One of those posts that is probably only interesting to my mother. And then only slightly.

Sassafras (she's 9) told James she wished she could raise the dead. Before we could contemplate how deep our little preshy's mind was for thinking that thought, she set us straight. You know, she continued, so then I would have four hamsters.

Sassy's hamster died today. Or maybe yesterday. Sass said the hamster was buried under the fluff and didn't smell so great. Just to set the record straight, here's a list of the hamsters she's owned, along with their method of, ahem, disposal.

1. Nibbles, aka the Greatest Hamster in the World. He developed a tumor that eventually took over half his head and...anyway, it was gross.

2. Libby, short for Libbles (to rhyme with Nibbles). She was perfectly fine until Bud decided to give her a bath. And used hand soap. And then tucked her soapy body back into the cage for Sassafras to find. That was a sad sad day here.

3. Whiskers. Whiskers was a bratty hamster. She never could keep her room clean and she talked back all the time and she bit people. Kind of like Sass except for the biting. Whiskers was found today.

4. Lightning. This is the hamster that spent a couple of days missing right after Sass got him. He isn't dead...yet.

Lest y'all think Sassafras is a bad hamster mom, she's not. In fact, she's pretty awesome at taking care of her own pets. She cleans the cages herself each Saturday. She makes sure they have food and water daily. She buys all the food and bedding herself with her allowance. Did I mention she's 9? Which makes it all the more tragic that her hamsters continue to meet untimely deaths. I mean, the little things only live a couple of years anyway!

Poor Sassafras...

I just hope they don't have restless souls. How creepy would hamster ghosts be?

Speaking of watermelon...what? We weren't speaking of watermelon? Well, we are now. Did you know that in the South, watermelon and fried chicken constitute an entire meal. Maybe a side item like baked beans, green beans, or corn bread could be added, but that's entirely optional. I was thinking about this as my children ate only watermelon for dinner the other night. Then I started thinking about food storage, and how there's not really any good way to store watermelon. I did at one time put watermelon in a dehydrator just for curiousity's sake, since it's watermelon and I wanted to see how much would be left after dehydration. It actually made some pretty fabulous fruit leather. So you could do it that way, or just save seeds. But what if you're Southern and disaster strikes? I think you would probably agree that there are a few items that are essential to southern food storage. Grits, for example. I don't think people from other regions really need a 50-gallon drum of grits. Or red Koolaid. Which is the perfect accent to a meal of watermelon and chicken. The red #40 highlights of the drink perfectly compliment the nutty notes of the crispy skin on the chicken. It's really a culinary delight, nay, a culinary circus, for the palette. Oh sorry, I think I disembarked from my train of thought there for a minute.

In other news, the hamster (lowercase, actual hamster) is still MIA. I prefer to think that he's moved on to bigger and better things. Or joined a band of muppets on their way to NYC to break into the big time. I'd like to think he's figured out how to open his little plastic ball to stop at truck stops along the way for a bite to eat. Then he pops back in during the night, maybe putting tiny flares along side to warn others. Those are the things I'd like to think, because the alternative is kind of sad.
'

This is how we eat watermelon round heah

I had to stop them from eating the rind

BTW, if anyone has seen a baby dwarf hamster rolling down the road (or anywhere else)in a small clear plastic ball, Sassafras has misplaced her new birthday pet...