Follow Us on Twitter

This may seem silly, but I've created a Twitter account for Come Chill with the Chinchilla. You can now follow us by searching for Nimbus Menz or @ChillWithNimbus.

I'll tweet links for the new blog posts, photos, tips, random happening throughout the day with Nimbus as well as retweet tweets from other organizations like Oxbow Animal Health, Petfinder, Pet Emergency Guide, Humane Society and PetSmart (Is it Pet Smart, Pets Mart or Pet's Mart?? Does anyone know?).

You can also follow my personal Twitter - although I'm on it intermittently - by searching for Lex Menz or @StarStruckHotel. I tweet the photos used on this blog and the new posts. That makes up the most of my tweets these days, but I try to throw in a personal sentence or two for my aunt, who reads my Twitter. She's not a social media person, so she doesn't have a Twitter and isn't on Facebook. In order to keep up with my day-to-day life, she checks out my Twitter and reads this blog since we can't be on the phone every day.

So, if you'd like, follow us and send us a line. I know it's easier to follow someone on Twitter than Blogger, especially if you don't have a Gmail account. After several tries, I finally added the ChillWithNimbus account onto my Twitter app for my phone. That was hilariously difficult. The end result was changing my password.

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If you're interested in learning a bit more about me, I was raised in a small town outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Our house was always filled with animals. We've owned several cats, a turtle, a lizard, a snake, a hermit crab, hamsters, dogs, a guinea pig, a miniature goat, and salt and freshwater fish. Aside from our domestic pets, my mother has rescued injured wildlife and raised monarch butterflies to release for the Mexico migration. I might as well have "animal lover" in my DNA as my mom instilled in me such a passion for nature at a young age. While kids my age were watching "Doug" and "Hey Arnold," I was watching "The Crocodile Hunter" along with its various spin-offs and "The Jeff Corwin Experience."

By the time I was 7, I had created my own zoo on paper. Sadly, I never followed my dream of becoming a zookeeper or owning a zoo (at least not yet), but I still tap into my passion for animals every day. There are my beloved pets, of course. There's this blog, which has really created a deeper bond and fascination with Nimbus. Then, there's my local "business" Fins & Fur Pet Sitting. One day, I'll write a memoir about my pet sitting experiences. There's never been a dull job! 

Volunteering at a cat rescue

In tenth grade, I started going by Lex after leaving a private school I attended for nine years. It was at my new high school that I fell in love with journalism - the career choice I'm pursuing now that I've graduated from Western Carolina University. I enjoy the behind-the-scenes view you are allowed to get through immersion in reporting, and I don't feel that print journalism is a dying field, especially not in smaller towns like the one I currently live in.

One of my favorite newspaper issues

With my free time, I enjoy writing what I hope will be published novels one day (as cliche as that sounds), painting pottery, boogie boarding at the Outer Banks, visiting zoos across the United States, reading (some favorites are "The Time Traveler's Wife," "Vulpes the Red Fox," "The Great Gatsby," "Three Weeks with my Brother" ...you can find me on GoodReads), participating in community theatre, volunteering at the animal shelter and watching as many movies as possible! 

The promo poster for the musical "Brigadoon." I played Jane.

That's a small picture of me and my life outside of Nimbus and Sparta. Right now, we live a quiet existence in the Appalachian Mountains beside a bubbling stream. Hopefully, we'll be moving soon to start the next phase of "The First Adult Job."

Hope you enjoy the Twitter feed, and keep checking in here. I appreciate all of your advice about Nimbus's injury. He has boundless energy, and he's actually taking his new medication quite well. I still worry, but he looks like he's on the right track to full recovery. 

The sign for my zoo!