pigs

I've been completely uninspired since Christmas. Nothing funny is happening around here, unless you want to count Bush's impending speech tonight.


Oh, wait a minute. That's right. We now have one of these:



We recently acquired a female guinea pig from a friend of E's. (I think I'll give up the initial, and call him Boo.) Its name is Cow. I'm not real big on keeping rodents as pets, but the thing's previous owner assured me it's docile, it doesn't do anything, it has few requirements, short of demanding something like a square acre to waddle around on...ok, so it doesn't do anything, it's stupid...what's the point? Where's the meaningful interaction? Ooooh, I get to HOLD it? Great. I can hold one of the boys' stuffed animals and feel the same amount of love.

But Boo wanted it, his friend wanted to get rid of it because he had too many, so we took it on.

A month and a half later, Boo's calling me downstairs.

"Mom! Look! Look!"

"WTF is it?!" I holler. (Not really.)

"Look! Cow caught a mouse!"

Ok, so we get the occasional mouse in our house, and usually Spooky the cat immediately swoops down on it, sadistically toys with it and bats it around, knocking it unconscious and finally rips its head off its torso. Good kitty!

But for a split second, we thought, hey, COW has stepped up to the plate: stealthily escaped her cage, bravely hunted down and captured the mouse and somehow climbed back up the table into her cage and is feasting heartily on her prey.

But then we realize: she's licking her moist, bleeding, still-being-born offspring. Ugh. Needless to say, we had no idea she was pregnant.

Actually, it's kinda cool seeing an animal give birth in your house (unless, of course, you live in Florida, as I had, and witnessed a huge mother cockroach/palmetto bug giving birth in your new apartment's kitchen cabinet.)

So now, Cow has a playmate. The little one, who is yet unnamed, follows her around and squeaks, and Cow pays her no mind. She's not particularly nurturing.

I'm told that guinea pig incest is genetically impossible. Still, I'll have to keep my eye on these two.