A Piggy A-Z. H is for Hazel ( and Bonny too ).

Hello readers. It has been a long time since the Piggyfriends posted. Slave has not been able to help us with our typing for a while but now we want to tell you all about some new Piggyfriends.

A dear friend, who shows piggies, asked us if we would like to give a home to some of his "retired" piggies. We did not know that piggies stop going to shows when they are 2 years old. Slave did not know anything about showing piggies but we learn something new every day.

Of course, Slave jumped at the chance to bring some more piggies home so, without further ado, let us introduce Hazel.

Here she is in the carrier that Slave took to bring our new friends home. Hazel is on the right and her sister, Bonny, is under the hay.

They were understandably nervous after their journey but Slave took some quick photos before putting them into their new pen. She put them both in an upturned wooden house so that they did not scuttle away under the furniture. This is a photo of Bonny.

And this is Hazel. It is not the best photo in the world but as it is her first proper photo we thought that you would like to see it anyway.

Here they are enjoying a pile of grass. Bonny is on the left and Hazel on the right. They are what we call Shelties in England but Slave thinks that they are called Silkies in the US and is not sure about other countries. They are like Peruvians but their coats grow back away from their faces.

When they are shown, they have to have their coats intact but our friend gave them both a haircut and a shampoo before they became Piggyfriends. Bonny is at the front and Hazel is behind her. They have settled in well and it was not long before Bonny was at the front of the pen begging Slave for veggies.

Please welcome our new little friends. We will tell you about some more new friends in another post.

A Piggy A-Z. H is for Harvest

Now it is springtime in England and the grass is really starting to grow. Our Slave has just returned from visiting her friend Roly's farm and she brought back this lovely Harvest.

Roly grows lots of veggies on his farm but we all think that his grass is the best so we wanted to share a photo. Now we are going to eat it all.

How NOT to Do An Easter Photo Shoot !!!

Hi there, I'm Butch from the Prairie Pigs and this is me wreaking havoc on Slave's Easter photo shoot!

This is what it looked like before I and my brother Sundance arrived:

I guess we were supposed to sit nicely in that middle spot, but as soon as she put us down, Sundance remembered an urgent personal matter he had to attend to back at home and tried to jump off the edge of the bed, so he was excused.  Slave had told us that all of the "props" were just decorations, not edible, but you can't fool a piggy about food --- those carrots are real!!!

Yup, just as I thought (munch munch munch) !

Then Slave thought she would try something less elaborate, maybe just me and the bunny...

  

Hmmm...you're not the kind of bunny I heard about from the Piggyfriends, are you?  The kind who eats the veggies out in the garden before us piggies have a chance at them?

Maybe I'll eat up these carrot greens right away, just to be on the safe side...

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter and is enjoying springtime wherever they are.  

Better luck next year, Slave!

Happy Easter Everyone

All of the Piggyfriends think that this is really a celebration for Slaves as they get to eat lots of chocolate eggs but we love to share our photos with our readers.

Here is Casper Dangermouse investigating Slave's cache of Easter decorations. " I hope that they are not real rabbits" he says. " We do not like them coming into our garden and eating our veggies."

" Don't worry Casper, they are only toy ones," replies Slave. " I do everything that I can to keep real ones out of our garden."

" Thank you for sitting still so nicely whilst I took these photos," says Slave. " You know that I will do anything for chicory," replies Casper.

Slave wanted to take some of us outside to take photos today but it is really hot out there and Slave has had to get the fans out of the attic. It should not be like this in April. So Slave took a photo of some of her tiny daffodils instead.

We hope that your Slaves get to eat lots of chocolate and that all the piggies get yummy veggies instead. Happy Easter everyone.

New Agent Peter Parker Joins Undercover Guinea Pigs

Hi there, I'm Heathcliffe, the newest Prairie Pig.  I was just a little porker when I arrived here, but I've grown a lot and am now big enough to apply for "Agent Status"!   Up until now, none of the Prairie Pigs has ever become an Agent, so I'm hoping that being the first Agent here will give me the inside track to become Number One Boyfriend to the beautiful Bonnie McSmithers.  (Bonnie is the only girl Prairie Pig, so as you might imagine, there is quite a bit of competition among the five of us boys to get her attention!)

I would like my Agent Name to be Peter Parker (alter ego of Spiderman, of course).  I do have some history there, since it was my name at the Humane Society shelter before Slave picked me to come home with her and become a Prairie Pig.  This is my portrait from the shelter website:

I even have a super power, which is cage rattling!  I'm very good at it and practice all the time.  (Slave begs me to stop, because she says she has already spent too much money on piggy dental work, but I ignore her --- slaves don't understand about Agent stuff!)  To tell the truth, I'm not sure how cage rattling would help me in my work as an Agent, but you never know, do you?

Well, it's been almost half an hour since my last snack, so I think I'd better go and eat something   now;  I don't want to take a chance on falling below Agent weight with my first big assignment coming up soon...

Are there any other aspiring Agents out there?  Apply here!  It would be extra fun if there were a few of us rookies who could take training and practice our Agent moves together.

Annual Candle Lighting Ceremony

Casper Piggyfriend is ready to light his candle in memory of a vast number of Piggyfriends past as well as Slave's beloved doggies, many birds and fish. Slave remembers Peter Gurney, whom she was lucky enough to meet at a book signing, where he signed her copy of Piggy Potions.

"Will you help me with the match please Slave? I do not want to burn my whiskers."

"Stand back," says Slave. " I am ready to light our candle. It is not easy to hold the camera at the same time!"

"There we are," says Slave. "We will keep our candle burning so that our light passes around the world in memory of so many friends, both human and animals, who are no longer with us but are watching us from the Rainbow Bridge."

The Piggyfriends ask that, if you lit a candle, could you send us a photo so that we can share it with our readers. GPDD readers have a link to send their details for publishing on the Digest and somewhere to send their photos too.

Peter Gurney Annual Memorial Candlelighting Ceremony

Nugget and Stuart Little here. Our mom allowed us to light a practice
candle (OK, we didn't really light it) to get ready for the Peter Gurney
Candlelight Memorial. This is an annual event that began on the Guinea
Pigs' Daily Digest in 2006, the year guinea-pig-advocate Peter Gurney
passed away. Since that time, on March 9th, his birthday, we light
candles around the world in his memory and the memory of others who have
passed away (human, furred, feathered, finned).
If you'd like to participate, just light a candle at 8 p.m. your time.
As candles in other time zones are lit, the light travels around the
world. We usually display our candle for at least an hour, until the
next time zone joins in the tribute.
After the big day, we hope you'll send an e-mail to pg_memorial@gpdd.org
and tell us your location. A list of locations (no names or e-mail
addresses) will be compiled and posted at gpdd.org. (Mom is telling us
all this, and we are typing as fast as we can!)
We are excited and hope you will be, too. Nugget says he's an old pro at
this, but for me, Stuart Little, it's my first year!