Possessed Guinea Pigs

Chalky the Guinea Pig

Just use your imagination, okay?

Our son is very talented and we want to keep our illusions about that intact.

Plus, my mother always told me that if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything.

So it’s a guinea pig, because Mr Bump said so.

And if you can find something nice to say, we’d really really appreciate it.
Seriously.

Looking for more friendly people to stalk?
Go visit Candid Carrie’s Friday Fiesta Foto Finish.

Fungus Fetish, Anyone?

Yesterday morning when I put the guinea pigs outside in their run, I found the weirdest looking fungus I had ever seen in our backyard.

I say ‘had’ because having spent a couple of hours looking around on the net to see what it was, I can now conclusively state that fungi are the most perverted plant on the planet.

It turns out that this one is called lysurus mokusin, also known as Lantern Fungus, and it’s one of the more low-key phallic fungi around. You should check out phallus impudicus.

There’s a whole family of these stinkhorns, which use a foul smell to attract bugs, who then spread the spores. I didn’t notice any smell myself, so maybe it has special bug-smell pheromones or something.

Pretty weird, huh?

We Have Guinea Pigs…

What do you do if your whole family loves cats, wants to adopt a cat, but can’t?

Well, in January we came up with our own answer.

We got guinea pigs. Two. One for each of the kids, named Olga da Polga and Mrs Guinea Pig.

Wren’s little black gp has been named Olga da Polga, because that was the name of my guinea pig as a child.

My Olga was named after the main character in the book series of the same name by Michael Bond (he also wrote the Paddington Bear books).

Luckily, I kept those little books and now Wren & Mr Bump love the stories, too. ~ It’s lovely to share those special childhood memories with them.

This fictional Olga was a bit of a wild child gp who delighted in adventures like car rides and biting that wavy thing dangling in front of her cage (until she realised there was a friendly cat on the end of it).

Meanwhile, poor Mrs Guinea Pig had a bit of a gender identity crisis. Mr Bump wanted to call her Mr Guinea Pig (after Pinky Dinky Doo’s guinea pig). After some thought however, he decided that it just wouldn’t do, and she was happily renamed. Crisis averted.
These two little furballs are very cute and are more affectionate than I remember from my childhood. Somehow I think that might have something to do with me being a whole lot more gentle now. I don’t remember being rough with my own Olga, but when I see how the kids handle these two… They think they’re being gentle, but still….

Some mornings I sit and watch the two little creatures in their run when I stop for a morning cuppa. All of a sudden, one of them will squeal and jump in the air, doing a 360º turn. Both will disappear into the sheltered end, then reappear just as suddenly. This sometimes goes on for 10 minutes, with me roaring with laughter the whole time.

The first time I saw them do it, I went and checked them both for fleas! Needless to say, they didn’t have any, and the entertainment continued almost as soon as I closed the hutch door.

They’re so cute, but I’m still hanging out to get a cat…

Afterthought:
On a totally unrelated subject, unless your guinea pigs are toilet trained, I read The Potty Poem, on Quiet Mom’s blog earlier today and just had to share it here. It’s wonderful!