In Memoriam -- Patches 2006/2007-2009

Patches having fun on one of his exercise toys.

The following story was written six months ago and just never published. Now the subject of the article has passed away. If you know anything about hamsters, they have a very short life - usually two years at the most. Patches just passed that time and has left a hole in the hearts of it’s owners and playmates.

He was the second hamster this family had taken into their home. Twister was first and spent his brief life with this loving family. Both will be missed as they were loved as pets. Ann wrote a book on Twister complete with pictures for the girls to have as a reminder of his time with them. The book has been read in the girl’s elementary school classes.

Here is a story about Patches written last summer.

Patches Escape

Our daughter’s family has a hamster named Patches. Hannah and Rachel (ages 12 & 10) take Patches out of his cage often to play. Being nocturnal, hamsters sleep during the daylight hours and have their fun during the evening and early morning hours. One of the things the family does each evening is to check the cage before going to bed and say goodnight (good morning to Patches) making sure he is secure.

Patches loved going through tubes to see what was on the other end.

Some six months ago the check found that one of the openings was left unlocked and there was no Patches to talk to that evening. A quick tour of the house didn’t turn up any clues as to where he was either. Our daughter, Brenda, remembered that during the day they cleaned the carpets and left the doors open to air out the house to help the drying process. Naturally, she thought that Patches had made a bee line to the door and beyond! All kinds of thoughts went through everyone’s mind but they held on to hope that he was still in the house. But where?

Food was left out to lure him from hiding and to confirm that he was still in the house. During the next early morning hours Brenda got up and went downstairs about 3:30 a.m. and saw Patches in the kitchen. She called all members of the household to come down and help catch him. Hannah had noticed a dust bunny trail that wasn’t there before (they had the house cleaned the day before his escape) and finally caught him trying to escape once again. The mystery was solved and he was securely locked in his case once again. A sigh of relief was heard from the family --- and from Patches!

Their family and Nana and Papa (us) prayed for Patches to be found. Papa dreamed that he was found. In the morning Brenda called to tell us that Patches was found and securely back in his cage. She mentioned the time that he was caught. When I went into the office in my home I noticed a battery operated clock on my desk was stopped during the night. It stopped at 3:50 a.m. Could that be an angel confirming my dream?

Hannah was leaving for camp soon and Nana makes interesting cards for her to receive while she is there. This time it was a story of “Patches Escape” trying to get to Hannah‘s camp. Naturally, she didn’t want Hannah to receive a number of cards with Patches’ picture on them if he wasn’t found before she left.

Patches was a good pet and will be missed by the family.