Monday, May 31, 2021

Lazing About

Whew!  I think I'm just about caught up with piggy stories of my latest fosters from Dakin.

All three of these sows are expert loafers.  Browny is a moose of a guinea pig, yet can stuff herself into the paper bag to take a nap.  Bear took a shine to the hammock and would often oust anyone in it so she could have it all to herself.  Bolt was often spread out her first week here, trying to find a comfortable spot.  Now I understand why!

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Cage Cleaning Adventures

I continue to foster Bear, Browny and Bolt from Dakin, as well as Bolt's baby, Buckaroo Banzai.  To baby-proof the cage I had to remove the third level, and four guinea pigs in a smaller cage means more frequent cage cleanings. 

Floor time!  

Banzai doesn't know that the floor is lava - so he's under the dining room table, wandering into the kitchen, going to all sorts most piggies don't go.  Meanwhile, Bear wouldn't move from the spot I had placed her on the floor.  I don't think she was frozen from fright, she couldn't be bothered to move.  Browny is funny.  She is not interested in being touched or interacting with me, unless I have food.  However, as I was filming Banzai under the table, I suddenly felt little feet standing on my feet.  I looked down and there was Browny!  I am her bestest buddy during floor time.  She often snuggles up against my leg if I sit on the floor with them.  I was surprised she cross the room just to stand under me.

Saturday, May 29, 2021

But Wait, There's More!

I know.  I'm becoming the crazy guinea pig lady.

Say hello to Lancelot.  Dakin asked if I'd be willing doing introductions between Lancelot and Buckaroo Banzai (when Banzai is weaned).  Sure!  So now Lance is hanging out with us.  He's just over three weeks old and very wuzzy.  Ooh - I feel like a Regency mom - I'm getting ready for my little debutante to come out to society.  LOL.  Oh, Banzai, you're growing up so fast!  I hope you find a good match. 

I haven't had this many guinea pigs since the last time I pigsat and that was years ago.  It's a full house, plus a fridge stuffed with lettuce and veggies.  We'll see if we can keep everyone happy.  Wish me luck in another two weeks when I do the introductions.


Thursday, May 27, 2021

I Like Thursday: Groundhogs, Gaming and Guinea Pigs

No bunny rabbits in our yard this year, but this woodchuck has appeared a few times.  He's cute, but his interest in the garden  has me a bit nervous...

I went to a Game Day on Saturday (all of us vaccinated).  People!  Without masks!  (Although we all showed up with masks in hand, in case any of us weren't comfortable maskless.)  Went for a short hike.  Played games.  It had been so long I forgot the rules to the game I brought.  But the slice of normality was wonderful.

The Game Day group are also contra dancers.  A few of us waltzed in the dining room.  Can I just say it was really strange?  Being that close to someone other than Rob.  It makes me wonder what it will be like when dancing starts up.  (We spent a lot of time betting when that would happen.)  Something I've been looking forward to for over a year - is it going to be difficult to get back into it? 

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

May OMG Finish - Shopping Bags

I managed to make four shopping bags from three yards of fabric.  Three of them have reinforced bottoms (and then I ran out of fabric for the fourth).  

They finished up about 15" tall, with a 7x11" bottom.  We've liked the three-handle design - it's nice to be able to sling these bags over the shoulder.  The bag itself is a little shorter than my usual pattern, yet they still hold a lot.  We gave them a tryout last weekend.  Rob was thrilled to have more bags that we needed, rather than trying to shuffle things around to all fit into what we had. 

Three of the bags have the fruit right-side up on one side, and upside-down on the other.  I flipped the reinforced bottoms to have the design run the opposite direction.  One bag required a bottom seam - so that one has the fruit all right-side up.  Turns out not to be that noticeable.  

Monday, May 24, 2021

Trying Out Emails

Let's start with a photo of Buckaroo Banzai simply because he's cute.  But he has nothing to do with the rest of this post.  

I've spent the last month poking around this whole email feedburner thing.  I moved my email followers off of feedburner to Follow.it.  Hated it.  Disliked the way the email looked, was unhappy how the emails and rss feed were delayed by 12-24 hours and I'd have to pay to get some basic stuff.  What?  No. 

(I also tried Feed.io which looked great on the surface, but never got it to work.)

Researched some more.  Initially I wanted email and rss, but feedburner is supposedly leaving the rss feed as is.  So I focused strictly on the email.  I've seen MailChimp and stumbled across AWeber.  I decided to give that a try.  My email subscribers would have seen the change last week. 

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Cage Cleaning Excitement

Oh, goodness, let the cuteness begin!

I'm convinced that baby is a boy - I posted photos and have had two more pig people agree with that assessment.  Rob has named him Buckaroo Banzai.  He calls him Buck for short; I call him Banzai (usually with an exclamation point - Banzai!).  The sows aren't sure what to make of him half the time - I find them jammed on the second level and he has the whole first floor to himself.  What is this tiny creature that follows us around?

Just 24 hours after Banzai was born I needed to clean and reconfigure the cage.  This turned out to be a difficult task because there was so much happening on the floor.

Friday, May 21, 2021

Piggy Scrum

Dakin's trio of foster sows have been entertaining.  Before I start flooding my blog with photos and videos of Bolt and the baby, I'll catch up with the last video I shot before I knew Bolt was pregnant.  (But look at that bulge on her side in that photo - I did have some suspicions about her.)

These gals quibble and spat but get along really well.  I often find them resting near each other.  They've each learned to tolerate me reaching in to scritch their noses.  Bear (the aby) dislikes being picked up, but settles nicely when being held.  She's quiet and calm when being held (although she's bossy to the other pigs).  Browny would rather not deal with people at all, if she could help it, but is now comfortable enough to beg shamelessly for food.  Feed me?  Yes!  Touch me?  No way.  Both Bear and Browny are old enough to have the laid-back, life-is-good-as-long-as-you-feed-me look on life.