Special Report from the Nederlands

Hi there, this is agent Valentino!
I want to tell you something about a Dutch national holiday we celebrate.
It is called Queensday and every year on the 30th of April all the slaves and non-slaves from the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles
and Aruba celebrate the Queens' Birthday. As it's a national holiday most Dutch people get the day off.

Our current Queen is Queen Beatrix. The tradition started on 31 August 1885, which was the Birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, later Queen Wilhelmina.
Since 1949, after the ascension of Queen Juliana, Queen's Day is Queen Juliana's birthday on 30 April. Queen Beatrix has her birthday on the 31st of January, but since the weather is usually not that great then, and to honor the Queen mother Juliana, she kept it in the 30th of April. Ow yes, and she also became Queen on that day in 1980.

It is always a day full of festivities and the Royal family of Orange-Nassau always visit one or two cities in the country.
A typical thing to do is visit a 'freemarket', where the Dutchies are allowed to sell their old stuff in the street.
Others are visiting (free) music festivals. Many towns also have street fairs and markets.
Our city, the Hague, is known for their celebration of Queens' night. This is on the evening before the 30th.
There are many music stages set up in the city centre and also all the bars in town are opened till late...

On queens' day most people will dress in orange, as it is the color of the Royal family of Orange-Nassau (and also the color of the Dutch national football team).
This is often referred to as 'Orange craze' ('oranjegekte' in Dutch).

Last year some crazy guy in a little black car tried to crash through the audience and hit the bus with the royal family. Luckily he did not succeed,
and crashed against a big monument on the way. But unfortunately he did drive through part of the audience and thus injuring and killing some people.
We are really hoping nothing bad happens this year, cause we are afraid if there is something bad like that, we will never be allowed to celebrate Queens' day again.

Well, I'm off to get myself a carrot beer, that's nice orangy color in style of Queens'day! Cause people here willl also eat and drink orange colored drinks and food.

Signing of,
Agent Valentino

AgentF is Under the Weather

Ghost here Agent F asked me to let his friends know that he is feeling under weather at the moment and so his blog may not be updated as often as he would like.

I will fill you in with more details soon, but at the moment I want to go and keep an eye on him.

Please send him all the healing wheeks you can spare.

Punky Peruvian

Agent Master of Disguise is a peruvian piggy lets meet him now;

What is your secret agent name and why? Bond. James Bond. No, I'm just kidding. Is Master of Disguise too long? My hair looks different almost every moment.

Where do you live? Southeast US

Who do you live with? My mom and dad and piggie pal, Friday.

What is your favourite food? parsley, though I must eat it sparingly

What is your favourite toy? my cozy, because I can move it around until it fits me perfectly!

What is your favourite activity? lying in the hay trough and sleeping or eating

Any comments you would like to share with every one? I promise to be the best secret agent I can be.

[caption id="attachment_738" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Never the Same Hairstyle Twice"][/caption]

The Peruvian piggy is a long haired Abbyssinian, the breed standards say that the fringe should completely cover the face and the sweep should flow out from the butt, the hair is not supposed to be cut but kept in wrappers ready for show day.

Me thinks that is not fun and that Agent Master of Disguise is much better with his ever changing hairstyle.

[caption id="attachment_749" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Master of Disguise Working Undercover"][/caption]

Guest Number 18

Agent Master of Disguise.

His motto is never the same hairstyle twice.

Agent Master of Disguise lives in the South East US

He lives with his brother and Mummy and Daddy.

His real name is a type of plant most commonly found in the desert or large dry areas, the plant features in Western films to indicate desolation.

The plant is often seen blowing across the screen when a bad joke is told.

Me thinks with all those hints you should be able to guess this one.

Happig St Georges Day

Today 23rd April is St Georges day.

St George is the Patron Saint of England where me lives as well as Catalonia, Aragon, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal and Russia bet you didnt know that.

Me didnt either me looked at Wikipedia.

St Georges flag is a red cross on a white background.

St George is most well know for slaying a dragon and me thought they was just made up.

For Saint Georges Day humans will wear a red rose and guinea pigs will eat them :)

Naughty Water Bottle

Mummy gives us fresh water everyday when she changes our bedding.

Last night when she was packing us up so she could go to bed she noticed that the water was still full to the top, this is unusual as Ghost is always drinking.

Mummy put her hand in and flicked the ball bearing several times...........no water.

Mummy didnt panic as she keeps spare bottles just in case.

She removed the bottle undid the lid and put the lid on again.

Hey presto the bottle worked, she thinks maybe an air bubble was stopping it.

The lesson here is that bottles as well as leaking can also refuse to give water so make sure your humans keep a close eye on them.

Check Us Out

Thank you Agent's I and Piggy Galore for putting this on You Tube for us.



Mummy says this would be really boring if you are not piggy obsessed, who is not piggy obsessed I would like to know!!

They Hay Review Part 4

My 4th hay is Oxbow Botanical Hay, this is even more of a treat hay than my Excel Herbage.

Oxbow Botanical Hay comes in a 425g bag and costs Mummy £6.63 (she must really really love me)

This hay is a lovely fresh green colour and contains timothy hay and 3 of the following herbs depending on season, chamomile, lemon verbena, lavendar or red clover blossoms.

At the moment mine definetely has lavendar and chamomile but me cant doesnt know the third one (must be a blonde moment)

The strands are medium to long and again they are stalky not soft.

Me doesnt care as me is definetely not going to sleep on them, Mummy would not be impressed at that price for bedding heeheehee.

This hay is really really yummy and me gives it a 10 out of 10.

Maybe its because Mummy spoils us with treat hay that we turn our noses up at normal hay........

Me is a Bad Patient

According to Mummy hmmppfff

Here is what has been happening, Mummy tries to get the syringe in my mouth to give me my medicine she gets really close and then I turn my head away.

Me struggles and acts like me is panicking to make her feel guilty and stop.

Me managed to bite her once, she said it really hurt wimp.

After watching Mummy struggle for ages Daddy tried to syringe me, he got really close to my mouth hit the plunger and covered Mummy in medicine, he gave up after that.

When Mummy does manage to get the medicine in me, me pulls a face and keeps chewing to make it obvious me is not impressed.

When she has finished instead of settling down for a cuddle to calm us both down me then starts biting the towel and moving about so she knows me wants to go straight back to bed.

Is that being a bad patient????

Quick update, my scabs have nearly all gone and me is much less swollen now.

Minutes Silence Please

Me is very upset, me logged into yahoo this morning and was greeted by this tragic news story

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100413/tuk-1-000-pets-killed-in-building-blaze-6323e80.html

Me thinks we should all spare a minute to send our thoughts and love to the great crowd who are travelling to the rainbow bridge.

Me hopes they did not suffer in the fire and that is was over quickly for them and that this was nothing more than a tragic accident.

Mummy is having a little cry over this story

Very sad here

Me Has Been to the Vet

Me has a skin infection in a very delicate place, girls stop reading now.... ok me confesses it is my testicle.

Yesterday Mummy was checking my boy bits as she bought me in from my mowing the lawn duties, when she noticed that one of my testicles appeared bigger than the other and was very scabby, she says she could almost swear they didnt look like that on Saturday.

Anyway this was not bothering me until the humans started to panic, they gave me a butt bath to get the area clean and then Mummy applied some GG Lavendar and Myrhh lotion.

Being a Sunday the vets were not open so Mummy had to wait until this morning before she could rush me there.

The vet told Mummy to stop panicking as the testicle itself wasnt swollen (me is a big boy anyway heehee) it was just the scabs making it look larger.

The vet removed what scabs she could and my skin is pink underneath not filled with pus, so Mummy could relax as it wasnt an abcess.

Me has to have Baytril 0.5ml twice a day for a week and Acidophilus as a probiotic as antibiotics can be bad for delicate piggy tummys.

Mummy also has to remove any loose scabs heeheehee she not looking forward to that.

Me hopes this will clear up in a few days coz as much fun as having a human fondle your testicles can be me is already bored of that game.

Me will keep you updated on my progress

We Have Sun!!!

At long last we have had enough days of sun for the ground to be dry enough for me and Ghost to get outside and mow the lawn.

So today me will mostly be eating grass and sleeping in my tent.

Hurray

Please send in your weather updates for where ever you are.

Charlies Angels Charity Work

Check it out, our very own Charlies Angels are appearing on greetings cards to raise money for charity.

http://www.zazzle.com/ctguineapigs

Well done girls!!!!!

Next time dont keep so quiet about it!!

The Hay Review Part 3

My 3rd hay is Burgess Excel Herbage, this is a treat hay and it would be obscene to suggest using this hay as a bedding.

Mummy buys this hay in a 1.5kg bag and it costs her £4.39, well me is worth it.

This hay is a lovely light green in colour and contains dandelion and calendula flowers super yummy.

This hay is medium to long and sharp not soft.

No good for bedding which is just as well as it would never last long enough for me to sleep on.

Me gives this a 10 out 10 rating