Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

This is a post far too long in the making, but it's time I get it up here for you to see. As longtime readers of the blog will know, we here at the ranch are raising guinea pigs. It's a small operation, and with only little girl piggies it's destined to stay small. We started out last year with Lillie and Duchess. Then this summer, in a moment of tremendous weakness, I allowed Anna to get a third guinea pig named Mia (or Mina, as Alyssa calls her). All was fine in piggy land until around Halloween, when Duchess got sick. Her little lymph glands grew to the size of large marbles, and after a course of antibiotics they still weren't reduced. About this same time, Lillie's glands started to swell as well. So the vet lanced Duchess' glands and gave us a different antibiotic - enough for both Duchess and Lillie. The new antibiotic worked on the infection, but it also robbed the piggies of their appetites. Neither one would eat anything. Despite our best efforts to nu...

Tucker boy is at it again. He needs an operation to curb his social life. The trouble with Tucker is that he's not completely domesticated. He comes and goes at will, and really doesn't have much of a schedule. Sometimes he's around in the mornings, sometimes he's not. Sometimes we don't see him for days at a time. This means he's a hard kitty to make appointments for. So the recent strategy is this: Get a big box, check the garage every morning, and if Tucker's there, put him in the box. It was a good plan, and almost worked. I found a great box in the attic. It's been there for a few years, but it was one of the few that hasn't been broken down. I brought it into the garage. This morning, there was rain. And thunder and lightening. The perfect kind of day for a kitty to come inside. Which he did. Now, Tucker likes to be petted. So all it took was a little bit of tuna and a few minutes of gentle petting before I made my move. Tucker wasn't happy...

Tucker has a new friend. We have reason to believe it's a lady friend, although she hasn't made it especially easy for us to tell. The fact that he doesn't try to kill her is one good indication. She showed up about a month ago, and now we see her more than Tucker. I'm afraid she's adopted us, although she won't let anyone near her. I think she says her name is Jiji. Unfortunately, the arrival of a little girl cat in our garage tends to complicate the "unofficial pet" situation somewhat. I fear the complications will probably increase in the near future. (Sigh)