Nancy Tart: Writing for Life

January 24, 2019

Meet Swan, Tiger, and Grizzly!

Becky and Christina’s guinea pigs had three little piglets!  (Taylor, mom, is Christina’s whom we adopted, and Becky’s TobyMac was purchased with the store employee promising he was really a she… read here for that story!)

So about every six months or so, our little piggies pop out a couple of new piglets.  First was our Sweet Potato, who went to a lovely home near ours.  The last was another trio.  The girls take finding a home for their sweet babies a big responsibility!

Becky finds a “theme” for their names.  The first one was vegetable, the second one was desserts, and this one is animals.

This is Swan.

Tiger (so named for the white stripe)

 And Grizzly (coloring played a role in this one’s name)

We don’t know the sex of these little piglets just yet because Becky thinks they are “too comfy” snuggling with Mommy and Daddy to “invade” and examine them.  Toby is such a devoted Daddy to the piglets.  He will even make a growling fussy noise if one of the girls opens the nursery roof when he’s bringing grass up to Taylor while she’s nursing the piglets. (They like fresh Spanish Needles better than even Timothy Hay!)

But when the adults come down to take a baby break, the girls get to peek at the babies!  When it is cool, as it has been lately, we don’t take them out of their protection until they are better able to regulate their body temperature.  Baby Guinea Pigs are born fully furry, eyes open, scampering about, and almost independent. (They will nurse from mom for 3 to 6 weeks, but start eating fresh grass brought up by Daddy almost immediately!)

In the cycle of our little farm the younglings get to see birth, life, and death as it plays out in seasons on a smaller scale than in our own lives.  We are honored to see births and become responsible for the small life gifted to us (yes, even the frog egg cluster they saved from the drying pool and hatched them to “save them” from drying up).  We will keep one or two of these little angels as they become permanent members of our little tribe.  I love how tenderly the girls take care of their animal responsibilities – Lucas calls them “my animal friends.”

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart