Woeful Willow

The stone has returned.

Willow took a sudden nose-dive on Saturday.  She spent the day begging for food and attention and would devour what was put in her cage.  But at the end of the day, for all this apparent appetite, I saw that her pellets had not been touched.  I picked her up to weigh her and was horrified at how frail she felt.  I put her on the scale:  690g.  She's been steadily weighing in the last several weeks at 770g.

I syringe fed her some critical care and began to watch her closely.  On Sunday and Monday she stopped inhaling some of her favorite treats; I found bits of tomato and banana left around the cage. Monday morning, with no real sign of improvement, and a couple of days of  metacam and critical care, I made the appointment for the vet.

Lilac Dance Dress

The dance dress is complete.  I stitched the last of the hem this evening.  Overall, I'm pleased with how it came out.  I learned a few things while making this dress:  allow for more fabric on the finished edges, and use the top feeder foot when hemming the bottom.  Working with knit material wasn't too bad, and it made finishing the edges a lot easier than with non-stretch fabric.  Making another dress from this pattern should be a snap.

And now that it's done?  I feel self conscious whenever I try on the dress.  How unfair.  I swear this material is a little clingier than the original.  I suspect I'm the only one who has trouble with the dress or even notices.  Any male that I've mentioned this issue tells me clinginess is not a problem.  Thanks, guys.  But I still might wait until spring before wearing it to a dance.  Currently it hangs on the closet door as incentive to get to the gym.

Healthy Competition

If you have ever watched guinea pigs eat, you know that the best tasting food is that which is being consumed by another guinea pig.  We have witnessed Bertie drop what she's eating to snatch the piece of food Pinni is devouring, even when it's all the same.  I've seen Pinni start eating the other end of a blade of hay Bertie is eating, to end up in a tug-of-war over the last two inches of the hay, even though there's a pile of hay right next to them.

Being separated from the Newbies, Willow doesn't have to race the others to finish her food first.  I wondered if she was eating less hay/pellets because she lacked the competition that most pigs seem to thrive on.  I'm concerned:  Willow has been dwindling very slowly over the last several months.  It's probably a mixture of old age (she'll be 8 in May!), arthritis and possibly another bladder stone.  So I want to encourage her to eat as much as possible to keep her weight up.

Fleece Cleaning Routine

Using fleece as guinea pig bedding, in theory, is dead simple:  you buy a few yards of fleece, put it in the cage for several days, take it out, wash it, and put it in again.  It's wonderfully economic, it's not dusty nor will it get tracked around the house like shavings or Carefresh.  There is a great overview of the stuff on the GuineaPigCages.com forum, called The Fleece Project: The Study.  It covers purchasing, preparing and using fleece.

In practice, you'll discover that using fleece is not quite as simplistic as it sounds. 

Tools of the fleece trade:
rubber mitt, curry brush, whisk brush and fingernail brush

Everyone uses and works with fleece a little differently.  Most of my fleece is in upper levels of my cage, so it stays relatively clean.  The bottom level fleece is normally covered in wood chips, hay, poo and hair.  So even in a single cage, I am faced with different cleaning requirements.

The Fleece Project recommends a Vacuum-Shake-Brush-Beat routine.  I prefer a Brush-Brush-Dustbust-Shake routine for cleaning fleece.  You probably have (or will have) your own favored routine.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

What was I thinking?

When I go off the rails, I don't do it in dribs and drabs.  I got home from work today, and was tired, cranky and didn't really feel like working out.  Baking makes me feel better when I'm in a mood like this.  So not only did I skip the gym, I baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

I had bookmarked these cookies last week from The Girl Who Ate Everything.  The recipe was small - it made 16 big cookies, which only used a half-bag of chocolate chips.  I figured, if I was going to open a bag of chocolate chips, I might as well use the whole bag.  So I make a double batch. 

Oh. My. God.

I have no idea how many of these cookies I taste-tested.  And I may need to sample another in a few minutes to make sure they really pass inspection.  They are delicious.  They go perfectly with a big glass of milk.

<sigh>  Now I have more to work off the next time I go to the gym.  But my mood has improved!  I guess that's a reasonable trade.

Chocolate Caramel Squares

Another day, another new recipe from Chocolate (Practical Cooking).

I attended a Tea on Sunday (why did the Patriots have to schedule a home game smack in the middle of our Tea?!?).  I usually bring two items, one savory and one sweet.  The Chocolate Caramel Squares looked like a good candidate for the latter.  The recipe makes a small batch, which was perfect for this event.

Still working on my food photography skills

The book described these bars as having a crunchy oat layer.  I think that was a small understatement.  The word they were searching for was brickbat.  It was incredibly tough to cut these into bars.  I'm glad I followed their tip and lined the pan with parchment paper.  It was easy to lift the whole thing out and cut them on a cutting board.

I don't think I overcooked it, and used butter instead of margarine.  Hmmm... now reading over the recipe, I wonder if they intended that I used tub margarine?  I wonder if that would have made the middle layer a little softer?

Regardless, I have a sneaking suspicion they cut their bars with a hot knife or while the chocolate was still soft, because my photo don't look like the one in book.  My color isn't quite as golden brown as in the book.  And their chocolate layer looks a little thicker and softer -- like they added cream or butter to the chocolate.

Well, they may have been hard to cut, but they were easy to bite into. And they may not have looked as pretty as the cookbook photos, but they were delicious:  sweet, crunchy and gooey all at once.

And because I know you're dying to try these yourself:

The Love Affair Resumes

Those of you who know Bertie have probably heard of her love affair with the hay rack.  I spent several months figuring out why they hay rack kept falling apart or coming off the wall.  Then I spent several more months trying to keep her out of the hay rack.  I finally developed some kind of contraption that kept her out, but found it difficult to get hay into the rack.

Eventually, with the removal of their house and an addition of a hammock, I was able to retire the Bertie Barrier and she remained on this side of the hay rack.

Until yesterday.

Poor Put-Upon Pinni

A pinch of Pinni

Let's face it:  Pinniped is a tubby pig.  Between that and her personality, she inspires people to reach out and pinch or poke that pudginess.  It's true!  If you ever met her, you'd be overwhelmed with the need to do so, too.  Therefore, it was not surprising when Rob reached into the cage other night and gently poked that belly.  There was a wail of protest.  It was truly heart wrenching.  He was so astonished by her reaction that he reached in to repeat the poke.  His finger was still an inch away from her when she let out another pitiful wail.  Oh!  This was terrible.

Admittedly, we were both laughing at this point.  Guinea pigs can be such over-the-top drama queens.  But I did feel bad for my poor little Pinni.  I reached in to comfort her and was hit with another tale of woe before my fingers even touched her.  I spent the next half minute or so scritching her nose, telling her things were okay and we loved her; she sat there and cried uncontrollably.  I haven't heard a sob story like that since the spring pignic when a sow gave Pinni more attention than she could handle.  What a big baby.

I suppose I can understand why she was so put out:  How could that nice guy who normally gives me such good things to eat have the audacity poke me?  For no reason!  Why would he do such a thing?  I was minding my own business.  I wasn't even begging.  And he poked me!  How could such a thing happen?!

I don't know, Pinn.  We find you irresistible, just like anyone else who's met you.  You're just too dang squeezable for your own good.

Once she stopped wailing, we gave her (and the others, of course!) a bit of tomato.  And all was forgiven.  At least until the next squeezing.  Oof!