Another Interesting Visitor

This evening we had a visit from a hen. Or should I say the guinea pigs had a visit from a hen. She was a very, very pretty hen.

Peter tried to persuade her to stay by giving her the guinea pigs food. Which she found very acceptable. She had a walk around the hutch trying to get in, while Terry and Ray bounced up and down squeaking at her.

Then lay down for a nice little sleep, before disappearing off where she had come from. Unfortunatly she did not leave us any eggs.

The Girlie Pigs (and Caramello)'s Big Day Out

The girlie guinea pigs had a big day out in the hedge this week.  One evening I went to feed them.  Hmm, I thought,  where are they and wandered off, wondering what was rustling the hedge.  Later on I took them a lettuce and found that the girls and Caramello were outside their run trying to get in to eat their evening meal.   They had all escaped  and had a day out in the hedge.  There then ensued a bit of a kerfuffle to persuade them to return to their nice run.  This involved some more lettuce, a brick to hold up the edge of the run,  supervision by Buffy the cat and a trip to see the boy pigs in their run.  Needless to say, I did put a seperator in the boy's run so that the two groups could just look at each other through the chicken wire.  When I say look, I mean shouting from the boy pigs and cowering from the girl pigs.  Once the girls run was repaired they were able to return home again.  Poor Terry has been shouting for them ever since.  Everytime I pass his hutch he breaks our in a chorus of eee-eee-eee.  Which I take to mean, "Where are those girls, bring back those girls right now, I want girls."  Poor Terry, he looks so determined to find all those guinea pig girls.  All I have to say is  -  No Chance.

Pet Sitting

While we were away in the UK, Pat and Bethany from Pet Sitters did a great job of looking after our cats and guinea pigs. They also left a lovley bunch of flowers to welcome us home. It was so good to know that we could go away and not worry about how the pets were back home.

These are ...... my pets

"This is...." for this week was sugested by Kyla over at Two Peas in a Pod. I thought I should start with all seven guinea pigs. Yes, I know there are 9 photos in the mosaic, some Guineas appear twice. They are Scatter, Fudge, Coco and Candy the girls. Caramello, Terry and Ray the boys.

We also have two cats, twin sisters that we got from the cat rescue people and brought them with us from the UK. in the first pic of Rana, she looks so cute sitting here on the window sill.

Until she turns around and you can clearly see the mouse hunter that she is.
Buffy wasn't keen on getting her picture taken and tried to hide behind this leaf.
In this shot there seems to be a ghostly person watching us from the kitchen window.

But at last I managed to distract her so I could get a better shot.

My youngest son would like me to point out that all these pets actually belong to him. Though we all know who feeds them and cleans them out.

Meet the new boys

To keep poor solitary Caremello company we went in search of a friend for him. And managed to find two. Plus almost a small dog, but Peter dragged me out of the pet shop just in time.
Here is one of the new friends Rolo, after guess what chocolate Rolos.
And the other one, Terry. Short for Terry's Chocloate Orange! This has got to be the last guinea pigs that we get.

And even more of when I was little ........

Here I am with my Guinea Pig, Mr Ed. Do you remember the TV show about the talking horse, I used to love it, so I called my Guinea Pig Mr Ed after Mr Ed the talking horse. Mr Ed was a magic Guinea Pig. One December morning I went to visit him, and he had changed from white to black overnight. I was totally amazed and rushed down the garden to tell my Mum, who informed me that white Guinea Pigs always turned black eventually. It took me until I was 18 and telling some friends the story of the Guinea Pig that changed colour before I realised what had happened. I am sure you don't need me to tell you what the real story was. Mr Ed had died in the night and Mum had replaced him with the only Guinea Pig she could get hold of. Isn't it amazing what we will do as Mum's for our kids, and aren't I the lucky child to have a Mum like that.
Little Miss Houswife again with all my dolls having a tea party, looks like it might have been Teddies first birthday. I think I can spot a candle on a cake over there. Have you noticed that these are the days before lycra was invented. I must have had the most wrinkley tights ever.
Now this is really little me in my christening robe with my Nana and Pop (my greatgranny and greatgrandfather). I have never noticed it before, but I can see my Nana's face echoed in my Grannie's face and my Mum's face. Which tends to imply that maybe there are echo's of her face in me, I hope so. Even though I don't really remember her much, I do know that she was a strong women. There are quite a lot of strong women in the generations of my family. I do remember my Pop, he was a miner and had a really hard life, but I think I can remember him playing and laughing with me. Perhaps that is just wishful thinking, perhaps not. Thank you Mum for sending me these images from my past to make me stop and think.

Is this my pressie ..........

I am not sure if Buffy decided to lie here incase we fogot her name, or did she think that it was her place to lie as it had her name on it, or does she think that we are fattening up the baby guineas as a pressie for her. Actually we are just using her old crate as a temporary home until Peter builds the new pent hutch for the guinea girls.

Only One Week

Here are the guinea pig babies, only one week old and they have grown so much.
We think that all three of them are girls! If so we will have to get another male to keep Caramello company. Feel so sorry for him at the moment, he just peers through the wire mesh at the littleys running around.
Two cute little peas in a pod. Don't know what to call them as they are so similar.

Day Two in the Guinea Pig House

Look Who's Here

Say hello to the new members of the family. I went out to give the Guineas some spinach this afternoon and there the first one was, the one with the stripe down its nose. Then the other two arrived. Had to help a bit with the last one, as Scatter was busy cleaning the wrong end of it, so we had to take the sac of its mouth. I am not sure if they are boys or girls yet so no names. But will let you know in the next couple of days, perhaps if one is a girl I might get to call her Daisy.

Today's Daisies #29

Today's daisies #29 on leap day 29th February. After nearly a whole year of finishing off that daizies quilt, I have been able to get back to my Jacob's Ladder daisy quilt. It took we one afternoon to complete one and a half blocks, and I am nearly a quarter of the way through it. A much more enjoyable pattern and much more fun to do. Hopefully it will be finished by spring time ready to go on my bed, as that is about six months away, I think I am quite safe.

Scatter the guinea pig is now so fat she can hardly sqash her way out of the penthutch. Still no sign of the patter of little feet. Though the maternity hutch is ready and on hand. We are still not sure who the midwife will be, but my eldest son and I have been doing extensive research courtesy of Wikipedia.

The countdown to Tom Jones is well under way. In 24hrs time I will be sitting on that hill in the rain, and Tom will be getting ready to appear on stage. Can't wait. For those of you who missed the previous post the Napier Mission Concert, held at the Mission Estate Winery, this year is Tom Jones. It should have been John Cougar, but he pulled out. Can I also say, before I get asked one more time, there will be no Knickers thrown at the stage from our perch on the hill side. One, I can't throw that far and two my Knickers are staying firmly where they be belong.

More New Additions

Do you remember those guinea pigs we got a couple of months ago, the ones that the pet shop assured us were both girls. Well guess what, I was right they are not both girls. Caramello is definately a boy and Scatter is definately a girl. How did I find this out? When we were moving the hutch to a new patch of grass yesterday, I noticed that Scatter was an odd eggplant shape. Ooops thought I and went off to google pregnant guinea pigs. Which suprise, suprise look the same shape as our poor Scatter. If you hold her very, very gently you can feel things moveing around inside, so I image the happy event is not far in the future. I have no idea when they will arrive and I have no idea what to do with them, but I do know that poor old Caramello will probably be off to the vets for a little op, very, very soon. Guess I better get the boys to start building an extension to the pent hutch. Especially as we might also be inheriting a rabbit from a family moving out of the area. All we need next is some hens and a couple of ducks.And just in case you were wondering, no those are not my hairy arms and legs, they belong to my Hubby.

The New Additions

The new additions to the family have arrived and are scurrieing around there new penthutch. The pet shop claim that they are from the same litter, are 5 weeks old and both females. I am not convinced there is a big difference in size between them.

The brown one is Caramello, which is the name of my youngest's favourite chocolate bar.

The stripey one is Scatter, because she does. No it was not the camera that caused the red eye here, Scatter does really have pink eyes.

Penthutch

You may have noticed that the picture above does not look much like a fish tank. But my youngest son and I were at the pet shop to buy a couple of goldfish. Somehow during the visit the fish turned into guinea pigs and Peter had a weekend project to complete. Plans were drawn up, DIY superstore visited and the project was started. Thanks to our eldest son for his help we now have a Penthutch ready for the guinea pigs who will be arriving tomorrow. I really hope they can climb up the specially constructed ramps. All we need to think of now is what to name them. Any suggestions would be welcome.