Another hamster died last night… She was nameless (she and two other hamsters, of which one died last month) but like other hamsters, she was cute. This is the thing I realised about hamsters… At pet shops, we see very healthy and very cute hamsters (I wonder what happens to the not-so-cute ones — do they become snake food?). But like all other living creatures, hamsters can also fall sick and die.

When I first got my pair of hamster, it never occured to me that some of the hamsters may fall sick, get injured, etc… After all, I was so in love with them after seeing them at the pet shop all clean, fat chubby and adorable. But when my pair started to have babies (and they really had lots of them), I realised that some of them will die early, some of them will not be chubby, some may have problems with their eyes, etc… The point is, hamsters are not that easy to care for after all.

Previously, when the hamsters died, I would use a hammer, a chisel and a screwdriver to dig up a grave… That’s because we don’t have any gardening tools such as spade or even a cangkul (hoe). Being kinda late already and feeling tired and sleepy (I try to go to bed by 10pm these days), I thought it would be easier to call a few friends and just borrow a hoe from one of them…

Tried the first one. He threw away his hoe a few months back. Actually, I remember my family used to have a hoe, a rake and a few spades… I guess after we cemented the porch, there was no need for the gardening tools anymore and my parents probably threw them away after that.

Called the second friend. She said her parents threw away the hoe as well…

Tried the third friend. He said he don’t have one.

Hmmm… It makes me wonder… How many of us actually still do gardening these days? Does anyone still have trees and plants outside their house? Have we gone so high-tech that we have no place for trees and other greens anymore?