[Gpdd] [Misc] Survey

[Toffee & Reese's Mom]

Hello everyone!  Guess what?  The pictures have been delayed- AGAIN!  Eric 
decided that he wanted his dad's computer & he changed around the hard 
drives & stuff that I don't really care about, but he's still 'tweaking' the 
system & I barely get 2 minutes on the home computer any more :(  I do have 
pigtures & I will get them out ASAP!

I wanted to reply to Marion's survey questions.  About 2 wheeks after I 
moved in to Eric's apartment (Nov 2001) I started pleading for a guinea pig. 
  He worked from 3 pm until midnight & I was bored & lonely.  Furry animals 
weren't allowed in our apartment, but ...  One night (a Sunday) in December 
we were watching Dr. Dolittle (w/Eddie Murphy) & Rodney convinced Eric that 
he also wanted a guinea pig.  Yay!  He had had one when he was younger (12, 
13?) and I had had 2 hamsters.  I never liked guinea pigs because of their 
'messy' hair & they didn't do anything.  All I remembered as a kid were the 
guineas in the glass aquariums at the library.  They were all abbys & did 
nothing but lay around all day.  But for some reason, I was 20 years old & 
decided that I needed guinea pigs.  We went out that night to a 24 hour 
store & found one guinea pig.  No one would help us with him, so I decided I 
would call in sick the next morning & we could go to the pet store since 
Eric would be home during the day.  On the way home (a 3 mile trip) Eric 
said, what about the other store?  So we headed across town to another 24 
hour store & there he was!  Our little Toffee!  I had wanted a male short 
hair gper.  I was afraid to have a long haired guy because of the grooming.  
I was pretty nervous about the whole thing I guess.  So we bought a 10 
gallon aquarium & cedar chips.  Wow, did we have it wrong!  In a month we 
built him his own wood & plexi-glass & angle-iron cage.  2 levels!  
Eventually we bought Taffy & a larger aquarium.  Then Taffy died in 2003.  
She was a long haired red female.  When we moved in to our house I decided 
to make a C&C cage for Toffee & then decided he needed a friend.  So we were 
walking by the guinea pigs one day & there was Reese!  I had already named 
him, but I said, if he's a she, we can't get her- we won't have room for two 
cages.  Well, he was definitely a he!  This was all before we realized how 
many homeless pigs live in the local shelters.  There's one, 
www.twistedoaksanimalrescue.com that has several guinea pigs.  Now I know 
better, but I still love my boys just the same!  We use aspen chips for 
bedding now too.  I do most of the care for the boys, but Eric helps out, 
especially when I can't reach the front corner of Toffee's loft when I'm 
cleaning.  Our daughter is almost 18 months old & I'm hoping that she'll 
love animals as much as her father & I do!  Oh yeah, she helps out with them 
too!  If they knock bedding out of the cage, she stands on her tip-toes & 
puts it back in the cage.  She also feeds them hay!  All in all, these truly 
are great creatures.  I apologize for posting more information than was 
asked for, but I really don't think I have ever shared this on the digest...
Thanks so much to everyone out there for the anecdotes, support, knowledge & 
patience!

Anna, Toffee & Reese's Mom
P.S. Looking for a good book???  Try "The Cat Who..." books by Lilian 
Jackson Braun!  They are great quick reads about a reporter & his two 
siamese cats, Koko & Yum Yum.

Eric, Katarina, Sully & the fish

Peter Piggy picked a peck of pickled piggy poo.

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