[Gpdd] ANNOUNCE New Piggyfriends are home

[Penny Charlesworth]

I went to collect the new little boys last weekend. Palace Piggies had lots
of piggies needing homes as they had been involved in a huge rescue and
many of the sows had come in pregnant.

One of my little boys was the sole survivor of his litter and he very sadly
lost his mum shortly after his birth so the Palace Piggies girls had hand
reared him. One might have expected him to be very tame after that but he
is very skittish and when I first saw him he was hiding behind his friend,
who might be his half brother or cousin. All the rescued piggies were
either pure white or black and white and were all inbred.

The hand reared one was born on my husband's birthday so when he suggested
the name Casper for the little one, it only seemed fair to let him name
him. Casper is the elder of the two by a fortnight but is smaller than his
friend. I like alliterative names for piggies who arrive in pairs so I am
calling the younger one Cosmo. I like old fashioned names and I have
several trays of cosmos waiting to be planted in my garden.

At first Cosmo hid in the little house while Casper preferred one of the
pipes but they are gradually becoming braver and are joining in with the
oinking when the food arrives. They did not seem to know that grass is for
eating but finished up every veggie that I have offered ( I am adding a new
one to their menu each day ) and have finally discovered that the grass is
edible.

I can tell them apart as Cosmo has a little grey around his nose. I wonder
if there might have been some Himalayan in his ancestry or this may be a
coincidence.

When Mieke saw their picture she said that they looked like big mice and
indeed they do. I am reminded of the sugar mice that I loved as a child. Do
sweet shops still sell these? They were made of some kind of hard fondant (
very unhealthy but delicious ) and had string tails and Casper and Cosmo
would look the part with a piece of string fastened on behind. I find that
as I am going round the pens giving out veggies I am calling them the sugar
mice instead of their given names.

You can see their pigtures on Photobucket. The first one is of them hiding
in their pipe and the second one shows them at Palace Piggies. When they
get braver, I will take individual pigtures if I can get them to sit still.

http://s720.photobucket.com/user/Piggyfriends/library/?view=recent&page=1

Regards from Penny and the Piggyfriends.