'd take Sampson home to keep. So.. she did. He was there for several weeks, given the name of "Donkey Kong", but his biting got worse. Then one of her rats started to take a turn for the worst, and she was finding it rather hard to cope with that plus Sampson's biting getting worse, so she asked if I could take him sooner. I couldn't... so a friend of mine (the one whose ratty mum and litter I'm currently looking after) offered to take him until I could. A suggestion which I jumped at, as I knew I'd at least be able to visit him semi-regularly there, and I still really wanted to take him home, I just didn't want to take the risk of having a known biter when Rufio was being a snotty teen and threatening to bite occasionally. 2 hormanal boys to work with, while having a 4yr old son who loves feeding and patting the rats, so there was risk of fingers going in cages, was simply NOT a situation I was willing to put myself in. So.. Sampson went to my friends, and that was when I finally gave him the name Sampson, and would go over most weeks and cuddle with him for hours. He was cage aggressive mostly... out of the cage he was USUALLY pretty good. In fact he was rather sweet and even a bit goofy like Rufio. He didn't like me touching his back, and would usually back kick me if I tried... I think this was mostly because, due to his biting, he'd been taught that a hand in his cage or over him, was going to give him a hell of a fright because that was when he'd be suddenly snatched up to try and get him out of the cage while the person getting him tried to avoid being bitten. But as long as I stayed away from his back, and moved slowly around him, when he was out of the cage he was fine. My friend couldn't really work with him much due to working most days, so he was still getting hardly any handling, and still unneutered.
By this stage, I'd also adopted 3 new young girls: 2 girls my friend had rescued, & a girl that one of the other ratclubbers had rescued (along with the rest of her litter and a 2nd litter). A few weeks after they came home, Sampson's hormone issues got the better of him, and he attacked another rat, so my friend bundled him off to the vet for a quick neuter, and 3 weeks later, I was finally able to bring Sampson home! He's been here about a week now, and has made HUGE progress! I can put my hand in his cage without him attacking it, he'll take food ever so gently from my fingers, and he'll even let me pat him IN THE CAGE! He's still a wee bit uncertain about a hand above him, but he no longer back kicks me, and will let me catch him and take him out for cuddles, again, with no attempt to bite. He will sit on my shoulder happily for hours, and has had a couple of long intro sessions with the rest of the rats without anything more than a few of those back kicks of his when they'd get a bit too nosy and crowd him. He's easily overwhelmed by other rats, I'm guessing because he's been caged on his own for so long. So I'm currently working on getting him happy with the others on neutral territory, and really hoping to get him moved into the main cage with everyone else within the next week. I'm absolutely besotted with this boy now! Now that he's relaxed and is getting handling regularly (plus the neuter), he's turned into such a sweet cuddly boy, and I'm really glad I got him.

Anyway.. a few quick photos to introduce Sampson, plus a few of the others:

Happy Smiley Sampson

My 3 new girls: Katara (Kat), Maia, Nala

Kat (Nala's sister.. very licky, snuggly, & loves being out exploring)

Nala (Kat's sister.. like her sister, but a bit quieter & not as licky)

Queens of the cage, Mira on the left, new girl Maia on the right

Queens scrapping it out
These two are regularly squabbling as they BOTH want to be
TOP RAT!

Arri being a dork

Shy, nervous Nevyn (left), new girl Nala (right)

Rufio

my gorgeous Mira

Nevyn

Zuma (Arri's sister) 

Gimli (2.5yrs old) doing a hamster impression

Mira & Sampson

Old Nomble (2.5yrs old)
 both she and Gimli have nasty tumours, & lately I've been getting the feeling
I don't have much longer with Nomble. :o(

Nomble with her wonky nose

Family photo - with family squabble in the background.
Front row: Maia, Rufio (I THINK), Gimli
Middle row: Finn, Mira, Nomble
Squabbling at the back: brother and sister, Zuma and Arri
Missing: Storm, Sampson, Nala, Kat, & Nevyn

Box of crazies!

 And the mumma and babies I'm fostering (the babies are 10 days old today, but these photos were taken at a week old):

Mumma (Surya) washing

Mumma Surya

The boys: the one I'm definitely keeping is the one with the fat stripe at the top

Brothers snuggling

5 berky girls line up

Berky girl pile - failed

5 Hoodie girls line up

Hoodie girl pile

With getting back into the photography slowly, I've also been contemplating whether to have a 3rd (or would it be 4th?) attempt at trying a "365 Photography Project". I've seriously wanted to do this project for YEARS, but the 2-3 times I've tried it, I've failed in the very early days and really struggled to get back into it, so ended up just giving up. Need to find a way to KEEP me enthusiastic about it so I keep going! If I can at least keep the interest in photography going, even if for now it's just photos of the rats on a semi-regular basis, then maybe sometime very soon I'll be ready to try again. I definitely think it's a project well worth doing for any photographer... from what I've seen (and read) of others' projects, it can really help you grow as a photographer, and I know mine certainly needs pushing!

As for non photography or rat related news... a couple of months back I finally bought myself a push bike, just a cheap one, with the hope of getting out and exercising occasionally at least, plus giving me more freedom to get to more places for my photography without having to always rely on my partner for transport, or paying for the bus. So far, it's just stayed sitting in the garage... it's been YEARS since I've been on a bike, and I'm nervous enough in a car out on the roads, nevermind on a bike, so it's taking me a bit to work up the courage to get on it and take it for a "spin".

As for being nervous in the car though, that was recently made a lot worse. The kids, my partner and I were all out in the car about a week ago (the day after I brought Sampson home actually), when some woman went and rear ended our car! We had been sitting at the traffic lights, and she'd been paying more attention to her phone, so when we moved up a bit, she thought the lights had changed (as she didn't bother looking at the lights, just at her phone) and started driving.. straight into us, which of course gave us a damn good jolt and shove. Sore necks and a hell of a fright for everyone! I know it was only a minor accident, and could have been so much worse, but since then, especially on top of me already being a very nervous passenger, I just have NOT been able to face getting back in the car again! It's just not an option right now. This of course has made me far more of a hermit than usual... so between this & the depression, not much of anything is getting done these last few days. 

I know I need to work on this, to get past this fear of going in the car again, otherwise I'll miss out on so much! Especially as a few days before the accident, I FINALLY started making contacts with some of the homeschooling groups around the area. We've only been living up here what... nearly 2 years?!! This dang Hermit part of me really does take over a lot and make it a PITA to actually make friends, for me or my kids and partner! So, it's time to do something about it. Force myself out into the social world, even if it's just a little bit to start off with. Start with the homeschooling groups to help Mr12 make some new friends other than those he's made in scouts (Mr4 has plenty of little chums at daycare, but it would be great for both boys to have friends who were also homeschooled), and then hopefully later move onto the local photography group and craft group I've been made aware of as well. I've got until the 1st of next month to try and deal with this car thing.. as that's when Mr12's first homeschooling group classes are, which will mean driving out there to take him, plus getting to know some of the parents out there ourselves. NOT something I want to miss out on! *gulps*

So, there's been a lot going on, along with a lot of nothing going on, lately. My head is, although rather fuzzily through the depression, buzzing with so many ideas on areas of my life and ME that need changing/working on, I'm getting pulled in so many different directions that part of me just screams STOPPPPP, and shuts it down... refuses to do ANYTHING! Too many minds, too many minds! Arggg! Need to stop and really think about where to start... I KNOW where I want to GO! I KNOW the things I need to DO to get there! But when I look at all the things that I need/want to do to get there, it's really mind boggling and daunting, and scares the crap out of me... so I hide. I need to figure out where to START! Break it down into tiny little manageable pieces, and just find a starting point.

Hoping I can find the courage tomorrow (and that the weather co-operates) to get out of the house, even if it's just for a couple of hours, and head down to the lake. I need to clear my head, and that's rather hard to do sitting in the middle of this house, with everything that's adding to the frustration around me. Some time at the lake, with just the birds (and maybe my camera), to just sit and try to start unravelling this messy mass of strings of thought in my head to find the beginning.. yep.. I need it.

Until next time... hunting for a starting point!

That buzz... it's baacckkkkk!!!!

Yes, I'm back. I was debating today whether to try and revive this blog, or turn around and properly abandon it altogether, but I really do want to give it another PROPER go.

The last few weeks at least, probably more like a couple of months really if I think back, I've been really struggling to find that creative spark. That old saying: be careful what you wish for... well, it's definitely hit home yet again with me, as I used to wish that non-stop spark of inspiration I'd get, (you know the one... the one that would keep me awake for hours at night, leaving me frustrated because I'd have so many wonderful ideas and a) not enough time to make them all, and b) no idea just which one exactly to start off with, because they all pulled at me equally as loudly), that it would just shut up and give me some peace every now and then. Well... it did. It finally went silent! There would maybe be the odd time when I'd get a hint of the spark after seeing some wonderful creation by someone else, but then I'd think.. no, that's THEIR creation, I don't want to make something even similar to someone else's work. I want to make something unique, find my own style! So, I would resist that little teeny hint of creative spark, and vainly kept hoping I would get a true taste of it again. But it's stayed hidden for so long and recently I've been getting more and more depressed, as I've actually started really missing that creative babble in my head that refused to shut up. I've missed that flow of ideas, that excitement I'd feel every time I'd think of some other awesome thing I wanted to try... even trying to start a new project lacked that thrill that was responsible for my now HUGE pile of WIPs! I've missed that sense of peace I'd get from knitting, crocheting, sewing, or needlefelting... because even the few times I've tried in these last few weeks, it's just not been there. I've felt.. numb. Empty. Even the camera has sat at home, untouched, as my usual love of wildlife photography has been dealt that same blow to the creative mojo.

But how the heck to get it back???

I tried browsing other people's work again;  talking to other crafty type folk; taking a break from everything crafty and just spending time with my rats, reading a little, browsing facebook, chatting on twitter, and other mundane things to try and clear my head. Nothing was working. The depression's been getting worse, and I've been watching my dream of EVER being able to make any kind of living off of my creations disappear for good.  To get good enough to start selling, I actually need to practice... and to practice, well, I need my mojo back!

Then.. for some reason, tonight I went for another online browse, found a few new artists/bear makers whose work I instantly fell in love with, and something just clicked! I began to feel just the first beginnings of that excited, inspired buzz again! And now, slowly, the ideas are starting to trickle in. Tomorrow I'm supposed to be getting some much needed housework done, but I'm thinking it may just have to wait one more day, so that I can give in and feed this buzz. I'm taking a couple of days out this week too to go and play with the camera again. The photography itch is building as well, and the couple of other times that it tried to do that, I didn't get to it in time and it faded again. So definitely heading out this week, especially now I have a brand new bike, so don't need to worry about trying to find money to pay for the bus, or rely on someone else for transport. I have the freedom to head out with the camera, & find both a little peace of mind I seriously need right now, and feed that inspiration buzz. This week is suddenly really looking up!

Love you Monday!

Farewell & Introduction (warning... long post, lots of photos!)

This has been a bit of a rough week for me, with a mix of personal stuff that has led to some rather tough decisions, & the loss of one of my special furbabies on Tuesday.

Madoc, usually known as Maddy (or Maddles, Mads, Madster, Goofy, Clown, Idiot, Maddymads), came to me with his twin brother Coal from a petshop back in Palmerston North, back at the end of May 2009. The two of them had been at the petshop for about a month, & our oldest son & I used to go in 2-3 times a week to have cuddles. We'd walk around the shop with the boys, and they were just so placid. Then things changed so that I was able to bring them both home, & Coal became our son's special boy, while Maddy was mine.. we also had 3 girls at the time. Both boys were sweet & gentle... but also downright cheeky! Coal had an annoying habit every time we'd go to a rat meet of disappearing & falling asleep somewhere hidden away! He freaked me out several times doing this, worrying I'd lost him, and he'd always give me that sleepy "what did you disturb my sleep for Human?? Go away" look. Unfortunately Coal passed away several months ago, after what I think were several small strokes.
Here's a couple of photos of Coal from when we first brought the boys home:

Maddy was more snuggly than Coal, but far goofier! There were many times when they were all having "out time" to play, when he'd come over to say hi, I'd roll him onto his back & rub him around the carpet, then let him go.. he'd race off, then seconds later turn and come hooning back begging for another go! Even when he got a head tilt, it didn't take him long to adjust to it, & just added to everything by giving him an even goofier look to go with the goofy personality. Later on, his back legs started to give out on him, but even that didn't slow him down! He'd still race around like the others, hauling himself up to the top of the cage, right up into his last days, just so he could snuggle with his buddies at the top of his cage. He was a super special boy, always keen for cuddles & a chance to go exploring, & it hurt watching him getting skinnier and skinnier, his back legs getting worse and worse, until he was nothing but skin & bone, dragging his back half around. So many times I thought about putting him down, especially when he'd sleep so much more, & constantly gave me a heart attack by thinking he'd already gone, because I'd see him on the floor of the cage, and nothing would wake him! Not his cage mates running over him, nor me running fingers over the cage (which is what I do to get their attention for treats), not even waving yummy smelling food under his nose! It wouldn't until I'd freaked out and slammed the door open in a hurry to get to him, picked him up, and prodded at him (sometimes rather firmly), before he'd finally wake from a rather deep sleep & just look at me. Then I'd show him the food again & he'd dive on it & be back to his silly self within minutes! But.. I just couldn't bring myself to get him PTS.. not when he was still so full of life, when he was awake. He still bounced everywhere, dive out the door to go exploring the second he knew it was open, lick me like crazy every time I rubbed his itchy ears, still chewed EVERYTHING (he LOVED his tissue boxes, ripping paper, and chewing on the damn food bowl every time he found it empty. I'd hear this "ting ting ting" of someone chewing something ceramic, and EVERYTIME I'd check, it was Maddy chewing the bowl!) and just generally show no signs of being ready to give up. So I'd put it off a little longer. Although it was hard to know he was gone, I am thankful I woke up on Tuesday morning to find he'd passed away, in the cage, surrounded by his friends.
As I'm getting more into my needlefelting now, I have also decided to do a life-size, realistic needlefelted sculpture of Maddy. I've started, but haven't had a chance to work on it any more in the last couple of days. Here's what I did on Wednesday.. I will continue posting progress pics as I go along. This is my first attempt at both a life-size sculpture, and a realistic looking sculpture (except for one other I've been working on, that I've put aside until I've finished Maddy).

Still got a LONG LONG way to go!!

I miss you my sweet clown... love you always!

So big & studly here, just after we'd brought him & Coal home.. and so BLACK! He was silvery black here, but in later life became so rusted that his coat was more a chocolate brown than black.

Typical Maddy.. always exploring. You can see the change in the colour of his coat here too.

My favourite Maddy photo: "I am Maddy, hear me ROAR!"

Goofy boy! Showing the head tilt more here.

Off he goes again!

After losing Maddy & having other crap happening this week, I was contemplating whether to get another rat since there was now a gap in the cage. The distraction of a new furbaby after losing one of my really special ones has always helped... so today I went and visited my favourite petshop. They had 6 boys to play with & cuddle.. and it wasn't long before 3 in particular had grabbed my attention. A sweet wee black hooded boy, bit nervous but quickly settled down in my hands once I took him out for cuddles. A gorgeous wee dove boy who was so sweet and gentle (a typical Dove coloured rat ... pretty much all the dove coloured rats I've had have been like this, both male & female, so it has become 1 of my favourite colourings). And lastly, a handsome black berkshire boy who was a bit older than the other 5 rats in there... he was already getting the adult wirey coat in, with hints of buck grease, and definitely had that BOY smell! The black boy really did NOT want to be caught, which had me & the staff member who was helping me, think he hadn't been handled much before he'd come in. Took me a while to grab him (quick lil fella he was!) without trying to scare him too much. The other two were quite easy to catch. Because of this, I was pretty sure the black boy wouldn't be an option.. I wanted a cuddly boy, and was already very strongly thinking of getting the dove boy. But once I took him out and held him for a while, he started to relax, then quite happily stretched out along my arm and just stayed there, preferring my arm to my shoulder, which is where the other two younger boys were. Wandering around the shop, I was finding it harder and harder to decide between the three, because they were all quite happy to chill out on me while we walked around. After a while, I finally decided the black hooded boy wasn't for me. He was sweet and all, but I'm not a huge hooded rat fan, & he just wasn't grabbing me the same way the other two were. Right.. now to decide between these last two! This was a really hard choice... my favourite colour with a very sweet snuggly personality, vs one of my least favourite colours (although I do still love blacks, just they're lower on my list of favourite ratty colours) who was acting even more cuddly than the dove boy! Then I tried flipping each of them in turn onto their backs to rub their bellies, and see how they reacted... dove boy was very squirmy and did NOT like it, black berky boy just lay there and started falling asleep on his back, bruxxing and boggling at me! Ok.. that (along with a hint of a sympathy pull since I knew being black, male, and almost adult size he would be a lot harder to home than the other 5 boys), made the decision for me. The one I had originally thought LEAST likely out of all 6 to want to take home, ended up being the one that I just could not put aside & who tugged at my heart strings the most. So... he came home with me. This week, I lost a black berk, and took in a new black berk!

Since bringing him home.. there have been NO regrets! This boy LOVES his cuddles, bruxxes and boggles easily, and will lie on his back every time I flip him over, and bliss out. So.. Meet Rufio!!

Such a handsome boy!

Just chillin, on his back, loving the rubs behind his ears, & showing off his gorgeous berky belly!

Well hi there!

He looks so squishy here.. I weighed him and he's 251g.

Plotting mischief?

During the photoshoot, he didn't like being left on the bed on his own. If I knelt at the edge of the bed, he'd come running over for cuddles, & every time I got up & walked away to try and get a shot from a different angle, he'd come running over again. For some reason, once I put this teddy bear down on the bed, he was happy to snuggle with the teddy bear so I could get photos.

Checking out this thing that the Human keeps pointing at him.

LOVE his markings! 

This is where he's been pretty much all afternoon and evening since we got home, after taking all the photos. Curled up asleep in his little bed, on my computer desk. Such a good boy!

This shows his colouring more.. quite a silvery grey more than actual black. My other black boy Koda is VERY black in comparison!

Human, why did you walk away from me AGAIN?? I was cuddling!!

Right.. that's quite enough ramble and photo spam for today.. hope you enjoyed meeting my new boy. Now I need to go set up his cage before heading to bed, then have a busy weekend ahead, so offline as usual until Monday. Have an awesome weekend everyone!! ;o)