Nimbus is full of energy tonight, running around like he's got a secret Valentine of his own! Since his birthday, Nimbus has had good days and bad days. He's off the medication, and everything is back to normal. However, he sat sullenly on the dining room chair nearly every night for the past week. His fuzzy face had a dejected look pasted on it like he'd never be happy again. Once, he even fell asleep and it was 9 or 10 at night! He's had me pretty worried, but tonight, he's up to his usual tricks and scampering around the house like a proper chinchilla!
We're all going a bit stir crazy, to be honest. Snow fell for over 24 hours straight the other day, and we got a total of six inches, which is a lot for North Carolina. Nimbus enjoyed the snow! He decided it was quite delicious indeed!
The next morning, we let Sansa out as usual but this time, we brought Sparta along, too. You can tell that Sparta is a pampered indoor cat, who likes to believe that he's a wild tiger. He begs to be let outside, and then when I finally do, this is how he acts. Oh, Sparta!
I'm sorry I haven't been writing more - other than a few blurbs here and there. I've been focusing on my fiction writing lately. I want to work on it every day. Today, I got a huge chunk written, which is great because I was too under the weather yesterday to get anything done. I've gotten over that hurdle of "uh, what do I write now to get to Point C?" Now, that I'm past that point, I can start enjoying the process again and get these characters in a real pickle. It's been great for that these last few days. But, I promise to return to you all very soon. I have a whooper of a post to write about cages with a follow-up on cage accessories! That is coming, I promise, I promise, along with more of Nimbus's birthday videos!!
Hey, if you're following Chris and I with learning about some animals every day --- we're on American Woodcock, anaconda and Andean goose.
Also, I have some BIG news coming up!!!! Stay tuned! It's going to change a whole lot in Nimbus's and Sparta's life as well as mine!
Once again, my Kentucky trip has been postponed! It is pouring buckets of snow here, and... well, everywhere. My grandparents have snow down in South Carolina. My father has snow in Charlotte. There's snow all across Tennessee, so there's no heading to Kentucky.
In North Carolina, this is a lot of snow!
The snow started some time this morning and has been going ever since. According to the weather reports, it won't stop until 6 a.m. tomorrow. Chris and I are huddled down with the pets, trying to keep warm and entertained! Since we thought I'd be gone on Friday, we've been celebrating Valentine's Day today. That means a whole lot of candy and later, we'll exchange our teddy bears we made at Build-A-Bear on Sunday. Yes, teddy bears... but Chris has never had a teddy bear before, and I wasn't about to stand for that. And, I find teddy bears irresistible.
I just went wandering around outside, and I couldn't see the bottom half of my snow boots!! Man, I wish I had a sled and a good hill!! We've got some awesome slopes around here, but they're pretty dangerous as far as backyard sledding goes. And if I wanted to use my own backyard, well then, the only sledding hill abruptly stops right at Scott Creek. WHEEEEEEE SLEDDING....and then.....YAY HYPOTHERMIA!
When we had a snow day last week, I desperately wanted to show Nimbus snow. Wouldn't it be adorable to see him bounding around in the snow??! Of course, that would kill him!! I would never do such a thing.
Today, we brought the snow inside instead!! I didn't have a clue how Nimbus would respond. For all I knew, he'd completely ignore me and scamper into his cage. I had no idea he'd do this!!!
The house is buzzing with excitement these days. Nimbus's birthday is almost here. I still cannot believe I've owned him for a year now. All the moments of adorable-ness, all the moments of frustration, the destroyed remote buttons, the chewed homework, the stolen Hershey kisses, the flying pumice dust, the Cheerio tricks, all the moments of a fulfilling sense of companionship from owning a chinchilla. I won't lie. There were a lot of times I wondered why on earth had I adopted one of these crazy rodents. I wanted to give up. But, after this last month, I've realized just how much I love that ball of fluff. I'm a chinchilla lover now, but in reality, I'm a HUGE NIMBUS LOVER!! I may never own a chinchilla again, but I will always treasure whatever time I'm lucky enough to have with my Nimbus Cloud.
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Chinchilla teeth can cut through anything, it seems like. Picture the scarab beetles from The Mummy (character spoiler in clip below).
Ok, maybe they're not that bad, but the damage a chinchilla can cause is unbelievable. Arguably, the start-up costs will be the most expensive bills you pay for owning a chinchilla. In my opinion, it's damage control. Assuming your chinchilla never needs an emergency vet clinic visit like Nimbus, your chinchilla savings will go fast with the purchase of a sturdy cage and the accessories. However, once I move out of here, I'll be spending money on house repairs!!!
This was where he first damaged the house.
This corner belongs in what is now Chris's bedroom. When I first moved into the house, it was my bedroom. But, when I chucked out my ex (We stayed in separate rooms. I don't know how people do this whole 100% living together in the same bed and all thing. Ya'll crazy and possess some insane patience!), I moved into the second bedroom, and the vacant room became the Chinchilla Room. It was such a relief. I could drop Nimbus off and let him run around without worrying about whether if he was under the oven or somewhere unsafe. He could no longer chew on my couch or get up on the kitchen counters via the couch. I would sit with him, working on my laptop or reading a book. However, I would also pop out to grab something to eat or homework I needed. I would take my time because Nimbus was safe and locked up in his special room. ...I returned to find him gnawing to China on the wall corner. The Chinchilla Room didn't last much longer for several reasons.
Baseboards are another treat. I hope I can paint this over with a few dabs of a similarly colored paint. It's not as noticeable as it looks. You can see Sansa's back leg on the left, and she's standing in the bathroom doorway. The baseboards face the washing machine/dryer. There's enough room for 1.5 persons to get through that little hallway. No one's really looking at the baseboards.
This next instance is my favorite because I didn't know it was scientifically possible! That is right next to the living room window overlooking the river.
It's mobile home wallpaper. That stuff is sucked tight into all the corners and seams of the house with tight perfection. There was no damage there before - no curled up edges, no miniscule tears. And then, here comes Nimbus. RIP! When I heard the noise, I whipped my head over and gaped at what I saw. How? What? But why?!? A beige strip stuck straight out of Nimbus's mouth, quivering from the motion of his whiskers. Then, he ate it like a potato chip!
Nimbus's teeth are not limited to walls and baseboards. They also greatly enjoy different objects and furniture in my living room. He either hates Will & Grace or that DVD box tastes like vanilla ice cream!
My leather couch looks like a German Shepherd attacked it. Nope, just Nimbus.
I posted this on our Twitter page last night. I was sitting on the couch last night, and it was Chris who kept deterring Nimbus from getting behind the couch. Unbeknownst to me, the chinchilla wasn't attempting a behind-the-couch mission. He was chewing the heating pad cord draped down the back - something I'd completely forgotten about. If *someone* had just mentioned what the rodent was going after in the first place, we'd be spared a lot of grief, and I wouldn't need to purchase a new heating pad this week.
Finally, Nimbus's favorite not-allowed chew toy is a book or two. Clive Barker, Tolkien, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Irving, Rawlings... he doesn't mind. As long as it has pages and a spine, Nimbus is set on destroying a good book! To my English major friends, this is a punishable offense. Most likely by firing squad!
Clearly, I have more work ahead of me providing Nimbus with a safe household. You should not allow your chins to eat objects like these, and we try our best to discourage Nimbus from this activity. The couch is covered with blankets and pillows. The cat bed is pressed up against the bottom of the DVD shelf. We pay attention to where cords are in accordance to where Nimbus can reach. And, I say all this because I don't want you all to think I just let Nimbus jump around and get away with murder. These photos show past mistakes or lack of diligence on my part. Books, couches and DVDs are not snack items in any capacity. We do actually put out chew toys across the living room floor for him to play with, but it certainly doesn't look that way!
The point of this post was to get a laugh, a nod of understanding/sympathy and to ultimately point out (to a future owner) that if you're not in for the long haul, then a chinchilla is not a right pet for you. If you're in a smaller home with not many options for playrooms, these are what your belongings could look like. I didn't know this when I brought Nimbus into my home. I knew he'd chew, but I would have never pictured this. But, to me, they're just objects. As long as he never hurts himself, I'm not going to get upset over their destruction. I will discipline him and move him away, but the already inflicted damage doesn't cause me any concern. The heating pad... well, it was a disappointment, but its demise won't stop me from loving Nimbus. It's just one of the major aspects to consider before bringing in one of these bizarre, beautiful animals into your own. Chinchillas are not impulse buys!
To keep Nimbus engaged and create a stronger bond with him, I've started teaching him a new trick.
He's learning to kiss on command through a reward system of Cheerios. The first night (Jan 30) we began training, Nimbus picked up it surprisingly fast. He could clearly see that there was a Cheerio in my hand, but he also noticed that he couldn't have that Cheerio until he completed a specific action. Earlier, he'd been sitting quite still on the couch arm, so I walked up and started pecking him on the lips. When Chris handed me Cheerios, I left my face close to Nimbus's and said "Kiss" repeatedly. It didn't take long before Nimbus put 2 and 2 together to win his favorite treat.
Since then, we've practiced it each night. Here's a video of our progression from this morning. We've also started working on "Up."
He doesn't yet understand performing a kiss without an type of reward before him. However, with the repetition of the word "Kiss," I'm hoping he'll store this word in his memory and learn its meaning. Just like he knows what "Nimbus" means.
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In other news, I'm excited to travel to the western side of Kentucky next week. I've never spent time in Kentucky before, only passed through on other excursions, and am looking forward to checking out the town of Paducah. It seems like a great little spot in the Central time zone. I have a job interview there at a newspaper for their open reporter position. Hopefully, the weather will behave, and I can make it out there safely. It'll be a nice mini vacation as I get to stay the night. However, I hate being away from Nimbus. It'll be his second to last night before his final check-up at the vet. We're counting down the days.
Also, (this may interest some of you), Chris and I are reading up on different animals every day. While I despised homework, I do miss walking into a classroom and learning something new. Whether Chris enjoys it or not, he gets to listen to me read about three different animals a day in alphabetical order. For me, the knowledge is key if I ever change career paths to work with wild animals like the big cats or canines in the future. I also enjoy reading up on mammals, birds, reptiles and so forth to appease my love of nature. If you'd like to keep up with us, here are Wikipedia links to the animals we read about: Aardwolf, African Buffalo, Akita, African Black Crake (bird), Alaskan Malamute, and Albatross. We clearly read more than usual. It's been a relatively slow day.
As always, thank you for reading!!! Nimbus is doing brilliantly well in his recovery, and we're hoping future posts have happy, funny stories instead of medical setbacks and updates.
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.
