WE LOST LITTLE KELLY LAST NIGHT

Dear Readers and MOD family, loved ones, and guinea pig Nation,

Early this morning Raj, Taj, mom, and I watched for hours as owlet Kelly fought for, and lost, her little life. Towards the end, before she left, after Molly had lifted her up a few times and carried her around for a bit, she tweeted weakly to Molly who looked down at her, talked back in their special owl language, Kelly issued a few more barely audible "good bye, I love you" tweets, and then she was gone.

We are all crying because we also recently lost our best friends, Panda Pig, who raised me, slept with me, loved me, kept me warm through the winter, and also Bear, the Beaver Pig, rescued dying on Christmas Eve who actually got well and healthy for a few more months, gave us so much love, then passed only 3 days after PandaPig last April.

So, yes, guinea pigs do grieve. We can actually die of grief, as many animals can, and mom (having not slept and now kind of in a crying coma) will be resting today as she actually became acutely ill yesterday morning, so we sweet piggies are taking good care of her now. Our friend, Eric, is writing a book called "The Ghost Plane" and we are now calling mom "The Ghost Brain!"

We joke and kid a lot here, but today we choose to be silent and celebrate Kelly's short, beautiful life while remembering our
own precious loved ones who passed so recently. Because I bonded so closely with PandaPig, I bite everyone who is not him, which is
all the other guinea pigs, so I cannot runabout and play with them or cuddle with them and - it's funny - last night while mom cleaned my cage and I was on Runabout (before Kelly died) I actually felt very, very lonely for someone to play with, chase, and cuddle...mom noticed. She considered giving me a chance in the future with the Mahals when we have the whole apartment to runabout in, not just our pen, then decided against it because she simply cannot protect them and her hand surgeon does NOT
want to see her again with one of my "tattoos" bleeding and infected...so I am sadder and lonelier. NOTE: i never bit mom on purpose, she simply put her hand into my choppers as I was airborne enroute to take a chomp off Bear the gentle Beaver Pig and my teeth became accidentally embedded into mom's hand (still in the air, me hanging) so i's not a people biter, just that nobody is Panda and so I bite them. I don't mean to be that way, but we rescues are a peculiarly-behaving bunch, and perhaps I will settle down and learn to "play nice" because the Mahals seem to have fun when they do.

Today we honor the short, sweet life of Kelly, and celebrate the lives we have all been given and the love we so liberally enjoy together as a family.

Please refer to Molly's Blog and the MOD blog links to the right for more on Kelly, Molly, MOD's, and the poignant, heart-breaking beauty of nature.

love,
a gentler YumYum today

LIL ASHLEY PLAYS PEEK-A-BOO BENEATH MOLLY'S WING

Dear Readers,

We have decided that the baby owlets, who can barely hold their little bobbleheads up, resemble dinosaur birds, not owls.
We understand people calling them owlets, but that gigantic pink beak attached to that pink head attached to a gumby-
like body is NOT a bird! Cute, ok, just NOT a BIRD!

Nonetheless, here is our friend Carmy's shot of Ashley poking out from beneath mom Molly's protective wing, as if to say:
"It is I. It is ME. I AM ASHLEY! Here I am!" before she face-plants, ker-THUNK back into the gag-shag carpet of Molly's
Owl Box!

Crazy little dinosaur!

Love,
YumYum
P.S. the pink, winged head lying in front of Molly is Ashley's sister, see, NOT a bird!

I FEEL SWIRLY, OH-SO-SWIRLY...

BROTHERLY LOVE: RAJ AND TAJ MAHAL MAKE NICEY NICE

MOLLY LOVINGLY FEEDING OWLETS

For more great pics of Molly's new little bobbleheads, please click the MOD BLOG link on the right...the OWLBOX is full
of new surprises sure to delight and inspire!

love,
YumYum

HIDE AND SEEK! OR "SECRET AGENT" GAME

TUG O' WAR...AGAIN?!

IT'S MINE! NO, IT'S MINE!

Dear Readers,

If you don't know what this is by now I cannot help you. The darn things are brothers, you'd think they would learn to share.
It's the "learn" word that's tripping them up, isn't it?

Off to Lurk at Molly's Owl Box,
Yum-Yum

MOLLY AND HATCHLING #3, BEFORE NEXT HATCH!

Hi Everybody,

We all enjoyed the live birth of Molly's fourth hatchling just a short while ago, but what nobody ever expected to see was Molly actually picking up the egg and gently helping it crack open so her owlet could emerge! Not even the Discovery Channel got
anything like THIS!

We guinea pigs were waving our tails in the air the whole time!

(of course, we don't have tails, but this story was not about us, so who cares?)

Hope you'll visit Molly's Owl Box and watch the owlets grow!

Sincerely,
YumYum, the gentle guinea pig

ONLY SILENCE...AND AWE!

WE LIKE HATS, TOO!

Dear Readers,

Mom just received a photograph from our favorite Cavy/Chinchilla MOD, code name "STupidA" of owlet wearing hat.
We have hats too, MODS, and wear them with pride! This is an authentic Peruvian alpaca hat (as we are all originally from the Andes) given to mom by a customer shopping at the alpaca store on a dare that mom would put them on us then email pics to the store owner who, soon after went out of business. (oopsie!)
But, HEY, don't blame us: am I dapper, or just too precious for words? Methinks BOTH!

When Eric Blehm's new company starts marketing MOLLY gag-shag hats we know mom will be the first to buy three, one for each of us to sport that MOD Owlet Owlbox look!

Love,
YumYum

P.S. Did we mention that mom has been invited to the Amazon to participate in a documentary film on the
healing effect of indigenous herbs on those enjoying incurable diseases? Yup! An entire month in October
and her chance at stardom at every major independent film festival in the world. She turned it down, telling
her inviter "I could never leave my guinea pigs" and the inviter implied that mom loved us more than getting
well! OF COURSE SHE DOES. And we love her right back! Sheesh, have you not learned that guinea
pig love is the best love? READ THE BLOG, PEEPS!

love,
His Sweetness with a honeyed tongue

LOOK FAMILIAR?

Dear Readers,

Mom has actually got the Mahals tame enough to dine on her lap above a pillow covered with a towel, to avoid this kind of bad behavior and groom their fur as they devour breakfast. They make me look like an angel, though, so no complaints from me!
I used to be the "outlaw" and still is, but they's worse! Hee-Hee, love them bad Mahals, although for the first time yesterday
mom and I saw them sleeping against one another inside their pigloo like the true brothers they are. It was funny but made
me miss Panda. And even Bear the Beaver Pig; we miss both of them every day.

And those owlets are growing in quantum leaps which is how Molly snached that mouse out of McGee's talons last night: with
ONE giant, terrifying (to us) quantum LEAPING CHARGE AT HIM, before throwing McGee back OUT! We watched her feed those little bobbleheads until we
felt too sad for the mouse because we, too, are small rodents and feel for the prey and if anyone lectures me on how necessary small rodents are
to keep predators alive, I will demonstrate ONE DEFIANT PIG LEAPING WITH TEETH READY TO CHOMP! the "Circle of Life" is Communist Propaganda and if you believe in it, you more stupis than mom!

Would I lunge at a believer of "The Circle of LIFE?" Just ask mom's hand! We will not the movie "The Lion King" and believe the only good circle is one full of freshly harvested, organic produce: for US!

Love,
Peaceful, gentle, YumYum