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!

It is not a very good photo but.....

....little Kiwi always runs off as soon as he sees the camera but Slave managed to sneak up on him and this is the result.

His mind was on the grass that he was sharing with his brother Picchu and seconds later he was off and away but at least you can see him. Slave wishes that he would sit still for a photoshoot as she loves an agouti but he is still very nervous. He will take a veggie from Slave's hand now so one day he might actually pose with the rest of us then, when we get round to K in our Piggy A-Z, you will be able to see some better pigtures.

Guinea Pig pullovers

Hi there readers. Slave read this article on the BBC news page. We do not know how to copy it here for you to see but here is the link. Do have a look at the lovely pigtures.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-47412397https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-47412397

Slave knits lots of stuff. Maybe she could make us pullovers but we think that they might be too warm.

From the Piggyfriends.

It's Agent Queenie's birthday today!

Hi all,

Today our Raani, AKA agent Queenie is turning 3 years old.
After Cookie she wanted to me to share her agent skill of climbing on top of things with you all.
The video's are the 2nd and 3rd slide, hope everyone can see them, even if you do not have an instagram account. 4th slide is the email we got from our vet today, congratuling us with Raani's birthday.

View this post on Instagram

Happy birthday to my little critter Raani. She's 3 today, and she climbed up on their house. She's the only one who does that, and she just uses the ramp, previous pigs would mostly try to jump up on the house instead of using the ramp. Last pic is the email we got from the vet congratulating us 😁 #guineapig #birthdaygirl

A post shared by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Feb 26, 2019 at 3:08am PST

Friday Video: smart Cookie

Long overdue agent introduction!! She has been agent weight since 29 october 2017... And still keeping that weight above a kilo since then. Recently she has managed to up her weight to 1120, so she is doing a good job in the eating department.
Here you can see Agent Meerkat, aka Cookie, showcasing one of her special skills.
Next to the demonstrated skill, agent Meerkat is a very suitable name for her, because she is always keeping an eye out for us, especially for pig dad, and will alert the others loudly when she thinks food is on the way (which is pretty much every time she hears pig dad ;)!

View this post on Instagram

Cookie (the cream colored one,) WILL get that piece of veg I put in the middle of the bed for Raani (the black, red and white one) #guineapigs #chicory #smartcookie

A post shared by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Feb 17, 2019 at 3:12am PST

Our Friend Avalanche

Readers of the GPDD will know Avalanche, who arranges wonderful virtual Hallowe'en parties for them with the help of his mom, Carol.

He has sent us a photo so that you can see what a handsome fellow he is.

Friends book: Eleven

New item on our blog: Friends book. When slave Mikey was a little girl she had a friends book. In this book you let your friends write something about them, the book had some questions or statements the friend could fill out. We hear this still exists nowadays, it is known in the Netherlands but we haven't heard of this in the UK... (At least M and Penny did not know it).
Do you have this in your country?
 and more importantly
Would you like to write in our friends book? Let us know and we'll send you a small list of questions, from which you can pick some questions you would like to answer and add a pigture if you can.

First up is Eleven:

Meet Eleven

Tell us something about yourself/ Introduce yourself

Hi, my name is Eleven and since October 2018 I’m living with Tahiri and Mupke (two adorable piggy girls) in the deep south of the Netherlands. We have a neighbour, called Exar Kun, and he is a very naughty hamster. We all come from the dutch guinea pig shelter ’t Kuufke in Limbricht. I was named after Eleven, one of the main characters from the famous televison serie Stranger Things. Although Eleven is orginally a girl and I’m certainly not ☺ I like the name because I’m the eleventh guinea pig in a row for my slave D. So the name fits perfectly. Oh, I was born in november 2017 but the exact date is unknown so my slave decided that I celebrate my birthday on 11 novNovem because that’s a kind of a festive date in the South because it marks the start of the Carnaval period.

Exar Kun

What's your favorite activity

Can I name two? Because I really like sitting on Mupke ;-) but I’m also very handy with redecorating our cage. I love to move the wooden houses and do that in a very inventive way. When I’m lying under the house I push my head against the roof and move everything. Brilliant isn’t it?

I'd love to spend my slaves money on

Wooden houses to redecorate our cage .

What would I do with a million

I would like to donate everything to the shelter where we come from. They do such good work and the ladies are lovely and sweet. In December 2018 they picked up more than 137 very neglected guinea pigs in France and they take really good care now of all the piggies till they are old and healthy enough to move to a forever home.

Best invention ever / Best thing since sliced bread

Wooden houses ☺

My guilty pleasure

Sitting on Mupke? ☺

Eleven, dating Mupke and Tahiri

This makes me energetic

When the slaves arrive in the morning and evening with fresh food, hay and vegetables. Together with Mupke I run through the whole cage and I perform a few popcorn jumps as well.

Thank you, Eleven! Who wants to go next?

The guinygirls

Happy Valentine's Day.

This heart hangs in the pig room window all year round but Slave has been making little Valentine hearts for us piggies.

Here is Ivan, who looks more interested in his fresh grass.

Ivan's brother Maguns has come to have a look. " It says Piggy on it but I do not think that we can eat it, Ivan." he says.

" Look Mimi!" says Slave.

It has a frilly edge just like Mimi's coat.

" What is this?" asks Picchu.

" It is the same colour as me." says Picchu.....

....but he does not want to pose any more as there is some grass on the mat.

Casper and Cosmo Dangermouse say that these hearts look too girly for us boars.

" How about this one?" says Slave.

" That one is much more boarly." says Casper. " Can I eat the carrot?" " No, it is made of felt," replies Slave," although you can have a real one in a moment but it looks to me as though your claws need a trim so we will do that first."

That really is Casper readers. When he and Cosmo Dangermouse were little they were both pure white and we could only tell them apart by the colour of their noses but Casper has acquired grey patches with age.

Happy Valentine's Day readers. We hope that you all get lots of yummy veggies and that your Slaves are given piles of chocolates. Our Slave loves chocolate but we would rather have grass thank you very much. Lots of love to you all from the Piggyfriends.

Staying warm in winter

Hello, this is Stuart Little, and I am a little shy because I have never
posted on a blog. I am the one who looks like a snowman, or, well,
snowpig. My mom says I am luminous, but I am not sure what that means.
While I try to learn new words, I love to sit next to my brother,
Nugget. Even when he is in a cozy, I try to be close. Although our eyes
are open, I think we are sleeping in this pigture.

Friday Video: sharing a carrot 🥕

View this post on Instagram

Sharing a carrot 🥕! #guineapigs #carrot #handfeeding

A post shared by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Jan 23, 2019 at 3:50am PST

Gingerbread Piggy

Every Christmas our Slave makes gingerbread piggies with her biscuit cutter. We showed you some of them last Christmas.

This year she drew round her bigger cutter and cut out some ginger felt. She made these.....

.....to hang on our tree.

Made a change from Gingerbread Men.

Slave's Christmas Presents

It is easy for anyone to choose a present for a Guinea Pig Slave. Here are our Slave's presents.

This mug came from our erstwhile Junior Slave, who now lives in the US.

These two were from Slave's eldest, who is also our pigsitter. The top pigture is of a Christmas Tree Bauble, with a piggy on it. How cool is that? It has been hanging on our Christmas Tree but we suspect that it will not be packed away with the rest of the decorations but will sit on the shelf where Slave keeps her collection of piggy mugs. We love the T-shirt.

Did your Slaves get any piggy presents this Christmas? Do write and tell us about them. Pat, Slave to the Prairie Piggies was given a mug with the same pattern on it as the cross stitch pigture that our Slave had for her birthday.

The Twelve Days of Christmas. Twelfth Day.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my Slave she gave to me Twelve Drummers Drumming, Eleven Pipers Piping, Ten Lords-a-Leaping, Nine Ladies Dancing, Eight Maids-a-Milking,.......well you know the rest by now.

Mimi: There is only one drummer but, given that twelve would make a lot of noise, perhaps that is a blessing. I do think that this fellow gave his true love a lot of really stupid presents. I am sure that she would have preferred a nice pair of shoes and a designer handbag. Maybe some flowers and an expensive perfume? Instead of which, he turns up with all these birds and noisy bandsmen. He did not put a lot of thought into his Christmas presents did he?
Slave: It is only a song but I have to agree. I would not have wanted to receive any of this stuff except for the gold rings but never mind.
Mimi: Is that the end of the song?
Slave: All finished. Sigh....
Mimi: If we are finished then it must be Twelfth Night and all the decorations have to come down and be put away. What shall we do next Christmas Slave? Er.....Slave where have you gone?
Niamh: I think that she said something about lying down in a darkened room.
Mimi: That is OK then. We do that all the time.

 

Carter: As Slave has worked so hard making these posts, I think that we should get her a present ( but not any birds, milkmaids or drummers ).

Aoife: That is a good idea Carter. What shall we buy?

Mimi: I know. Let us get her that book that Agent Dave told us about on the blog. The Guinea Pig Christmas Carol. None of her humans heard the hints that she gave that she would like it. Here it is! Now can someone find me Slave's debit card please. It is in her purse.

Saoirse: Aren't we missing something here? If Slave pays for her own present then it is not really a present at all is it?
Mimi: I do not know how else to buy anything on the internet. We do not have our Egg cards anymore. Now who knows Slave's Amazon password?

                                                                  THE END.

NB. No guinea pigs were harmed in the making of this series. The same cannot be said for the red rug, which is now covered in hair.

The Twelve Days of Christmas. Eleventh Day.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my Slave she gave to me Eleven Pipers piping, Ten Lords-a- leaping ( and the least said about that the better ), Nine Ladies Dancing, Eight Maids-a-Milking ( yes Slave, that was not one of your best either was it?) Seven Swans-a-Swimming etc.....

Picchu: Me again? OK. So I am guessing that this is a piper?
Slave: Yes, someone brought him back from Scotland many years ago.
Picchu: Only one then? Not eleven.
Slave: I think that one is more than enough.

Picchu: You are lucky to have me to sit still without eating the props.
Slave: Yes, Picchu. Thank you very much. You have earned your carrot and you can share it with Kiwi even thought he does not want to be an internet star like you.

To be continued....and if you are still reading this then you deserve a carrot too.

The Twelve Days of Christmas. Tenth Day.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my Slave she gave to me Ten Lords-a-Leaping......
Slave:What?!? Where on earth am I going to find one Lord let alone ten. I do not know any Lords.
Magnus and Ivan: Agent Dave said that we could try using Frogs instead. They leap! Some of that poetical licensing stuff.
Slave: Thanks Agent Dave! We owe you.

Magnus and Ivan: Luckily Slave has a little collection of ornamental frogs. There are lots of big ones in the garden that sit around our lily pond but they are too heavy to bring indoors.

Mimi: They are not exactly leaping are they but there are ten of them. They will have to do. I hope tomorrow's verse is not as hard to enact.

To be continued......

The Twelve Days of Christmas. Ninth Day.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my Slave she gave to me, Nine Ladies Dancing, Eight Maids-a-Milking, Seven Swans-a-Swimming, Six Geese-a-laying, Five Gold Rings, Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Saoirse: I am not coming out whilst those ladies are dancing over our boxes.
Aoife and Carter: They are only paper. I saw Slave cutting them out. We all like to tear up our newspaper and boxes.
Saoirse: Newspaper and boxes are placed where we expect them to be. I am not coming out even for that grass. Please save me some.

Carter: It is alright Saoirse. I am moving the dancers for you.

Aoife: I am not letting any paper dancers frighten my sister. You can come out of hiding now Saoirse. Actually, these taste rather good.

Carter, Aoife and Saoirse: What is tomorrow's gift?
Slave: It is even sillier than today's and I am not sure how we are going to enact it.
Carter: Why are you tearing out your hair Slave?

To be continued.......