Morning Calisthenics

For Pinniped and Cannoli, breakfast is a two-course meal.  The first course consists of greens of some sort - green or red lettuce, occasionally chickory or chard.  The second course, which usually occurs after I've had my breakfast, is a slice of bell pepper.

Since we've moved, begging for pepper is held on the second level of the cage.  Often both pigs are up there before I leave the kitchen, with their noses stuffed between the grids. As Cannoli has gotten bolder, she's become the first to snatch the pepper.  Pinni's latest trick is to save the trip up to the second level, and beg from the main level of the cage.

This up-and-down is accompanied by quiet squeaking, teeth chattering and/or lip smacking (which you can catch briefly in this clip).  I'd be worried that she's having problems leaping up to the second level, except that I often find her snoozing on the third level, or pulling hay from the second level hay rack.  So I figure this is just her latest quirk or an excuse to be lazy.

Peeking Piggy Toes

Cannoli loves this particular cozy.  She was all curled up the other afternoon, only her feet and bum were visible.  (Her nose is hidden in the shadows.)  Cannoli's back feet have such contrast - the left is all dark brown and black, the right all pink and white.

Photobomb

I was trying to take photos of Pinniped ignoring her hay when Cannoli decided to nose in.  She usually hides when I come over to take photos.  This time she decided to check out the camera.  Snapshots often contain Pinni's schnoz, but Cannoli figured she'd give it a try.

What a goofy little pig!

The hammock giveaway:  It's a good thing this was a random draw, because I don't think I could have picked a winner based on all of the wonderful and entertaining comments.  The winners are Cookie Monster and Nibbles.  I hope they get to spend lots of time in their hammock (and don't quibble over it too much).

Northern Lights: Blogger's Quilt Festival

Northern Lights made it to the Topsfield Fair, which was pretty exciting.  Now I'm submitting it to the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  My friends will get tired of seeing photos of my quilt by the time this is all over!

I stumbled across Night Jewels online and fell in love with the pattern.  I decided it would look great on my spare bed.  The skill level was listed as Intermediate, so I figured I'd give it a try.  Ha!  If I only knew what I got myself in to when I started this quilt.  I guess I'm still a beginner, because this was much more of a challenge than I had anticipated.  Now that it's finished, I'm so glad I stuck with it.

Copious Chard

Pinniped and Cannoli always like when I visit my sister or my parents most of the year.  If the gardens are up and running, I will come back home with some kind of treat.  In this case, my sister's garden had several prolific chard plants that were producing chard faster than her family could eat it.  My nephew was more than happy to pick bunches of it for me to bring home.  I soon had a bag overflowing with chard.  He stopped pulling leaves only after being threatened that he'd have to eat whatever else he harvested.

I know Pinni goes nuts for chard and Noli seems quite happy with it.  There's so much, I'm helping them eat it.  Don't tell Pinni!

Guinea Pig Hammock Giveaway

Pinni loves her hammock

I was digging through my guinea pigs' fleece and came across an extra hammock I had hidden away.  This is one of the twin all-fleece hammocks I made two years ago.  I had set it aside as a possible gift to another guinea pig lover and then forgot about it.

My buried treasure will go to one of my readers and their lucky pig(s)!  Would your piggies enjoy a hammock like the one Pinniped is modeling?

To enter:  tell me which of your guinea pigs is most likely to lounge in a hammock.   Leave your pig's name in the blog comments (be sure I have a way to contact you) or in a comment on the CavyMadness post on Facebook.  This drawing closes on Friday, October 25th at 12pm EDT.  (Update:  The winners are Cookie Monster and Nibbles.)

I Choose You!

Finished Pikachu

I finished my nephew's Pikachu costume and visited them yesterday to make sure it fit and passed inspection (Pikachu has to be the right colors!).  My sister had given me an old pair of sweatpants to use as a pattern for the pants, and told me to add some length so he had room to grow.  I had added at least two inches to the legs and planned on hemming them.  Turns out they were just the right length.  I hope he doesn't grow much over the year if he wants to wear them next year, too!

I had hoped to get the tail to stick out behind him, but I figured it would be too heavy to just attach then end of the tail to the sweatshirt or the pants.  We decided to safety-pin it in two places to the back of the sweatshirt. 

Everyone was pleased with the end result.  My nephew got a kick out of the ears and demonstrated how they flopped up and down.  Just a little excited?  I modified the ears, at his request, so they stood up straighter, rather than be quite so floppy.  I can't wait to see him with the face makeup, too.

On Strike

Pinni hopes I'll bring back the Timothy

I'm exploring the possibility that Pinniped and Cannoli's Timothy hay is causing the chronic cough I've had for several months.  There's over ten pounds of it in the basement, but for now, I've cleared it all out from upstairs.  I purchased some orchard grass, which looks pretty good, but is obviously not up to snuff for the girls.  I'm a little bummed that I gave away the sample of bluegrass I had last month.  They had turned up their nose at it, preferring the Timothy.  At the time, I figured I would never use it.  I hope the guinea pigs that received it are enjoying it.

I swapped out the hay on Monday.  By Wednesday I swore they were hoovering up the leftover Timothy dust from the fleece and totally ignoring the nice long-stemmed hay in the hay rack and the paper tubes.  Even the cardboard seems to be more appetizing!

Lonely Feeder

I've put up two of our bird feeders almost two weeks ago, and no activity.  It makes me very sad.  I've put some seed on the front and back porch railings, and it all disappeared.  So I know something picked them clean.  I hear tons of birds in the trees and have seen many across the yard, but no one visits.

The other bird feeder finally got some attention yesterday afternoon.  It's just big enough for a blue jay to land on.  I had one opportunistic jay clean most of the seed out.

I hope that the blue jay's interest mean that the other birds will be close behind.  I miss seeing the chickadees, titmice and nuthatches at my window.

My Nephew's Costume

Almost complete tail - just needs some brown

My sister called me requesting help with my nephew's Halloween costume.  She didn't like the ones she found on-line and figured if we put our heads together, we could do better for cheaper.  She had the shirt, but needed matching pants.  I don't remember discussing a tail and ears... but halfway through sewing up the pants, I realized I needed those as well.

I told her I was happy to work on this, but only if she supplied me with a sewing machine.  My beloved Singer, after finishing Northern Lights, was sent off to the repair shop (I'm anxiously awaiting to hear if they will fix it or if I need a new sewing machine).  My sister does not sew, although she has a little Shark sewing machine for repairs and simple stuff.  She brought it over.  That sucker is LOUD and a little scary.  I kept expecting the needle to snap and fling pieces all over the place with the way it trundled along.  But it stitched a seam, which was enough for me.

Northern Lights: Topsfield Fair

I went to the Topsfield Fair on Sunday.  Crummy weather kept the crowds down, which was nice.  I got to see my quilt - with it's second place ribbon!  <Squeal!>  I was so excited to see any kind of ribbon hanging from my quilt, but to see the red - oh, I was thrilled.

It was a banner day for ribbons.  My friend who had submitted applesauce and salsa took first place and honorable mention, respectively.  My family and friends all love her applesauce, but now she has proof that it's really good stuff.
 

Mmmm... applesauce

She was briefly disappointed when it looked like her entry was the only one in her category - what fun is first place then?  After asking around we discovered that placing wasn't compared against the other contestants in a specific category, but merited from it's individual qualities.  Makes me even happier with my second place ribbon.

You Can't See Me

Cannoli has been spending a lot of time this week in the fleece cozy on the third level.  Most of the time she's curled up in the opening of the cozy, with her nose peeking out one side and one hind foot hanging out the other. 

Noli tried out a new arrangement on Friday afternoon.  She'd managed to get into the cozy, then pulled a tube of hay right up against the opening.  I could just barely see her watching me as I walked by.  I could almost hear her thinking:  there isn't a piggy in this pouch - it's just an empty cozy.  Nothing to see.  You can just move along.