Two Years

Friday the 14th was the second anniversary of Foehn's and CB's arrival here. As I sit here writing this Virga and CB are spinning in their wheel, Foehn is climbing up my leg, and Cirrus is relaxing under the desk. Foehn and CB have matured in the two years we've had them, but the personalities they exhibited in the long trip here two years ago haven't changed much. Neither of them are as tolerant of being handled as are Virga and Cirrus. However, they are comfortable with us and we haven't had the escapes and scares that we had in the first year or so.. Foehn is certainly calmer than she used to be, but of the two she is the more skittish. She will nip you if she doesn't want your finger near her, but on the other hand she will sit there and let you rub her between the ears for several minutes.  CB, of course, is still a pretty mellow little guy who likes to crawl into your shirt for a nap.

Well, time to go round them up for their trip back to the cage and dinner.

"There's a Bathroom on the Right"

It was a few years ago when I started hearing a radio commercial for some new smoothie type drink. I heard that commercial numerous times, and I thought they called the product "lightweight keefer".  A year or so later when we were picking up Virga and Cirrus from their previous owner, she told us that they liked kefir (didn't  know the correct spelling at the time), a yogurt-like drink. So, we went to the store to find some, and there it was on the shelf -" Lifeway Kefir".  I told M that I head been hearing this commercial for this stuff and what I thought it had been called. It was much like the stories you hear about people who totally misunderstand song lyrics, such as Creedence Clearwater's "Bad Moon Rising". The correct lyric is "there's a bad moon on the rise" (just in case you forgot).

It turned out that all four of our gliders like kefir, and M has resumed giving them some a couple of times a week in the afternoon.  Cirrus really likes her kefir, and is usually the first nose to appear when it's time. M dips her finger in it and lets them lick it off, but for Cirrus that's not always fast enough, and there are three others competing with her for licks! So, she often helps herself while M takes care of the other three.

Cirrus helping herself to some kefir.

Everyone, to the Shirt!

The disadvantage to having playtime in the office is that the gliders can avoid us if they want as there are many places for them to curl up in. On some nights they run, climb, and jump all over the place, and other times they try and find a place to nap, especially CB and Foehn. When we are in the tent it's a more confined space and there are fewer places to hide.  Last fall and winter CB made a habit of climbing into my shirt and curling up for a 20 to 30 minute nap before he would come out and play. That's hard for him to do in the summer when I'm wearing t-shirt most of the time. With the recent cooler weather M has been wearing a sweatshirt in the office during playtime.  CB has found that is the perfect place for a nap, and now dives right in after meal worms have been served. Foehn sometimes joins him. Typically Virga and Cirrus spend their time being active - running in the wheel, chasing around the office, and like tonight, climbing on the window screen trying to get at a fly trapped on the other side. Last night we were both in here with the gliders.  M was browsing on the computer, and after a few minutes I noticed that it was very quiet - no wheel noise, no climbing on the screen, and no rapid patter of glider feet on the floor.  "How many do you have in your shirt?", I asked.  "Three.", said M. I grabbed the flashlight (red light) to look for the missing glider. I checked the climbing tree, behind the desk, in the extra pouches, and no glider.  "It's time for a head count", I said to M. She pulled down the zipper of the sweatshirt and we looked in where at first, there was just a ball of grey fur. Within a few seconds four pairs of dark eyes were looking up at us with that "What??" look. All gliders present and accounted for!

Only three are visible here - Foehn in the back, Virga middle, and Cirrus front.
CB is tucked in behind Foehn and probably still asleep.