The Day The Hamster Died
Posted by Ben Stevens on
Hurricane Dorian just passed through this past weekend and while the Bahamas were devastated and Nova Scotia incurred some damage, we simply lost a few trees and branches. I have to say though I don't recall any storms, that were not snowstorms, that had the whole "nobody is going anywhere for the next 12-24 hours". During the storm I had a memory of being holed up in my parents house with our kids during the ice storm back in the early 2000's.
To my recollection, it was one of the worst ice storms the Greater Moncton area had ever experienced, closing down the city for a few days while power was restored. My parents have a woodstove, which we at the time did not so we ended up staying at their house for the heat. And to be completely honest it was kind of fun all gathered together in a tiny space with everyone. I called into one of the radio stations and won a redneck giveaway package which included a coleman stove, plaid jacket, Pumphouse Brewery toques, and some bacon. Out of that storm though a few comical stories happened, let me share with you.
Amadeus was just a baby at the time and being a good dad I decided to get down and play with him on the floor. My mom had this wooden bead toy that you push the beads along the metal wires and then back the other direction, sort of like the picture above. The main difference was my mom's toy had one suction cup right in the centre at the bottom. I looked at it and an idea crossed my mind, what if I stuck it on my forehead and then could get a birds eye view of Amadeus playing with the toy. That is exactly what I did and it was absolutely amazing, he had such a good time playing with it giggling and laughing. All it required of me was having my head overtop of him and watching him have fun because it was stuck to my forehead.
Some of you at this point are clueing in to what likely result is coming. It was a good 45 mins later when I felt like my forehead was beginning to feel a little tender. I broke the seal of the suction cup and took the toy off, revealing to everyone else in the room the giant hickey now clearly visible on the centre of my forehead. It was not a light or even dark red hickey it was a black and blue hickey of epic proportions. It was also about this time that the radio announced that the University I was attending would be open for afternoon classes. That's right, I got to go to my University class with the biggest hickey I've ever seen smack dab in the middle of my forehead.
You ever get that feeling like people are watching you? This was not a feeling but the most obvious reality that everyone was watching me that day for good reason, THE GIANT HICKEY ON MY FOREHEAD! As I walked into my class my professor took one look at me and said "Whoa, what happened to you? You get in a fight?" My reply was, "If only it was that cool". And yes my professor gave me the start of the class to explain to everyone how I got the hickey on my forehead.
Later that week we were able to return to our house which eventually got power. We discovered something that broke the heart of first born child Adrianna. The temperatures had obviously gotten too low for her pet hamster that was no longer alive. Being the middle of winter we were unable to bury the little guy so we put him in a bag and after Adrianna had moved on I put him outside in the garbage. Yes, I know in hindsight for a variety of reasons that was a bad idea. The main reason it was a bad idea is not likely one you are thinking of right now. My garbage had no lid and the wind apparently caught the bag shortly after going inside and off it went blowing down the street. I wish I could say I caught it and put it down further inside the garbage but I didn't and this dead hamster went on a journey to who knows where. I like to think somebody got nosey about the bag that was blowing across their yard and opened it up and found a dead hamster...or possibly an alive hamster.
Possibly alive because I found out when telling someone this very story and their response horrified me. Here we are again with some of you clueing in to where this story is going. My friend said, "You do know that hamsters in cold temperatures will hibernate, right?". I thought I had killed my little girls hamster by accident by leaving it home without heat but my hand in the little guys death was far more direct than I thought. Instead of freezing a hamster to death accidentally, I instead accidentally wrapped up and suffocated a hamster to death as it tumbled down the road ending up who knows where. The truth around the world is big storms suck.
Hamsters really should come with a notification saying they do this.
I had a hamster which we thought had passed away. He was put in the garbage which then went to our basement to be placed out on garbage day. A few days later my Mom saw something running around downstair. I know you can guess that it was my hamster that had chewed his way out of the garbage bag and was very much alive!