[Gpdd] ANNOUNCE Sad news and new beginnings

[Penny Charlesworth]

I never meant to have a trio of boars. I have never done it and always try
to dissuade people from going down this route as it usually ends in
disaster, although our M and Jocelyn have had successful trios.

I don't write Rainbow Bridges for my Piggyfriends any more as it is as
upsetting to write as it is to post and happens all too often as I have a
herd of the little poppets. But hereby hangs a tale ( or not as we are
talking guinea pigs here ).

Earlier in the year my elder statespig, Gandalf, had some gastric trouble
but he seemed to get over it, regained the lost weight and was eating up
really well. Then, one morning I came down to find that he had passed away
in the night. It was such a shock as I was going to make a blog post about
his sixth birthday next week. He could have been older as he came to me as
an adult and I only have the word of his previous owner.

When he lost his best friend, Fuzzypeg, on the vet's operating table,
Gandalf was very low but almost immediately I was asked if I could take in
a little runt by a lady who worked with my son at the rescue centre. This
tiny runt, collected in a snowstorm, cheered up Gandalf no end and they
became inseparable friends. Tyrion ( the ex runt ) has grown to be a
beautiful and huge Peruvian and took the loss of Gandalf badly.

As an instant supply of piggies has been lost with my son leaving the
rescue when he emigrated, I called Lynn at Palace Piggies rescue. I knew
that she had been involved in a huge rescue of 300 plus piggies and was
sure to have a new friend for Tyrion.

So Tyrion and I went to visit Palace Piggies last Sunday. There were
piggies everywhere but Lynn took me to see one of their luxury sheds where
there were some piggies ready for adoption. One cage had four nice little
baby boars and I picked a little black and tan fuzzy one and we introduced
him to Tyrion in a playpen that she keeps for that purpose.

The tiny fuzzy sat next to Tyrion, who probably wondered what was going on.
Over coffee, we watched the piggies and they seemed happy together and that
would have been it. I was happy to bring the tiny one home with Tyrion but
then Lynn said that Tyrion did not seem interested in playing and would the
little one not be lonely? Tyrion is a very calm lap pig who does not run
around madly but then I know him best. Obviously a ploy on her part to
rehome another piggy but Lynn took me back out to the shed and there was a
little red fuzzy.

She could not have known this but I am a sucker for a red pig ( and a fuzzy
one to boot ) so I carried the little red person back indoors and we put
him in the playpen too. The tiny ones cuddled up to Tyrion and all seemed
well. " You can always bring one back if it doesn't work out", said Lynn.
As if!!

They all travelled home in the same carrier and are now living in Tyrion's
huge pen, where they have room to run around.

Tyrion treats them like a benevolent uncle, allowing them to climb over him
and snatch grass stalks from his mouth. Sometimes all three are eating the
same stalk. I put a pipe in for them to run through but Tyrion decided that
he would like to do this too and nearly got stuck so I had to buy a new Hay
Tube for them all and removed the drainpipe.

He sometimes sit bemused as these jet propelled hamster sized piggies zoom
around the pen, burbling away to themselves, seemingly without touching the
ground.

When I check up on them all at bedtime, I look for the tinies only to find
them snuggled under Tyrion's long coat. How long this companionship will
last, I do not know. No pig is interested in dominance yet but there may be
mayhem as they grow older. I have seen four week old babes fighting over a
sow in an adjoining pen and here at Piggyfriends there are sows in various
pens, including Lulu and Mimi right next door.

The babes had been named at Palace Piggies. They name them to avoid
confusion and keep meticulous records of their rescues. The black and tan
was named Ivan, which seems odd as it is the name of my husband's best
friend. The red one, they had called Magnus. I like to name my own piggies
but for the time being, I am keeping these names. My favourite band is
called Magnum. Maybe this is an omen.

I will be posting some pigtures on Undercover Piggies soon and you will be
able to see these little treasures. I don't know if their coats will grow
long and curly or stay short and fuzzy as they are now. They are too young
to guess as they are only 5 weeks old.

Lulu and Mimi had an added bonus as a result of these miniature boars
coming home. It was not until I saw all four at the same time that it
occurred to me how much Lulu and Mimi had grown so I fetched some more wire
panels from the garage, unfastened their pen and built them an extension.

So with regret at the loss of my lovely Gandalf, whom you will have seen in
many photos if you read Undercover Piggies, please welcome Magnus and Ivan.
Gandalf is also on the GPDD home page as he lit our candles for Peter
Gurney Day last year.

Here is hoping that my first boar trio in xxxx years will work. All paws
crossed.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.