A Merry Prairie Christmas to All

Hello everyone, Heathcliffe, spokespig for the Prairie Pigs, here to wish all the piggies and piggy people out there our very best in Season's Greetings.  We hope you are having a peaceful and safe holiday.

Like many households this year, Christmas was a bit different for us, but while Slave seemed a little sad to be spending less time with family and friends during the Yuletide, we were mostly only pretending to be sympathetic while we enjoyed having her at our beck and call a lot more than past Christmases.  She did meet with a few friends now and then for walks around the neighbourhood to admire the festive light displays, but then she would be back all rosy-cheeked and more than ready to snuggle with us again.

We hope you are all finding creative ways to make this year's Christmas special, even if it is not exactly the one we would have chosen, and to count the blessings we still have (especially the small round furry ones)!

P.S. If you look closely at the lovely card next to me in the photo, you will see it's a Christmas pyramid of guinea pigs --- it came all the way from England from our Auntie Penny and the Piggyfriends.

 

Happy Christmas from the Piggyfriends.

 On behalf of the Piggyfriends, Orla would like to send Christmas wishes to all of our readers.

"Whatever is this green stuff?" she asks." It looks like grass but I do not think that it is edible."

Orla invites you to play "Spot the Pig".

 

" I don't know," says Orla. " My first Christmas and they get me to dress up! I did get to eat the carrot afterwards though."

We hope that everyone has the best Christmas possible in the current pandemic and hope that next year will be better for all the humans. Take care everyone and stay safe.

Smiles

 Hi all,

My boyfriend and pig dad Erwin made this video and it made me smile looking at the impatient piggies. I hope it makes you smile as well!

Mieke, proud slave to the piggies who learned this trick to show their impatience: Binky, Cookie and Linn

More New Piggyfriends! Two little boys.

When our Slave went to Pooh Piglets to collect Orla and Caoimhe, Pauline had many other piggies in need of loving homes. She had taken an extra carrier just in case so we knew that some more new friends would be accompanying our new girls on the way home. She could not take a carrier and not fill it up.

Two little brothers had been left at Pooh Piglets a few days previously and they were taken out of their hutch to meet Slave and her son.

Once picked up, they could not possibly be left behind so Sean was sent out for the other carrier and here they are at Piggyfriends.

Pauline said that she could only have them if she promised to change their names as she did not like them and this has been done. Slave has named them Oisin and Fionn ( say Osheen and Finn ) after two mighty warriors of Irish legend. We think that they will have to grow into their names as they are not very brave yet!

Here is another photo of Oisin, who does not actually have red eyes. Slave really needs to learn how to use the red eye filter on her camera.

And one showing his nice, fat "go faster" stripe around his middle.

Here is another pigture of Fionn.

He is all black except for a little white spot on his nose, which shows in the first pigture. They both love their food except for celery, which they may never have met before and are getting braver by the day especially as their pen is next door to that of Orla and Caoimhe and they come out to chat.

Please welcome them into the Piggyfriend clan.

Oh and we could not go without showing you this out take. Slave was trying to get a photo of Oisin's stripe. He was sitting nicely until he heard the click of the shutter and he was away.

A Piggy A to Z - "M" is for Meabh, A Brand-New Prairie Pig

 

 Hello, everyone!  My name is Meabh, and I am the newest Prairie Pig.  As you can see, I am a beautiful chestnut-brown Abyssinian with lots of whorls and rosettes, and I'm about five months old.  Meabh is a traditional Irish name (pronounced similar to Maeve or Mayve), and Slave gave me that name because the day I went up for adoption at the local animal shelter was the birthday of Penny, Slave to the Piggyfriends, who (as you likely know) is proudly Irish !

Though my official residence (which I like to call the Fortress of Solitude) is in the room next door to the Piggy Room, I get lots of floor time in the Piggy Room so I can socialize and hang out with the other Prairie Pigs.  Here I am visiting Heathcliffe.  Gosh --- is he a really big guy, or am I smaller than I think?

Here I am in one of my favourite hiding spots, the hay rack between Bonnie's and Pavarotti's cages; that's Pavarotti off to my left, looking a little concerned that I might have squeezed into this spot one time too many.  I like to keep Slave on her toes by shoe-horning myself into all sorts of places where it doesn't seem a guinea pig should be able to fit.  (To tell the truth, I fit into this particular hiding place a lot better a month ago when I first arrived.  Four weeks of munching my way through the endless Prairie Pig buffet might have left me just a teeny bit wider than I was when I got here...) 

Hmmmm --- it looks as if some careless person has left the door to the piggy room open, and I think there are one or two rooms on this floor that I haven't explored yet.  Slave says I am "a handful", whatever that means!  Apparently the other Prairie Pigs have always been quite content to stay in the Piggy Room whether the door is open or not, but I am a free spirit and much more adventurous than the average guinea pig.  

We have already discovered that a small piggy sitting directly under the middle of a bed is almost impossible to reach from any side and can stay there until she is good and ready to come out, regardless of Slave's plans to get to bed early and read a book.  (Though I do notice that she seems to be spending more time vacuuming under the beds since my excursions began, so perhaps she is learning some valuable lessons from the experience!)

New Piggyfriends! Please welcome them into their new home.

 In England, we have been in various lockdowns and restrictions for months on end. Slave thought that our nearest dedicated guinea pig rescue must have had to be closed but, during the summer, after the first lockdown, people were allowed to have six people in their gardens so the lovely lady that runs Pooh Piglets had prospective adopters sitting around her lawn and she would hold up a piggy needing a home rather like a piggy auction. Many lucky piggies were taken home and without this, it might not have been possible to keep the rescue going.

Now it is too cold to do this but Slave and her son were allowed to peek in the piggy shed door whilst Pauline help up a piggy for them to see. Slave knew that she had two Rex ladies so she asked to see them.

First of all she was shown this lovely lady.

Slave thought that she was the image of our Daisy from years ago. Long time GPDD readers might remember her as President of the LAPS. The Large and Ample Piggy Society.

She came into the rescue pregnant and her babes have all been adopted out so Pauline put another little Rex lady in with her for company. They are the best of friends.

She is pure white and does not have red eyes. That is just Slave being rubbish with her camera. Sean was sent back to the car for our carrier and they were both put in it with a pile of veggies to eat on the journey home.

All the food had gone by the time they got here and they were shown to their new home. Neither of these little ladies had names so Slave called the white one Orla. Here she is below.

 

And again so that you can see her dear little piggy nose.

Slave decided to call the grey girl Caoimhe. She does not expect anyone to know how to pronounce Irish names with the exception of the Surrey Squeakers' family and Pat of the Prairie Piggies, who is learning. You say it Keeva. Here she is again with Orla exiting stage right.

 

And both girls together.

They have settled in really well and eat everything in sight. Typical Rexes. We wonder if they will grow as big as Daisy and her brother Roscoe? They came here as tiny babes so had good food right from the start.

Of course, there were many more piggies wanting homes at Pooh Piglets and Orla and Caoimhe did not come home alone but that is a story for another day.

Footnote....Pooh Piglets has been involved in a rescue of hundreds of piggies from a breeder in Chichester who died. Many of them are pregnant. Many in a sorry condition, poor little poppets. When they are all recovered and the mums have weaned their babes, there will be countless piggies needing loving homes so if any of our readers live in the SE of England please think of them in the future if you have room for some more little friends.

Slave's Birthday Presents

It was Slave's birthday at the end of October. It must be easy for humans to find presents for a piggy lover and here are some of them.

This is a scarf that is absolutely covered with piggies!

Difficult to take a close up! The design is called "Lettuce be friends". Now she wants lockdown to be over so that our pigsitter can take her out for a much belated birthday dinner and she will be able to wear it.

This mug is called "The Anatomy of a Guinea Pig". We do not think that you will be able to read the captions but our favourite says " Squeaky Squeal Region ". The ears are labelled " Baby Cabbages" and the eyes are entitled " All-seeing vision beans."

Isn't this the sweetest little piggy? He is made of glass and you can tell how tiny he is from the next photo.

Yes readers. That is an apple behind him for comparison.

Piggy lips? Ears... Laundry baskets..?

Piggy lips?

an ear?

Hello there!

It's me 'little' Linn, with Cookie (to the left) and Binky (in the back)

I'm watching you mom...

The piggies came to visit me in the laundry basket, while dad cleaned the cage

I haven't really been able to go down the stairs much after hip surgery, so they came to visit me in the, (in their opinion!) much too small, laundry basket.

Still watching you mom, do you have anything good there... Like veggies?

We hope every pig (and their owners) are doing well!

The guinygirlz Cookie, Linn and boar Binky

and slave Mieke

A Piggy A-Z. L is for Lots of Lovely Leaves.

 This is part of the farm where Slave goes to collect Lots of Lovely Leaves for us.

In the foreground there are Broccoli plants and behind those are Cabbages and Cauliflowers. Right at the back, in front of the farm building, there are rows of winter Lettuce. Slave's friend, who owns the farm, lets her pick anything that she likes for us.

Around the edges of the field there are lots of tasty weeds, shepherd's purse, groundsel and chickweed and she forages for whatever she can reach. Sometimes we get sow thistles and dandelions too but Slave has to watch out for nasty nettles.

 

 

Here are some of the cabbage plants. When they have been harvested, Slave will be able to get to the cauliflowers. They are our favourite.

On the other side of the road are the fields where she cuts boxes of grass for us.

"You two start at one end and I will start at the other," says Carter to Saoirse and Aoife. "We will meet in the middle."

"Quick Saffron," says Bounty, " let's eat this leaf before Ebony wakes up from her nap." " I think that it might be a bit too much for just us two," replies Saffron.

"Move up Miss Marple," say Mama Bonbon and Bella, " there is plenty for us all."

This post was inspired by the lovely leaves that the Surrey Squeakers were enjoying on their blog.

Happy Hallowe'en, Readers !

 "What is all this about?" asks Hazel Piggyfriend.

"It is Hallowe'en tonight," says Slave."And you can light our pumpkin later when it is dark. That is the lighter and the little candle in front of you."

" I am not too sure about these little fellows." says Hazel.

" It all looks very colourful," says Hazel," and those leaves look tasty!"

"I will come and light the little candle later but I think that I will ask you to put it in the pumpkin. I do not want to singe my whiskers."

Happy Hallowe'en to all of our readers. Maybe next year, we will be able to celebrate properly.

Enter the Dragon --- But Which Dragon???

Halloween is coming up soon, so we Prairie Pigs were very excited when Mum Slave told us she had bought us a new costume --- a wonderful shiny and fearsome dragon outfit!  We already have some other costumes, but of course everypig wanted to wear the new one.  How can we decide who gets to wear it for Halloween? 

The fairest way seemed to be for everypig to try it on and see who looked the most dragon-like in it --- not everypig can carry off a look like that, after all!

Pavarotti tried it on first.  To tell the truth, he doesn't look fearsome at all, in fact "freaked out" might describe his expression better.  

Edvard Munch tried it on next.  That's better!  He does have quite a majestic and resolute look, doesn't he?  

Oh, I think we have a winner!  Bonnie McSmithers might be tiny but that look of steely determination and smouldering rage when Mum Slave insisted on taking just one too many pigtures is very dragon-like, don't you think?  (Not to mention that, since Bonnie is the only girl Prairie Pig, we all love her to bits and could never deny her anything!)  

Floor Time!

Hello from Nugget!

My mom finally got a photo of me enjoying floor time. Scottie and I were out, and she saw I was eating pellets from the wood table (you see just a corner of it). Scottie ran past me, and when I turned to see where he went, she took this pigture.

To the right is a water bottle in a wood holder my dad made, and behind me you will see our PVC tube (Scottie likes to sleep in it) and also the area our dad made for floor time. It is sort-of-linoleum with a wood frame. The wood is untreated, so if we chew on it, that is all right. Scottie has done several taste tests and given it his approval.

You will also see hay strewn about. Sometimes it's as much fun to play with hay as it is to eat it.

My mom is now trying to get a photo of Scottie on the floor, or of us together there. Wish her luck!

A Piggy A-Z. L is for Love. Piggy Love!!

 We all love our piggies and our piggies love their piggies......

Here is Carter Piggyfriend on the right. He Loves his Little Ladies, Aoife and Saoirse. They have all snuggled into a box of hay for a well deserved nap after demolishing their breakfasts.

A Piggy A-Z. L is for Ladies who Lunch.

 

Here are Miss Marple, Bella and Mama Bonbon, the Ladies who Lunch and breakfast and dine and have afternoon snacks and lunch and lunch and lunch........................

Life is one long meal for the Piggyfriends.
 

We are Buddies

We have been waiting a while for a joint post from our American reporters, Scottie and Nugget, and here it is!

Scottie here. Yes, you have seen the sofa before, and the A-frame, but what have you not yet seen? 

You haven't seen me with my brother!

Due to some lighting problems and her rather modest camera, our mom was beginning to think she'd never be able to capture us in a pigture together. In addition, I, Scottie have been reticent to allow photos.

Last night, though, before floor time, our mom saw us relaxing and thought she'd give a photo another shot, no pun intended. She turned on all the lights, and we didn't move.

Nugget is the croissant to the left, and I am doing my best to define lounging. If I do say so myself, I am doing a rather good job. I glanced up once to see what was happening but decided to let Mom continue. Besides, I had not finished my nap.

Nugget hopes you'll like his style, and I hope you can see that my white stripe still resembles Nessie of Loch Ness fame, though Nessie has, um, grown.

Some of my Favorite Things ...

We have just received this exciting new story from one of our intrepid guest reporters, Nugget:

Hi all from Nugget! My mom's camera hasn't been working for a while, but the other day she gave it another chance and it worked, much to her surprise. So she's been taking some pigtures of Scottie and me again.

This afternoon, despite rainy weather and therefore not the best lighting, she took this photo and seemed pleased by it. I hope you'll like it, too.

Here I am eating hay, which of course is any guinea pig's favorite pastime. You might be able to tell that I'm eating from a wooden table. My dad made it and also the wooden "A-frame" behind me. I rest in there quite a lot when I'm not busy eating. Beside me is our sofa, which Scottie likes to fold over. I hope you can see the flowers on one side. It is reversible, and we like that.

Well, that is my tour for right now. My mom is trying to get some photos of us on during floor time, but we will have to wait for the sun to come out!