It's been a week....

How much can happen in a week?

Well, if you are me. A TON....

School - ok we will go there first...
A) I managed to pass my midterm in the annoying sophomore level English class with Flying Colors. I even impressed the teacher with one of my essay question answers. NO way, she hates my writing. I then proceeded to redo the first paper and got 1 more point. Ok, I felt that was a little low, but I may sneak out of there with an 93 percent or something... Thank goodness for quizzes. I blaze on quizzes.....
B) Grad class, hmmm I have reading to do and a major project due in a couple weeks. Don't talk to me about it.


Tom -
Work is going well. He is at a slow time and we are enjoying that. Come fall I will probably never see him. He met the guy who he'll be working with at Chrysler (JNAP) and he said, "You realize that I will be yelling at you a lot, it won't be personal." Tom's reply, "Yeah, I know that, just part of this job."
Hurray, the guy he will be working with is up front. Can ask for more, but a good place to start.

Guinea Pigs-
The good news. The girls weigh a ton, they are getting huge. Tom keeps saying, she must be pregnant, Nope, just a big GIRL. Laverne that is.... Over 800 grams. Gained 200 since we got her.
The Okay news - which went from bad to Okay today..... Winslow is still sick it seems. He has been on Antibiotics for almost 3 weeks now. He takes the medicine without complaint -this is a god send, but he isn't gaining any weight.
Today, I moved him from the travel cage back over by my computer area. The cage is smaller, but I think he prefers it over here, up off the floor. He has been eating ALL DAY. It is almost noon and he is usually asleep by now. Not today, he has been at the hay all morning, eating his pellets and sucking on the water bottle. I need to refill his hay bin already. That makes me feel SOOOO much better. I was really worried about him yesterday.
I should weigh him now that he is full of food. LOL, hmm I guess that would be cheating...

Possibilities -
I don't want to jinx it. Lets just say that going to NPR for my volunteer training was the BEST thing that has happened to me all YEAR... The other thing that fellow Spartans will love, The new Interim Director of Michigan Radio has a Radio/TV (prob Telecom) degree from STATE. He was asking me about Impact Radio and the Wkar TV station. Unfortunately I did more theater stuff, but He is WAY cool. His words, "I keep telling them around here that it takes a Spartan to clean things up." I almost fell on the floor. Hope to have more news in the future.

I am king of the Piggies, you will bow to me... Winslow the WhisperPig. We found a website that will print one t-shirt free, trying to get a good shot for it. This one is pretty good. 

Well, a little free wheeling time is always good for the sole...... 

Not to be out done by the girls. Winlsow decides that he must finish the drink also.. 

We are the cutest things you have ever seen. 

This is the one drink.... I just want that little bit at the bottom... 

Really officer, I can make it home. I only had one.... 

This is a much better picture of Shirley, you can see her ear tails and the fuzzy hair sticking out in the back. 

Hi, I'm Shirley, I have lots of fuzzy hair sticking out all over the place. Quiet and shy... 

Name Change.

Some people have been bugging me about changing the name of my blog. It is not Our first year of marriage anymore. I can totally understand that.
But, many people have us listed as Our first year, and I didn't want to lose that.
So, there is my compromise. Our First Year w/Piggies.
Which is a totally truthful statement. If you can think of something better, let me know.

NPR and Pigs

Some of you may know that NPR is a staple in our Radio Listening Lives.
Tom and I have been listening for a few years now and we mostly listen to the Michigan Radio version that comes out of Ann Arbor.
unfortunately it is affiliated with UoM, but they also cover the Lansing area, soo what can you do.

Starting next Friday, it is that time of year again... Yes, pledge time.
Of course all of the shows will be messed up and they will bombard you with asking for money. Well, if you happen to call on Tuesday morning the 4th or Friday Afternoon the 7th, you might actually talk to me. Considering my job situation, we can not Give money. So, I am going to give my time to answering the phones.
Friday the 7th will be their last day of asking for money, so don't disappoint me. I may have to call and bug people. LOL My training will be on Tuesday night the 28th for a hour. I think I know how to answer the phone and the computer software will probably be way easy to use...
Hopefully we are using computers to put the pledges in, I can not imagine doing this on paper. Eeeew

Let see what else. I made a extra cage today for piggies. I can not put Winslow in the Pool to clean his cage, So I gathered up the extra pieces and managed to make a 2 x 3 C&C cage. Shown here....

Of course, while getting pictures of that, I tried to get a good picture of Winslow. That shiny white face certainly makes it a little difficult at times.
He is doing ok. He has been on the new medication for a week now. I haven't seen much of a difference in the sneezing, but he is not losing anymore weight. That is a good thing. I am trying whatever I can to get him to put some more weight back on.
I mostly made the new cage to give him a little more space to run, and if we have to take them anywhere. Winslow will not be able to stay in that cage over night, but the girls can, so If we have to go anywhere and someone needs to watch piggies, I now have the back up plan. Whew.

I read about someone else having a horrible pet sitter, and it made me think about what I'm going to need to do...

Ann Arbor Orchid Show today. Naarah, Rob, Paul and I went and took pictures. Paul spent a bunch of money. Naarah got one orchid. Then we went to the bird show to get stuff for Joel to take Radar home. The stumpy lovebird, very friendly and extremly cute. Naarah has pictures on her diviantart website.. 

"I WANT OUT", ah yes, Laverne did not like the idea of being seperated from the others. She was just a bit unhappy. But as Winslow is ill, we had to seperate him from the girls. He now lives in the little cage. The girls are on medication to keep them from getting any more sick. I caught Shirley sneezing. They are much harder to medicate than Winslow. 

The price of pets...

Is totally worth it.
Ok, I know people who spends thousands of dollars on their animals, so I have nothing to complain about myself..
I spent Monday morning at the vets. Yes, the veterinarian.
Winslow was not getting better, and he looked really worn out. So, I took him and good thing. He has lost weight. When you are talking about an animal that doesn't even weight a whole pound, losing weight is a bad thing.
He stills sneezes and we decided to go with Baytril. Yes, the stuff they don't give to horses until they are 3. Cartilage issues- Well, Winslow is almost full grown and I'd rather have a live piggy with a little stiffness, than a dead piggy because of an upper respiratory infection.

I separated him from the girls, 1 - so he can eat without being bothered, 2 - to get some rest (they chase him a lot), and 3 - to keep the girls from getting sick. They might be sick already, but they are more likely to get over it. We think Winslow was sick from the time we brought him home.
He has gained some weight back already. This is a very good thing.. The girls miss him, cause they call for him.
Once again, medicine twice a day. Going to be a month this time. With both of us, he doesn't give us any problems.


Other things....
St. Patricks day is Friday. Totally cool, we are going to Carrie's for game night and traditional Irish grub. Sounds wonderful to me.

It is Lent and with Paul around we are going with the no meat on Fridays. Ok, sort of - but a good fish fry is always fun. The fathers club puts on a good fish fry in Walled Lake at the Catholic grade school, its fun and decent food.

Mom is in Tenn. It has been decided that people who live in Michigan are good luck to people who live in Tenn. Mom was down there 2 days and Jay and Cindy's house was sold. They have been trying to sell for MONTHS... Jay got a new job in Alabama and they have been trying to move, they have an apartment in Alabama so he has somewhere to stay. So, Mom is staying an extra week to help pack up the house and get the stuff moved. So is enjoying her time with Camden and will come home with a ton of pictures. Be prepared for toddler overload.

Well, enjoy your week, stay out of the cold. I won't even think about the weather, too depressing right now. later

Think this is Laverne taking a break from torturing Winslow. Even when she laid down in exhustion, she kept up the talking and probably was making the other two crazy. I know that I was really tired of listening to her. The girls totally LOVE the new cage. They were almost more excited about the cage than Winslow for about a half hour. Since then he hasn't gotten much rest. I seperated them today to wash the blankets and give everyone a much needed break. 

Here is Winslow trying to tell Laverne to back off some. If you have seen animals hump, you don't need any more discriptions. Guinea pigs can be very aggressive. I wouldn't be surprised if this intro corresponded with Lavernes first heat or something. 

Here we are trying out the new hay loft. I put a plastic kitty pan under the hay container to help keep if from getting all over the blankets... Wonderful idea. I had to wash stuff today, and did not have to take ALL of it outside to get the hay off. Hurray for little things.... 

Ahh, two much happier piggies. Once we put them on the floor together, they were much happier. They are sooo cute.. And so much softer now. They have so much butt fur it is very funny. Ahh, the joy of clean pigs.. 

Hello, we must blowdry your belly so please stand up... Winslow certainly will not sit like this for anyone. Such good girls we have.. 

Two very wet girl piggies. Laverne didn't seem to mind the water, but Shirley was a little freaked out about the whole thing. She is certainly smaller and I think was certainly more nervous about the whole thing. Over all both behaved extrememly well. :~)