Boston Spring Pignic 2016

Sunday was a beautiful day; plenty of sunshine and the grass had dried out from the prior day's rain.  The Boston Spring Pignic had good attendance - over 50 people came, along with 21 boars and 26 sows.  It was blustery!  Several of us had to chase paper and blankets across the lawn and upright blown-down chairs.  However, the guinea pigs didn't appear bothered at all.  They played with other and ate grass and veggie treats.  The humans coped as best they could.

I got to meet The Ginge and Max from The Wheekly.  The Ginge is tiny!  (He's so much bigger on the internet!)  He was our lightest weight boar at the pignic, at only 636g.  A big difference from the biggest pig, Teddy, who weighed in at a whopping 1660g.  Over a 2 pound difference!

Biggest and smallest sows were a bit less than the boars:  Sippy once again beat out every other sow at 1355g.  We had a few youngsters, but I believe Caramel was the smallest adult sow, coming in at 602g.

Several people stumble across the pignic.  I loved the woman that exclaimed in delight:  "What's this that I've walked into?"  There were two families I had a chance to talk to as well.  One had a toddler who would have dived into the sows pen if he had a chance.  He was enthralled with the pigs moving around and eating grass.  The second family had a baby who was more focused on stuffing his socks into his mouth than looking at pigs.  But the adults were interested in the different colors and breeds.  I gave them a tour, showing off the teddies and the Abyssinian that were still hanging out in the pens.

Wedgwood and Boadicea enjoyed the pignic;
they had major grass coma when they got home

This was Wedgwood's first time outdoors, let alone her first pignic.  Plus it was Boadicea's and Wedgie's first time traveling in a carrier together.  I'm happy to say they're good travelers.  They spent an hour in closed quarters with only one short squabble.  Both were a bit freaked out in the pen and refused to budge from the shared cozy.  I felt bad they were so scared, although it made for a good bonding experience.

I rearranged their pen and by the end of the pignic they were quite relaxed, happily munching on grass and hay.  Both of them had come out into the open to explore.  Wedg flirted nicely with several people who wanted to meet her.

I never had a chance to put them into the sows pen to see how they would do with a larger group.  I've had too many troublemakers in the past.  I didn't have the time to watch them carefully.  Maybe next pignic.

The day flew by.  There was a steady stream of pignic-goers; I spent nearly the entire day inspecting rodents.  We trimmed nails and gave some advice.  I didn't get enough time to spend with the humans or admire the pigs.  I'm glad Rob took a bunch of photos, or I'd have none.  I can't wait to see others' photos, because I missed so much of the pignic itself.  (Update - Joey Phoenix Photograph pictures.)

The afternoon cooled significantly and people began leaving after 3pm.  I had several pignic-goers volunteer to pull down the pens and pack everything to go home.  Thank you!  It made the strike go so quickly.  Of course, a big thank you to my Pig Patrol people.  Can't have a pignic without you!

It was a quiet drive home.  We all were pretty beat after a day of sunshine and the outdoors.  Boadicea knows how to chill, but this was the first time I've seen Wedgwood list to one side.  A good time was had by all.