Last week we had to fly out to a funeral for my 3 month old baby nephew.

The family is still quite stunned.

He had a rare disease called "mitochondrial disorder".

It caused his liver then his kidnesy to suddenly fail.

He went into the hospital and perished 4 days later.

http://www.healthofchildren.com/M/Mitochondrial-Disorders.html

He appeared perfectly healthy except for the fact that he lost 2 pounds in his first week.

He gained some weight, and after 2 and a half months, became fussy, ate less, cried more and then became listless with floppy muscles.  He was admitted to the Pediatric ICU and died there,  his little body simply failing him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATXV3DzKv68

Or perhaps the cavy 500.

Today Beckett was getting very restless, so I closed the doors and sat in the the doorway of the little hall we have in the apartment and let the little piggie go. She made a few laps slowly, tentatively, and sped up with each go-round.  Finally there was chattering, popcorning and an all-out gallop as she ran a few laps. It was hysterical. It's nice to have an apartment with a clean enough floor safe for the piggies to get some supervised exercise.

We will have to do it again and remember to video tape it for y'all. :)

One of the best things about Fall... Cranberries! A friend took this picture of some sort of promotional stunt. It is a giant vat of floating cranberries. I love home made cranberry sauce. One you've made it yourself, the cylinder-shaped stuff from teh can just doesn't cut it!

Immagine: Lucy's new home The imbed feature is offline, but click there and you can see Lucy in her new home. She seems to be recovering nicely, and is gettign absolutely spoiled by her new papi'.

Lucy seems to be mending well. Yesterday she was even a little cranky and snappish.

Ah, yes, that's my Lucy!

She's finally eaten her orange slices and is doing normal Lucy-things.

Weird thing about my piggies, they will not eat an orange slice right away if served, wher ethey will attack anything green, but if you leave it in the cage and go away, they will come back to it after you are gone. Makes you wonder if they only eat it when they need the vitamin C, or what.

Lucy seems to be okay after the weekend's excitement.

She is perky, alert, and as picky an eater as ever.

She is putting full weight on the injured paw and scampering about as if nothing had happened.

The only thing that unnerves me is she has been unusually freindly and affectionate.  She can be a cranky cavy on occasion.

Perhaps that's just a result of the extra pampering she's getting from being ill.

We'll try to start toenail clipping later this week, and perhaps a bath.

(We'll see who's canky then!!!)

We had a bit of a family emergency yesterday, in the midst of the packing and painting- lucy broke her nail! I went to pick her up and she was bleeding. It turns out, she propped her paws up on the wire bars of her new cage and then jumped down, leaving a chunk of toenail attached to the cage. Ouch!!!! Poor lucy! I was so upset! With my future husband's help, research and gentle encouragement, I held her and applied new napkins and gentle pressure until she stopped bleeding. I bathed the foot in rubbing alcohol for good measure. We put her in a copy box with plain white paper towels on the bottom to keep the foot clean a nd to tell if there was anymore action at the wound. I went to the store and picked up some white carefresh bedding and a new blue clear plastic tupperware-type container. Lucylucylucy was always in a glass tank or plastic storage container, and this was her first (and last!) experience with a cage with bars. Since she is not one to escape, a lid isn't really needed. She spent the night in the new cage, favoring the injured paw. This morning she was chipper, squeaky and hungry, all good signs. There is some piggy piddle and "beans" in the cage, but no evidence of any mroe bleeding. I'll probably check her mroe closely tonight, but I think we just got a terrible scare. I need to trim the rest of her nails this week, with the moving toenail clipping has been low on my list of priorities.

The piggies have been at the new apartment for about a week now, and lucy is just beginning to look less disoriented. Now she is merely as disoriented-looking as she normally is. :)

I think having a cage with bars on all sides has really messed with her vision and depth perception.

Beckett continues to plot the revolution from his bunker, so it's hard to tell if he has noticed a difference.

They both have become quite vocal at meal times and whenever the water is running in the sink. We won't even talk about the rustling of plastic bags!

It does my heart so much good to hear my fiance become bewitched by the critters.

He gets amused by their little noises, habits and odd sleeping positions.

Today he told my lucy fell asleep with her body out of the pigloo and her head hiding inside it, she looked like the headless cavy of sleepy hollow! He thought it was the funniest thing.

*sigh* that's the cavy charm for you!

I wasn't going to give out candy this year, but I relented and picked up 2 bags on my way home from work. Good thing, I think I got more trick-or-treaters than previous years combined. The spirits must be appeased, or they will get restless. I have to say, I find older kids with no costumes really annoying. But when they come in large groups, I give them candy anyway. No really interesting costumes, and I am disturbed how slutty little girls' costumes have gotten. I mean low cut, two-piece, short and sheer devil or witchy costumes on 5-10 year old girl children. eeew. The weather is warm, a nice breeze, the sounds of frogs and crickets. Happy Halloween all!

I'm at the soon-to-be-old apartment. No piggies. I stayed with them (and my fiance) last night. I miss being greeted upon coming home, not to mention the snuggles and nosey-licks. (by either. :P ) They have worked their piggie mojo on my honey and he, too sits amused and transfixed by their antics. I maintain that pets are God's way of making us not take life to seriously, and of teaching close to unconditional love. (as long as they are fed treats)

The piggies are not here. :( I have moved them over to my future husband's so I can work with some serious cleaners and chemicals oveer here. Lucy got downsized- I had a new smaller cage for her, and good thing, too, her old cage cracked in the car on the way over! She seemed mellow and a little confused but otherwise happy and cavy-like in her new digs. They have already learned the sounds of my honey's fridge and other cooking noises. For the moment they are in the kitchen. It's funny, everytime someone sits down to eat, they come out and sit at attention by their food dishes, as if to join in. They don't seem to do it if you just walk through. Hopefully moving and packing will go quickly now that the new place is painted and the old one has been fumigated, and I won't be apart from them for too much longer. I've already decided I am leaving a lot of this furniture behind, which should make it somewhat easier.

Miss Lucy the guinea pig (featured in several of my videos) is going to be downsized this weekend. I got a free cage from someone at work. This way, I should be able to fit both piggies on one trunk at the new apartment. I feel bad, she's bigger than the other piggies, but on the other hand, my honey's apartment will have room in the kitchen or ahll, if we block one of the off, for "floor time", which is something I have't been able to do around here, what with all the bug baits. I hope she doesn't mind it, I'll have to rememebr to buy her extra treats.

Not a lot I've really wanted to post about. Neighbors have awakened me every morning this week, I even complained and they told me they "must make meat!" Right. In this country, you can actually buy it already dead. And once it's dead, you can stop whacking it loudly. My mom's neighbors are having to put their family dog down tomorrow. He's been our neighbor for almost 15 years. A little quirky, but a good dog. I actually stopped by to pet him tonight on my way home from work. Poor honey, he's skinny and frail and affectionate, no idea what awaits him. Rest in peace, Buddy, hopefully there will be plenty of squirrells to bark at in the next world. *sigh*

Never try to steal my girlfriend's apples!!! It was a grey day, and chilly, too. Even the sunflowers were in mourning.

Yesterday my sweetie and surfsidhe and I went apple picking. We got our favorite types- Jonathan, Winesap and Crispin apples. I like the tart ones better than the sweet. As per tradition we went to our favorite market and bought bags of the best cider donuts and applesauce cake in the world, and of course, half gallons of fresh squeezed cider. (It tasted great warmed with a few cloves in it!)
The sky is grey and chilly, it's only fall and it feels like winter could be on its way any day now.

Mother nature could not seem to make up her mind today- rainy, sunny, cloudy, hot cold- we had it all. It's now a damp evening. Perfect weather to huggle a guinea pig. It's not quite the same thing as huggling my future husband, but it's certainly the next best thing. (He doesn't leave me covered in his hair and he usually does not lick my nose.)

The piggies are displeased with this evening's offerings. They much prefer leafy greens to apples, but that's what's in the house. It's also what I ate for dinner- cut up apples and brie- so darned if they get better food than the people do around here. Target had a "price cut" on their dry food but they were out. They apparently only give rain checks on "sales" not on "price cuts"... ohhhh kayyyyyy. Right. I'll drop by tomorrow after work and see if the pet food isle has been restocked.

This morning I went out to breakfast with the sweetie, hit the post office, mailed some important papers and a Halloween costume to my nephew, picked up prescriptions at the pharmacy (allergy season!), and did quite a bit of shopping. I'm going to be moving next month, and need to reorganize and put things into storage. I also made another trip to the thrift shop to donate some sweaters that either I have not worn, or have gotten shabby over the years. After a short break to check my email and update my blogs, I hope to conquor the great dirty laundry monster!

I went pumpkin picking today. Where I am the pumpkin crop was poor (there was a fungus among su!) so they imported from a nearby state. I just love bringing fresh pumpkins home in the fall, but hate having to wait to carve them!

Why are short weeks longer than long weeks? It's like you have to fit 5 days worth of aggrivation into only 4.
I can't wait until the weekend. I have a mountain of laundry to do, and I really need to start packing up for next months' big move.

But all that can wait.
My honey and I are going to go out for a classy dinner tonight. :)

..you give in and put the heat on for the first time! It's a chilly damp night, and I just had to put the heat on. The winter is slowly creeping towards us. The trees here are starting to turn, some even losing leaves already. There are pumpkins outside every garden shop and supermarket! (Check out my new forum, The Pumpkin Patch for all things good and pumpkin-y!) [img src="http://ima.dada.net/image/medium/92422.jpg" alt="cbrown_halloween_big"]

The piggies have been all restless and squeaky this weekend. Even after being showered with treats and head-pats.
I do not know what gives.
It's strange and ominious.

It's Fall and it feels like it.
I've been sleeping in pajamma pants and wakign up all bundled up in my blankets.
It's the nice in-between where you don't yet need the heat on, but have finished (hopefully) with the a/c.

I did about a month's worth of laundry today, which was tiring.
Even more so because none of it dried completely (again!) and I had to put all the shirts and towels and things on hangers. I hate that.

This is Lucylucylucy and Beckett having a chat. There is a reason I keep them in separate cages! EDIT: I cut and pasted the html from the page, but it doesn't seem to show. Try over at my profile, then click on the middle video. I think the translation is, "Hey there, you're cute, papi, come over here, I love you long time!"

My niece lost one of her two sweet little guinea pigs. Apparently, the other one was quite distraught. Poor dear. I uploaded a phot of the critters

Silent all summer,
Nightime treat to warm my heart
my moonflowers bloom

So the house-hunt is downgraded to the apartment hunt, and even that is truly stressful. This is why I am still living someplace I don't like, moving and leasing are hell. *sigh* I have 1, possibly 2 appointments to see apartments tomorrow, both of which seem very promising. 1 landlady and I got into a lovely chat about how guineapigs make good pets, but rabbits can be a real nusiance, and cats get the place all dander-y. I'm tired, I've had it, and I am fighting off my boyfriend's cold. Sounds like a job for a furry friend. I hope the piggies are feeling snuggly tonight.

Weather has been nice and cool. Happy Autumn!
Bigelow has a new tea- "pumpkin spice". I hope it is tasty.
The boyfriend has had pumpkin pie on the brain,
we may need to make a trip to our favorite gourmet
farm market to pick one up.
I was actually cooking today, which I have not done in awhile.
Full, all-out 3-burner-and-oven cooking, the best kind.
I've really missed that.

We're looking at apartments, hoping to get a nice 2 bedroom for less than we ar eboth shelling out for our two one-bedrooms. wish us luck!

We went out for a sailboat race today.
There was no wind whatsoever.
We were postponed for 3 hours, then ran 2 races.
At least I got some sun and a good workout. :)
My faincee' stayed over last night and hung out around my apt during the day.
He said when he was on the computer the guinea pigs were all "kidney-shaped"-
stretched out and laying on their sides all contented.
(No doubt probably full an spoiled from teh treats he tends to feed them!)

Fiancee made me dinner (what better way to end a day of sailing?!) and I am so full *I* could stretch out and nap all kidney-bean shaped.
Perhaps I will.

I had a sinus thing all night and most of the morning, it's allergy season out here and it's been raining quite a bit.

The sun came out and we had a lovely day. My brother-in-law came down and went out to dinner with my fiancee and I.
We had fish and chips at a local pub.
It was nic eenough to eat out on the patio but it was a bit chilly on the way home.

Tomorrow is another regatta, hopefully the weather will be as good. :)

It was grey and rainy all day, and I missed my fiancee'.
I invited him over for dinner and went to see what was on sale at the local produce market.
Dinner was cubanel peppers, onions, red bell peppers and assorted squash sautee'd with olive oil, tarragon, basil, sage, pepper and sea salt over pasta with fresh parmesan cheese.

Yum. I was happy I invited the boy over, It was tasty, healthy
and quick, and I would not have bothered for just me.

Lucy was being snobby, but Little Che (Beckett) enjoyed the cubanel peppers of revolotion. :P

Went sailing tonight, small crew, good wind, took third place. :) Picked up some food for the piggies on the way home. Got them some treats and decided I deserved some as well. I have a passion for Newman's own Genger N Creme cookies. Tried to invite a friend to join, but the feature appeared to not be working.

Greetings! At a friend's invitation I have started a blog here. I am a single, child-free woman and "mother" to two happy, chubby little guinea pigs, Lucy and Beckett. Lucy is a bit of a playboy, and Beckett aspires to take over the world, once he gets out of his cage, that is. :)