Boston Fall Pignic 2015

It was not an auspicious start for Pignic day.  I woke up to cloudy skies, fresh raindrops on the deck and a splitting sinus headache.  Cannoli had just started to gain the weight she had lost last week, so as much as I wanted to bring her and Boadicea for some fresh grass, we decided to give them a stress-free day at home.  I lay on the couch, waiting for tea and drugs to kick in, knowing it was supposed to be beautiful weather and that Boston area pigs were counting on me.  By the time we arrived in Wellesley to set up, I was feeling much better.  The sun was shining and the grass was green and dry.  Oh, perfect!

The Pig Patrol appeared, ready to go.  We had everything set up and settled before the first pignickers showed up.  It was a strange start - there were a ton of boars in the common pen, but almost no pigs in the sows pen.  By 1pm we wondered if it was going to be as quiet as the Spring Pignic.  Nope - at 2pm we were inundated; wave after wave of guinea pigs arrived.  That was more like it!  The sows poured in (we decided they planned to be fashionably late).  When the last pig was checked in, we had 47 guinea pigs and roughly as many people attending the pignic.  That's more like it.

Pigs in bowls is always cute;
can you tell which side has the nose? and baby pig with a mohawk.

There were several familiar faces (both people and pigs).  There were a handful of youngster pigs (squee!) and a few novice caretakers with lots of questions (yay - we like questions).  I forgot about my camera and only snapped a few photos.  Oh!  I wish I took more!  Plenty of cute pigs.  Next time I need to remember to get a shot of the whole Pig Patrol.  Joey was there with her photo booth and strolling around for shots.  Update:  Joey's photos are awesome!  The photo booth, too!

I know people enjoy seeing guinea pigs in costume, so although there was no contest, we had a costume parade.  I love the creativity.  The roman soldier had feathers in her helmet and hand-made chain mail.  Pigcasa came with easel and artwork.  All of the costumes from the Wizard of Oz were created by their caretaker.  Dorothy had the little blue dress and I loved the hat and wings for the flying monkey.  All the dressed up pigs were adorable and well behaved.

Roman Pigturion and Pigcasa; Rabbit Pig with three witches;
a pig ladybug getting dressed; straight from Oz! It's the wicked witch, flying monkey, cowardly lion and Dorothy.

The rest of the afternoon flew by.  I heard a few wheeks protesting nail clipping and from the sows pen, but otherwise everyone got along.  Plenty of grass, veggies and dried corn husks for all.  It was a great day.  Cannoli and Boadicea would have loved being out.  Oh, well, there's always next time.

My thanks to the Pig Patrol!  We did lots inspections (complete with nips and wriggling), lots of nail clipping, enjoyed lots of cute.  I had a great time chatting with the newbie caretakers and catching up with friends.  And that concludes this year's pignic season in the Boston area.