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Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Guinea Pig

Well, it looks like I've been slacking in the blogging department (notice I said "looks like", just wanted to clarify that). I have thought of many different things to blog about, but either didn't sit down and blog or got interrupted when I was trying and by the time I returned, the thoughts were gone. Maybe it's just that my brain is starting to function better now that my thyroid medication has been increased. Even though I'm fighting a sinus infection and I've only had the new dose for two days, I have noticed a little improvement.
Of course, you are probably sitting there, reading this and thinking "what does that have to do with a guinea pig?". Nothing. Absolutely nothing, but it's about me, so I put it in to get you caught up with me. Now on to our topic.
We had a sort of reoccurring mentioning of guinea pigs around here for the past year or two. First, we found these cute books about a classroom guinea pig named Fluffy. Ian adores these books. Fluffy, of course so no ordinary guinea pig, he has wild adventures! Then we recently watched Bedtime Stories, which has a guinea pig in it. I had a guinea pig in high school thanks to a friend who bought one for herself and ended up buying a pregnant female.
Fast forward to present day. I had been thinking it would be fun for our family to have a guinea pig (in addition to two dogs). Then a friend posted on our homeschool group email that she was giving away two guinea pigs. I decided that we should get one. I thought I should hurry and contact her before someone else claimed them. I needn't have worried. I spoke to my friend and after talking to her decided that we would like to have her female guinea pig. As far as I know, she's still trying to give away the male. We got our guinea pig Friday afternoon after we had shopped for a cage and other things for her. I'm not quite sure what her name is...we've had several so far. I think we started with Calliope (Callie for short). We've also called her Snuggles, Jenny, Miss Guinea, Miss Piggy and Bunny Rabbit. I'm sure something will stick at some point!
What cracks me up is how much Colin is enjoying the guinea pig. The idea was to get something that Ian could help with a little more than the dogs. He's still working on being able to pick up the guinea pig carefully. Colin, however, gets the guinea pig out and cuddles with her...it's very cute!
Of course, the guinea pig is already super spoiled! In her out house she lived in a large box. At our house she lives in a very nice cage with an edible "log" (it looks like a log but it's made of stuff she can eat, not that she does). She also has a stack of wooden blocks to chew on with a bell attached and if she's tired of her cage, we have a kiddie pool she can run around in. She seems to like the kiddie pool better than running around on the floor. She's a lot more fun than my first guinea pig. I think that's because I'm not the only one interested in what she's doing and taking care of her. It's more fun because we're taking care of her as a family.
I'll let you know if we finally decide on a name!

Monday, April 6, 2009

A Taste of Spring

Life in my area has been winter-like for quite some time now. Even the arrival of spring did little to change that. Last week on Ian's birthday we had rain mixed with snow.
Today, however, was a taste of something new. Spring! Over the weekend the sun had come out and the temperatures climbed into the 60's. People came out of their homes after what seemed a long hibernation. Today was the climax of the nice days. 70 degrees, sunshine, birds singing and the hummingbirds zipping through my yard. We put out the hummingbird feeder last night and it didn't take long for them to find it. I did research to find the best sugar solution and found that a solution of 60/40 sugar/water will attract them quicker because it has more nutrients for them. Now I need to buy another feeder. I did more research and found that once the male hummingbirds decide they like your feeder and your yard, they will chase off other hummingbirds. They were already doing that today. Ian and I sat on our front porch and watched them. Fascinating.
Appropriately enough, Ian and I are on spring break this week. So Ian enjoyed a day of playing with his Legos, watching some Veggie Tales, playing on his fort and being read to from the book Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary (she's the author, I was the one reading to him).
I didn't know we really needed this break until we were already on spring break, but we needed it. A break paired with a sunny day is pure joy to my soul. I feel renewed, ready to tackle new projects and maybe finish some old ones!
We even cooked out for dinner. I think today was one of those days that if you could bottle it and bring it out again and again, I would. I will take it for what it is...a gift from God. Thanks, God! I needed a day like today!