BEAR TEACHES "EXPRESSIONS OF INNOCENCE"

Bear, being an Elder-Boar, has been around the block and seen much. One thing he really noticed about us is how easy it is for us to get into trouble because we never learned important "get out of trouble" skills.

Here, Bear the ElderBoar demonstrates famous, traditional cavy Poker-Face: "What? Something important got chewed and pieces of it have been found in my cage and between my long teeth? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! JUST LOOK AT THIS FACE! IS THIS A PRECIOUS FACE, I ASK YOU, JUST HOW PRECIOUS IS THIS FACE?"

And this, dear readers, demonstrates just how indispensible an ElderBoar is to every herd: Priceless!

We've kept busy practicing our "faces" and laughing at each other. We can barely wait to be naughty and try out what we have learned, but YumYum can't stop giggling. He's gonna blow it, that one!

THANK YOU, BEAR. 

NOTE FROM EDITOR: WE REALIZE THE RED TYPE IS DIFFICULT TO READ BUT PANDA MAINTAINS IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE READ BECAUSE THEN THE RUSE WOULD NOT WORK ON NAIVE HUMAN SLAVES.
SORRY IF IT HURTS YOUR EYES.  PANDA SAYS NOT TO READ IT IF YOU HAVE NAUGHTY GUINEA PIGS!

IS IT ART YET?

Mom found this nifty drafting table at a local thrift shop and brought it home to create our first-ever "Guinea Pig Nation" art studio! We are known in elite art circles as "The 3 Creative Cavies" so she indulged us. Kind of like "The Three Tenors" but Renaissance guinea pigs, see?

Shortly thereafter, YumYum bit her (he was after Bear but her hand got in the way) and the wound not only became severely infected, but there appears to be nerve damage. She still has difficulty writing by hand and drawing is quite painful.

But, she quickly healed and the hand surgeon deemed her well enough to begin physical therapy. Yeah!

Shortly thereafter, Bear the BeaverPig bit her (he was after YumYum but her hand got in the way) and the wound was in exactly the same place as the first one. (Friends have suggested wearing oven mitts or simply keeping the two apart: DUH.)

Again, mom healed quickly and, barring any unforseen catastrophes like being caught in a meteor shower, she is finally ready to begin physical therapy and start drawing with us again! We can hardly wait to start chewing on our own masterpieces and tear them to shreds...like the monks from Tibet did when they were here. They spent an entire week creating a stunning mandala out of sand, only to erase it once it was complete to demonstrate the Impermanence of Life. That is how we justify eating mom's art: We teach her The Guinea Pig Way, Detachment, and then we give the "What, me?!" look. Works every time!

"THE GUINEA PIG WAY" OF PEACE

When mom first adopted me, I was a mess! My fur was long, matted, and smelly. I was terrified and so traumatized from whatever happened before my adoption that I spent the entire first night without even moving once in my cage. Mom gave me 24 hours to be frozen, then it was time to begin the thawing process. The first step was Trust. Was being touched going to hurt me again, or...

Mom let me show her what I needed to feel safe and loved, especially while being held. She let me teach her "The Guinea Pig Way" and I became her Sifu! Now that she has learned so much from me, the other piggies got it easy!

But, today, I remembered (as did mom) it wasn't always so. She didn't know if I would bite her. I didn't know if she would bite me. We've come a long way together, and now YumYum and Bear, the Beaver Pig, are the beneficiaries of what mom and I have learned from one another about Second Chances at Love.

It's All Good: Starting a new life with a loving family is what mom initially gave us, not realizing at the time that - in the end- we have given her the loving family she never had either! Win-Win, eh?

This is why she encouraged me to start and maintain this blog: to share to power of love squared by Guinea Pigs! It's "The Guinea Pig Way."

YUM-YUM GIVING RAVES TO EDWIN

Yum-Yum taught Edwin how to hold him in the grey flannel blanket and pet him and make him purr and pop, even while being held! Edwin, in turn, shared the "SOCHI IN 2014" pins given to him by the Russian friends he made at the Olympics
in Vancouver. YumYum asked if he could eat them, or at least chew on them. When Edwin said no, YumYum found them
unimpressive and said so. Edwin wore them anyway but gave YumYum organic baby peppers, red, yellow, and green to make up for the Sochi pins' inedibility. And that made everybody happy because Edwin gave us some, too!
WWWWWHHHHHeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaKKKKKKKKK! Sochi GO!

TO LOVE...

"To love is to be loved forever."
         -Sant Rajinder Singh

Bear finds simple joy this morning
in a warm, soft blanket and gentle
embrace. (Cold outside!)

Lap time is part of our daily
ritual. We love being petted and
held by mom and her friends.

And we love being affectionate.

HAPPY! WHEEEEeeeeeeeK!