Blast from the Past

My dad has been reviewing his old slides to digitize the good ones.  He stumbled across a couple of slides of Rick and AJ, the pair of guinea pigs I had in high school.  They're not the greatest photos; they are small and grainy.  Rick nearly impossible to see, because like Pinniped, she was all black.  Nonetheless, I was happy that Dad uploaded and sent them to me.

Rick and AJ loved being outdoors.  Certainly the grass and the fresh air were appealing.  I'm guessing this photo was while we were still in Minnesota, since the pen is small and not very sturdy.  I made a larger, fully framed pen with a lid after we moved to MA.

The second photo was of them in their daytime hutch.  They'd go out there when the weather was warm.  I remember we had a hard time finding a wire mesh for the bottom that was small enough for their feet.  This was before I learned they shouldn't be kept on wire flooring at all.  I had to make sure their nails were trimmed short, so they didn't get caught when they'd run across the floor.  I was lucky that they didn't get bumblefoot.

Apart from the hard floor, the hutch had some great perks.  It was larger than their indoor cage.  It was located on the porch, which was right next to the kitchen (so goodies were always close at hand).  They had lots of people-traffic on the afternoons and weekends and Dad would often give them treats when he came up from the garden in the back yard.  Location, location, location!