just another morning here

Well, the guinea pigs are sorted. I spent some of Monday morning considering how to build a new hutch and run, then deciding that it was probably better to buy one, as I’m fairly rubbish at making stuff – it would probably have ended up looking (and being) awful, not to mention that I’d be likely to spend practically as much on materials as on a ready made one anyway!

So instead I drove round about 5 local pet shops looking for something suitable and eventually found an ex-display double hutch in one of them, so that was a result, as it wasn’t too expensive. Also picked up a nice big run (like this but mine was cheaper!) which reminds me of a babydan playpen, it’s octagonal but like the playpens you can use the sides in any combination you like. I’ve split it down the middle with some other mesh panels, so they now have a huge amount of space each, but can still see each other.

Yesterday they both seemed really happy and were jumping around all over the place – mind you if Caspian gets too close to Reepicheep’s side, Reep does start rumbling at him immediately. I wonder if he’ll grow out of it … just couldn’t bear to see any more injuries on the way. Caspian’s back is healing nicely but it’s a scar at least a centimetre long (which is quite a lot on a small guinea pig really!), and until Reep has settled down it’s not worth them being together.

Our other pet trauma was with Gizmo the hamster, who seemed to have nasty crusty spots growing on all his soft tissues (ears, nose, bottom of feet, genitals – ew!), so we took him to the vet on Monday. Anna was really worried that he’d have to be put down so spent much of Monday morning faffing around taking photos of him just in case. Found out that he has hamster mites which is treatable, he had one injection then and there’s another in a week or so. Had to scrub his entire cage etc. really carefully too. Gizmo has now become our most expensive hamster ever

Haven’t managed to achieve much else other than that! The girls have been back at school after half term, so Joe’s been missing them … he would swear blind that he doesn’t miss them but his behaviour tells me that he does They’re both happy to be back, really enjoying their schooldays. Sometimes it really makes us wonder whether Josiah would be better off back at school as well, but there we are, an ongoing debate in this household!

We’ve had Robyn with us over the past couple of days, so had a trip to Crealy yesterday, did the Sainsbury’s shopping, and that’s about it. Music stuff ongoing as usual, and Joe spent a while yesterday doing mazes/puzzles and music theory workbooks, but that’s about as educational as we’ve got I have spent too much time nit-combing this week already (and have lost my best nit-comb, aargh). Last night was Miscarriage Support Group and then we watched a film when I got home. For the second time in a row I managed to stay awake all the way through!

Steve’s working on a little project of his own, mission Garage Clearout. Joe’s been helping him a bit, too. It’s going relatively well at the moment, especially since he lined up our old fireplace surround and other stuff in the drive ready to take to the tip, and our neighbour looked over the fence and said ‘I’ll have that!’. She took the fire too, and some decorative patio slabs that we’d taken up – ie most of the heavy annoying stuff! Always happier to see things go to a good home than to the tip, so that’s good. I had tried to freecycle it all last year with no luck!

Doesn’t look like he’d be any trouble, does he?! And actually he’s not, it’s the other one whose behaviour has been less than exemplary!

The day after we got home from Windsor, it became apparent that the guinea pigs were fighting more then ever. They’ve always been a little bit prone to the odd rumble and chase around the cage (they’re two boys), but this had obviously escalated, as Caspian has a relatively big wound on his shoulder, which we can only assume was inflicted by Reepicheep. They are at what is apparently puberty age, and from what I’ve read it seems that this is a time for make or break wrt boars’ relationships. Reep is nearly always the one trying to hump Caspian, and I was getting stressed out watching them constantly circling one another and Reep chasing Caspian around, so I dread to think how stressed Caspian was!

So anyway, after extensive reading and over-worrying on my part, Steve divided the cage today by fixing a couple of planks of wood all the way down the hutch and run. Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief – well, Caspian and I did, anyway! I am marginally concerned that they don’t have enough space now, but at least they are in their *own* space, and there is no chance of either of them attacking the other. The divide is just high enough for them to peek over the top, which they have been doing, so hopefully they’ll still have some sort of companionship from one another despite the separation. I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to put them back together, but only time will tell, we’ll see how they go. They seem a lot more peaceful though so I think we have done the right thing.

Having divided the cage I had to get a new water bottle/food bowl so that they each had one, so ended up at Pets@Home today. While I was there I also made an appointment for the hamster to go to the vet tomorrow, as he seems to have some sort of fungal infection which is spreading rather than clearing up. In the process managed to cry about someone else’s dog being put down – I was waiting in the queue for the receptionist, saw them go in with a dog and come out with only a lead, looking very sad … and the emotion of the moment just got to me (think I must be hormonal). All in all it hasn’t been a great pet weekend around here Digger the fish is ok, thank goodness!

Spent what was left of the day looking at folding campers. That is a whole other story though, so I will save it for another time

Fine names for guinea pigs, yes?

Best not to ask just why and how we have managed to end up with guinea pigs in addition to a hamster and a fish. Anna says I am working up in pet sizes and that one day I’ll manage to convince Steve to have another baby! (I think not.)

Not much else going on here other than the excitement of the guinea pigs. A couple of music lessons and a bit of music practice, but other than that we’re still on holiday so have been doing nice things like baking, seeing friends, etc. Although the other day Anna did get so bored that she picked up a spelling workbook and started doing it! She is the world’s worst person at finding herself something to do

The other two are very happy bimbling about together, lots of games of Scrabble (great for spelling practice and maths too!) and Mindbender going on, and drawing, and other bits and bobs.

Last night Joe’s violin teacher measured him up with some bigger sized violins and pronounced him ready for a 1/4 size so he’s excited about having a new violin. I’m jolly glad that from the 1/10 we were able to skip the 1/8 size and go straight to the 1/4, as it will last for a good 2 – 3 years and therefore make it worthwhile buying one.

Today we had one of Anna’s friends with us, and took her into town to do a drop-in craft workshop at the museum. We had to wait a while so spent the time doing one of the museum quizzes in the Egyptian Mummy section, so that was interesting. Back down to the activity room – Abbie’s choice of the workshops on offer this week was felting, and all three girls came away with great felted pictures. Joe opted out and sat doing jigsaws in the museum instead.

Followed that with sausage rolls from the bakery eaten on the Cathedral Green. I love our Cathedral Green, it is always packed out with people sitting around on a beautiful day like today, and such an eclectic mix of people – from those sitting outside the cafe of the poshest hotel in town, students, business-people on their lunch hours, mums and dads with buggies and small children, to the Big Issue sellers and today some drunk person singing very loudly entertaining (or not!) the rest of us. And there is something about the cathedral being right in the middle, accessible to everyone … I dunno, I just like it! You can almost always meet someone you know there as well. And for some reason the children love it too. Just another part of my ongoing love affair with this city …