Flopsy pig pig died yesterday afternoon. It was very sad, but good for the kids to experience a small taste of grief, even if only for a beloved pet.
Her final resting place was a Grape Nuts box cut to size. A. let the kids pick where to put her grave, so they chose a spot next to the wisteria bush. S. put a little pot of grass on the spot and we went to Happy Teriyaki for dinner so we could have some Happy in the day.
At the kids' request, we stopped by Petco on the way home.
We now have a little black and white piggie that the kids have dubbed Squirt. She's bonding with Julie extremely well. When we introduced the two, Squirt ran up to the older Julie and stuck her nose under Julie's chin. Julie is being a surrogate mother to her. Squirt is already showing more personality, relaxing, and eating what Julie eats. (Until they were introduced, Squirt just hung out in the pigloo and wouldn't eat--at least that we could observe.) The transformation in Squirt was amazing to watch. These little creatures are very social.
Some remaining tears were shed over Flopsy today, but they're moving on.
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
4 months ago
4 comments:
Sorry to read about Flopsy's demise.
Vis-a-vis your previous post about wanting to be a tender hearted mother (rather than give in to the urge to laugh), here's a dead guinea pig story to put your inappropriate giggling into the category of 'Actually Not that Bad a Response in Comparison'.
I had a guinea pig named Gilbert (named after Anne of Green Gables' true love...ahem) who looked very much like your Flopsy.
One Spring Gilbert curled up his tiny toes and stepped off this mortal coil. I was about 12 at the time. I was rather distraught, it was the first pet I'd ever lost. At the sombre burial weeping I turned to my loving father and said, "Dad, is he really dead?" At which point my father unceremoniously banged Gilbert's poor stiff dead body on the side of the hutch and said, "Yes, definately dead."
:)
@sarah in england... I could see you situation play out in my head like a Monty Python skit... I can jsut imagine your dad as John Cleese.
You may not want to ever see a travel food show where they go to Ecuador. Guinea pigs are food there and they have restaurants where you pick them out of a cage as you would a lobster.
I am laughing so hard my sides hurt. Honestly, you two... Sarah, did you ever forgive your dad?! And Richard - have they actually broadcast that on the Food Network? I will go looking for it. I knew they were considered food in South America. Like dogs and horses in other parts of the globe. ;)
Yes, my Dad, the great comforter :) I seem to remember I hit him on the arm and said to my mother, "Muuuuum!" and I think she chastised him and told him to be more sensitive or something :) I've forgiven him, lol. In a way it helped because I knew Gilbert really was dead and wouldn't have nightmares that we'd accidentally buried him alive.
It's funny how we (particularly us Westerners) distinguish between what is pet and what is food. Like Squidge was distraught to hear that in China in some areas they eat cat and they breed them in cages rather like chickens. Hindus, I hear, are apparently shocked by the beef we eat, they see cows as mothers (would they eat a bull though?). Jews and Muslims wouldn't touch the piggies.
The french, Italians, etc, eat snails...I could never eat snails.
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