When Kyle and I were dating and I was finishing college in Nebraska and Kyle was here in Wyoming, I would often visit for the weekend. I always arrived at Kyle's before he was home from work, and I would let myself in. Kyle, being the sweet guy that he is, would leave me a little welcome gift on the coffee table inside the front door so that it would be the first sight I would see upon entering the house. One of the first gifts he left for me was a little stuffed hedgehog that squeaked when I squeezed it. I instantly fell in love with it and hedgehogs became our "thing".
Over the few years we've been married we've collected quite a few hedgehog-related items. We have a salt and pepper shaker set I found on Ebay in Thailand or somewhere. We have a Hedgehog Drive sign. I have several more stuffed hedgehogs, some in hot pink, black and purple. We have books on hedgies, especially those by wonderful children's author Jan Brett. If you've been to my Etsy shop lately, you know that I have several card sets stamped with hedgehog stamps. I am head-over-heels in love with hedgies.
Thus, when I saw an ad in the local paper for pet hedgehogs, I was delighted. I gave Kyle my sweetest smile and said, "Can't we get one??? Puh-lease! Huh! Huh? Huh!?!" Of course he relented and I drove to Loveland to pick up our new baby.
This was Spike not too long after we got him.
This is Spike tonight.
Spike, like most of our entire house, has been displaced by the whole basement flooding/deconstruction/reconstruction episode. Generally, Spike has been an unsocial, huffy, introverted hedgehog. Though we tried to ply him with treats and kindnesses in the beginning, he was having none of it. We finally decided to give him his own "space". Since he is a better escape artist than Houdini, we relocated Spike from his original wire pen to a "condo" that Kyle manufactured using an old ferret cage.
This has turned out to be the perfect place for Spike to reside. We had to build little footholds along the ramps in his cage because the wooden platforms were too slick for his little clawed feet. Hedgehogs love exercise, though, and so this multi-level home is perfect for him to run about and it leaves room in the bottom of the cage for his wheel. Hedgehogs love to run on wheels just like a hamster. Hedgies need the exercise, and when Spike doesn't have access to it he's even more unhappy than usual.
Anyhow, Spike is especially grumpy right now due to the fact that his cage is temporarily placed in the middle of the noisy, loud and bright living room. Since the contents of the basement were either placed in the already overflowing garage or our living room and kitchen, Spike had few refuges to retreat to. He is not happy with the remodel. Pip on the other hand has just realized that he is not the only baby in the house. He is quite alarmed that there is yet another living, breathing, eating being in the house. It's been quite humorous watching Spike grump about huffing and watching Pip run up to the cage, growl and bark, and look at Kyle and I as if we are insane for not being astounded at this other "Thing" in the house.
I'm with Spike. I'll be really glad when we're all back in our respective corners of the house, and when everything has a place and finds it. Until then, we're all just crowded into the living room and spending a little too much quality time together...
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