Coke Explores Water-Drinking Techniques

Hello, I am Coke, and I have been asked to give a seminar (webinar) in drinking from a water bottle.

 

Pardon? I wasn't asked to give a seminar? How embarrassing. Nevertheless, since I've already begun, I'll make a few brief remarks.

 

Here you will see me during floor time eating pellets and using a very relaxed posture as I drink from a water bottle. I like this photo because it shows the rosette on top of my head.

 

Oops, sorry, this isn't supposed to be about me.

In this second photo, you will see I am much closer to the bottle. We guinea pigs are lucky that we can turn our heads like this and still remain comfortable. Comfort is very important to us!

 

My mom says there's a joke in here somewhere: Coke talking about water. I don't get it. Would someone explain?

Scottie Saying Hello and Enjoying His Hay

Scottie here! I often run off when my mom tries to take my pigture, but on this day I stopped and posed for her. I think it is one of the best photos to show how my stripe goes all around me, and I wanted to show it off.

 

I love hay. Can you tell?

 

In the background you can see my blue cozy. My mom got it for me a few months ago, but I have resisted using it, just to keep her guessing! She realized it didn't weigh as much as some of the other cozies, so she has added some thin cardboard under its "seat." I still ignore it.

 

She saw Coke in it once when he was borrowing my house. When she went to get her camera, he jumped out.

 

This is a fun game!

Coke Makes Good Use of Floor Time

Hi, this is Coke reporting in!

 

You saw my brother, Fitz, in "camouflage" the other day, and I thought you might like to see me, too.

 

I'm not really in disguise, but here I am enjoying my Christmas cozy, which is also known as the Hollywood Bowl. I like to get into it when I have floor time. You can see my water bottle hanging near me. Sometimes I get all of the way into the cozy, and my mom can't find me, but on this day I thought I'd show her where I was.

 

Then I thought you might like to see my art project. Yes, I took my favorite sofa and set it on its end! My mom has no idea how I did that, but she grabbed a quick photo, thinking (probably correctly) she'll never see it that way again.

 

It was a one-time project, my assignment being to take a familiar object and display it in an unfamiliar way. Did I do a good job?

Why Fitz Is Mysterious

Fitz here.

 

My mom keeps saying she has trouble telling one end of me from the other, so she took a photo to show her perspective.

 

Personally I have no trouble knowing where my face is or where my butt is (Mom, is it all right if I say "butt"?). However, humans, you know, have to do their best.

 

I was eating when she took this photo. Is my mom the only one who is confused?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy and Healthy 4th. July from the Piggyville Girls,

Hello. We are the Piggyville Girls and today we are going to give you a history lesson. July 4th. is a special day in the United States of America. It is called Independence Day. On July 4th. 1776, the Declaration Of Independence was adopted. The Founding Fathers declared that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer under the thumb of Great Britain and were united, free and independent states. Needless to say, King George III was unhappy with the colonists for declaring their independence and not paying taxes to the British Crown. This resulted in the War of Independence that lasted until 1783.

General George Washington wrote that Great Britain would have won the war if the French had not come to the aid of the colonists. Over 90% of the muskets and gunpowder were provided by the French.

Most importantly, the French had developed a crude method to vaccinate against smallpox, a disease that killed over 30% of the people who contracted it and left many people blind. In crowded army camps up to 85% of American soldiers died from smallpox and other diseases rather than from combat wounds. Smallpox was so feared in armies that soldiers were known to "self vaccinate" by using the pus from an infected friend rubbed into a self inflicted wound. These soldiers were using themselves as "guinea pigs".

The great American statesman and scientist, Benjamin Franklin, had learned about vaccination when he was in Paris before the war. He blamed himself for the death of his four year old son from smallpox because he was afraid to have him vaccinated. He encouraged General George Washington to have everybody in the army vaccinated and the general ordered that all members of his ragtag and half starved army be vaccinated.

"With few surgeons, fewer medical supplies and no experience, General Washington conducted the first mass inoculation of an army at the height of a war that immeasurably transformed the international system."

So, today, let us celebrate our freedom by honouring the people who came before us who were willing to be "guinea pigs" for science in order to save their country.

Cheers! Tilley, Shannon and Ceilidh.

Happy Canada Day from the Prairie Pigs~

Hello everyone!  I am Arthur Pendragon, the newest, smallest, fastest and most handsome of the Prairie Pigs and I am here to wish everyone a Happy Canada Day.  It is our national holiday, and since the snow has finally all melted at long last, we are ready to have a party!!!

 

 

 

New Piggyville Girls!!

 

Hi! I am Tilley of the Piggyville Girls. I was lonely when my friends went to the Rainbow Bridge so my Mom and Dad searched far and wide for some piggy friends for me. They brought home two girly piggies, who are about six months old from the Brother Wolf Rescue in Asheville, North Carolina.

Here in the farmlands and mountains of Western North Carolina there are very few piggies at rescues but I got lucky because a very kind human brought in two piggies just for ME!!!

Here I am with my new friend Ceilidh ( pronounce it like Kaylee ). Just between you and me, I think that Ceilidh has wacky hair. She looks like a punk rocker but she is very loveable and likes to cuddle with me.

Hi. I am Shannon also known as Silverstone Shannon, Speedy Shannon and Greased Lightning Shannon. It has taken days for my Mommy to take a photo of me. I love cuddling in her lap with my new friend Tilley.

I have so much room to race around that I even jump over piggies that get in my way but, so far, I have not jumped out of our C&C home.

It is great to be a part of a big loving family that makes us the centre of their attention.

Introducing Coke and Fitz

It is certainly time we introduced ourselves! We are Coke and Fitz, and earlier this year we came to live with Scottie.
 
I, Coke, am the crested guinea pig. Here I am on the floor with one of my feet on the wood that borders the floor area our dad made. I've learned not to go outside that area, and my mom says sometimes I move sideways like a crab so I don't touch the actual wood floor. She thinks that's cute. I think it's great exercise!
 
I, Fitz, am the Peruvian, and as you see, my hair is rather curly. I love to be brushed and petted. Here I am about to drink some water. It is nice to have my A-frame nearby in case I need a quiet place to rest. My mom says I always have a happy look on my face. I like the floor, too!
 
We are about four and a half and four, respectively, so we are older than Scottie, who is two. So, well, I, Coke, thought I should be the dominant one. At first we got along in one cage (house), but my mom realized she had to have two houses for now. Fitz moves between us, so he stays in the cage at night with me and then visits Scottie in the other cage for a lot of the day.
 
Our mom lovingly calls our moving around "the stock exchange," and if she sees that I'm missing Fitz, he'll join me on the floor. When Scottie misses Fitz, she returns him to Scottie.
 
I, Fitz, apparently am very popular! Scottie and I also share floor time, too.
 
Mom still hopes one day we might all be together. If not, we will keep doing what we're doing. We listen well to our mom and know what a gentle "no" means. If we ever do become a trio, we will post it here!
 
We are glad to be here and to say hello.
 
 
 

New Piggyfriend!

Please welcome little baby Oberon, our newest Piggyfriend. He came to us at the end of March when he was only 5 weeks old.

He would not sit still for a photo so we waited until Slave's son came to visit and he held the little fellow for these pigtures.

Here he is from the other side. He is mostly Abby and is very loud. He likes to race around his pen and sit on top of his wooden house to see what is going on. Slave had to move the house to the centre of his pen just in case he decided to take a leap out of the pen into the room.

May Day at Piggyfriends

 It is May Day and one of our girls gets to be May Queen.

We have a lot of May ( hawthorn ) in our garden hedge but it has been cold here and the blossoms haven't opened so Slave walked along our road and found a few flowers in a hedgerow.

Caoimhe did not want to wear any flowers in her hair but was happy to sit with them.

" Can I eat them?" she asked. The leaves are actually edible. Slave said that they are also called bread and cheese trees as the leaves are supposed to taste of these. " Maybe not then." says Caoimhe. 

" I will just admire them from a distance," says Caoimhe." Slave says that the trees have sharp thorns."

Happy May Day everyone from all the Piggyfriends.

It's a White Easter on the Prairies

 Hi there!  I am Attila the Honey, the newest Prairie Pig, and I am here to wish everyone a Happy Easter!  Our snow had all melted but a few days ago, we caught the tail end of a late Prairie blizzard, so our tulips and crocuses will not be blooming for Easter after all.  We  know they are just sleeping under the blanket of snow, though, waiting for the next melt to make their entrance.

We hope Easter is warmer wherever you are, and that slaves and piggies are enjoying sunshine and spring flowers.  And if not, an extra chocolate egg or dandelion green does wonders to lift your spirits! 

Happy Easter Everyone!

 On behalf of all the Piggyfriends, Oscar would like to wish all of our readers a very Happy Easter.

Oscar sat very nicely for the pigtures and was rewarded with his favourite grapes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Piggyville Girls

 

Cindy, our Irish neighbor, made this basket for us.  For some reason, Mum keeps it on her desk full of knickknacks.  She told us that, even though it is made of delicious dried reeds, we are still not supposed to eat it.  We are very good at eating cardboard, paper bags and lots of yummy timothy hay.

Mum and Dad are hoping to visit southern Ireland in May.  We hope they bring back lots of treats for us!  We wish all piggies and the humans who love them a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

Bella Piggyfriend apologises on behalf of us all for being late with our St. Patrick's Day greetings.

Slave was out for most of the day and she was wearing her fleece so there was not much that we could do about it except wait for her to come home. We forgave her as she came in bearing vegetables.

The photo is not up to our usual standard as somepig should have moved the clutter in the background but we are late enough as it is.

So we say "Top of the morning to you all or maybe it should be top of the afternoon depending on where you live. It is evening here now."

Slave says better late than never. The wishes remain the same.

Candle Lighting at Piggyville.

 

Dear Peter. The greatest gift that you have given us is the gift of knowledge. It is a gift that goes on giving forever. Your students continue to share your knowledge with people all over the world.

Happy Birthday!!! Cheers from Tilley and Squirly of Piggyville, Swannanoa, North Carolina, USA.

The Prairie Pigs Light a Candle

Hello there!  I am Eleanor from the Prairie Pigs, admiring the Peter Gurney Memorial Candle that we lit here in Saskatchewan.  Even if you have a pile of cilantro in front of you, it's nice to take a moment to contemplate and remember..

This year, we are particularly thinking about our piggy paterfamilias Sundance, who departed for the Rainbow Bridge not long ago.  He was a wonderful guinea pig, sweet and kind, but also stern when he needed to be.  Our slave will always carry a memento of him in a rather impressive scar on her index finger, from the time she decided to avert an impending battle between Sundance and Edvard Munch  (due to a faulty catch on a cage door) by putting her hand between them.  Sundance did apologize immediately and she forgave him long ago but she still has that little reminder.

Candle Lighting at Piggyfriends

Hello Readers.

Peaches drew the short hay and was chosen to light our candle this year.

Peaches: Don't think that you are going to bribe me with that lettuce Slave. I need you to light the candle for me. That device looks dangerous to me.

Peaches: Thank you Slave. That was much safer and I did not get my whiskers singed.

All the Piggyfriends are remembering many Piggyfriends past and a whole host of pets that have gone to the Rainbow Bridge down the years but especially Daddy Slave, who is looking after them all until we can meet up again.

The Peter Gurney Memorial Is Coming Up Soon --- March 9th!

This is Scottie, and I am with a friend who is helping me get ready for the Peter Gurney Candle Light Memorial. (Don't you think there is a resemblance?)
 
The Peter Gurney Memorial is an annual event to celebrate the late Mr. Gurney, who wrote books about guinea pigs and contributed greatly to the knowledge about them. He is a hero to us guinea pigs, as well as to our humans.
 
We hope you'll join us in our celebration. All you have to do is light a candle at 8 p.m. in your time zone on March 9th, Mr. Gurney's birthday, and leave it lit for an hour if possible. At 9 p.m. your time, candles in the next time zone will be lit, and in this way our lights will travel around the world.
 
This event has been observed since 2006 and serves not only as a remembrance of Mr. Gurney but also as a remembrance of our other friends who have passed on, be they furred, finned, or feathered.
 
Afterwards, we hope you'll send the location where you lit a candle to PG_Memorial@gpdd.org (mailto:PG_Memorial@gpdd.org). Locations, but no names, are compiled and later posted on the Guinea Pigs' Daily Digest homepage at gpdd.org. Please visit there to see photos and locations of past participants.
 
If you take a photo of the event, such as your guinea pig beside a candle, please also send it to PG_Memorial@gpdd.org (mailto:PG_Memorial@gpdd.org). Note: There is an underscore between PG and Memorial; the entire address is not underscored.
 
I have two new brothers, Coke and Fitzgerald, who were a bit too fidgety to be in the photo with me, but we are all excited about the big day and hope you can join us!
 
 

Happy Valentine's Day

 The Piggyfriends wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

"Will you be my Valentine?" asks Orla.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Fearghal is growing!

Slave managed to get a photo of Fearghal and Fionn together. He is not afraid of the camera anymore and he is getting bigger by the day.

He has a long way to go to catch up with his big friend Fionn.

Introducing Fearghal.

We have a new tiny friend here at Piggyfriends.

 

Our local rescue had several baby boars needing a home. Slave called them only to find that they had all been rehomed except for this little boy who had been left behind. He is a tricolour Abyssinian.

He is five weeks old in this photo. He has a slight head tilt caused, according to the lovely lady who runs the rescue, by being in an awkward position in his mother's womb. As soon as she heard about this, Slave was on her way to the rescue to bring him home. Our late lamented Otto had a head tilt and it never bothered him one bit so it upset Slave to think that this was a reason for him to be ignored at the rescue.

Slave took Fionn with her to see if they would make good friends and he sat in the rescue's introduction pen whilst the little boar raced laps around him leaving Fionn bemused. They came home together in one of our carriers and, by the time she got here, they had eaten all the veggies and were fast asleep.

It takes Slave a while to think of names for us all and she has decided to call him Fearghal, which means strong and courageous and we think that is a good name for a brave little boar. Say his name as Fergal as that is the nearest in English. Slave calls him "little sweetheart" most of the time anyway.

Here he is enjoying some fresh grass. Slave has tried to get some photos of him with Fionn but they were not very good so she will try again for another post. He is so tiny compared to Fionn, who is all black and does not show up very well.

This was meant to be a pigture of them both but Fearghal made a run for it before the camera flashed. 

Welcome baby Fearghal. Keep munching and you will grow as big as Fionn. Well, maybe not quite as big as Abbies do tend to be smaller than the average piggy.

Guinea Pig Christmas Cards from Far Away

This year, the Prairie Pigs received two Christmas cards that had to travel a very long way to get to us, and both of them have guinea pigs on them!

Here are Eleanor and Lovely Rita showing off our beautiful cards, and also a lovely ornament that came from Auntie Penny in England. (it has guinea pigs on it, too!)    The card on the left is also from Auntie Penny while the one on the right came from Auntie Ann in North Carolina.  We want to send guinea pig Christmas cards, too, and we have already had a word with our Slave about finding some for us to send before next Christmas.  We didn't know that there were guinea pig Christmas cards --- what a wonderful idea!  

If you look very carefully, you might be able to see that Auntie Ann's card has a capybara tobogganing with a tiny little black and white guinea pig.  We have not met any capybaras in Saskatchewan yet, but we would like to!  They are just like guinea pigs except much larger.

Happy New Year and happy new pig.

 

All of the Piggyfriends would like to wish our readers a Happy New Year. Slave says that she hopes that it is better than 2021.

We would also like to introduce our new friend, Peaches. She was part of a huge rescue involving Pooh Piglets at Haywards Heath in England. Many of the sows were pregnant and Peaches' babes have been rehomed so she needed a new family too and Slave brought her home to live with us.

She needs fattening up after living in a place where she was not cared for and she is making up for lost time by eating everything that Slave puts in her pen. She is in quarantine for now so all the veggies are just for her. Please welcome little Peaches. We love her.

Christmas was fun and we learned lots of new things

 "Mama Bonbon was right," says Ambrose." "Lots of good things happened," replied Oscar.

Slave's son came to stay for a few days so she was very happy and so were all the Piggyfriends as he always brings lots of treats. He brought his new guitar and played Slave's favourite Christmas carol but we can't show a pigture of that. The humans ate some strange food that we had not seen before. We learned that we should always be kind to everypig and to share our treats.

We made some new friends. This jolly fellow is a mince pie ( but not for eating ). He is fat and cuddly like us.

And we met Slave's Nutcracker Soldier. When does Christmas come again Mama Bonbon? Not until next year? That is a long time to wait but Mama says that there is New Year to celebrate soon.

We hope that all piggies and their Slaves had a lovely time at Christmas.

It's a White Christmas in Saskatchewan!

 

It's a very frosty Christmas here in Saskatchewan, about the same temperature as Santa's place at the North Pole, but we Prairie Pigs have hearts full of the warmth of Christmas cheer!  Hello there; I am Lovely Rita, one of the newest Prairie Pigs, here to wish everyone and everypig out there a safe, happy and healthy Christmas!  Give your piggies some extra cuddles and munchies and raise a glass of rum egg nog to the hope of a post-Covid world in 2022!

Merry Christmas from the Piggyville Girls!

 

 

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Santa Claus Piggy climbed quietly down the tree to leave presents for good piggies...

"Look, Tilley!" said Squirly.  "Santa left us a Christmas pudding and a Christmas ornament, too.  We must have been very good piggies!"

We wish all guinea pigs and the humans who love them a happy and healthy Merry Christmas!

If this is Christmas, we approve!

 Mama Bonbon said that Christmas would be a surprise and.....

.....we agree with her. We have a pretty stocking full of our favourite veggies. 

The boys make a start on a carrot. This one is big enough to share.

"Ambrose! That is a whole pepper you have there! Slave always cuts them into pieces for us. Let me have some." says Oscar. 

" Shall we share it with some other piggies?" says Ambrose. " We do eat a lot but I think that even big piggies like us cannot eat all of this unless we have some hay and a nap first."

Oscar and Ambrose shared out their veggies with the other Piggyfriends and here are Picchu and Fionn having some pepper. 

"Christmas is all about giving, " says Picchu, who has seen many Christmases here.

We hope that all of our readers had a Merry Pigmas and the slaves too.

Is this Christmas?

" Hey Ambrose, there is a great big tree in the conservatory. It is covered with sparkly things and there are two toy gingerbread piggies hanging on it." says Oscar.

"Is this something to do with Christmas? I do not understand humans."