guess who's back (got adjusted)?

after 8 long months away, i have finally reunited with my miss ellis. please forgive my abrupt departure last fall, but i did it to help out a friend.  you see, major thom and his girlfriend, melinda, had recently lost their dog.  while i am not generally a proponent of the canine species, i knew that the pair needed something to cuddle as they worked through this new stage in their life.  


it was a grand life in that huge house in downtown little rock.  major thom and his band held live shows in my honor at least once a week.  i'm starting to dig their sound.  when balloo, the new dog, showed up a couple months ago, i began making preparations to return to miss ellis.

here i am on my first day back at eStem.  this was before the onslaught of students students.  

most afternoons, miss ellis allows the students to gather in a circle around the room while i roam in the center.  typically, i sniff around and visit each student, but i'm afraid that may have already come to an end or at least a hiatus.  one student, in particular, strikes fear in my tiny rodent heart. no sooner had i begun my tour around the circle than a bold girl reached out and grabbed me.  despite my squeals of terror, she proceeded to give me the most painful back adjustment known to man or beast.  needless it to say, my miss ellis swooped down and rescued me.  this was about five days ago and she has not forced me out of my cage once.  though, i might come out if she offered me those delicious yogurt snacks i love so much...

shortly after the valiant miss ellis rescued me from the amateur chiropractor

taking a bath in 5-7-5

sinking in a sink

is not what i had in mind

for this evening.

akin and gaga: the two newest ladies in my life

     i'd like to write about my new friend, mrs. akin, who is good friends with miss ellis.  i had the pleasure of being reunited with mrs. akin on tuesday when i went up to miss ellis' school.  i had previously met her when i visited estem with the henrys during the oldest child's second grade year.  school is not where a guinea pig of my social standing belongs, what with the children running willy nilly through the halls, only stopping to poke their little grubby fingers at me through the spaces in my carrying cage.  i prefer the quiet, poke-free life.  this is why you will never find me on facebook.

     that mrs. akin certainly has a way with guinea pigs.  it was as if she was expecting me, as she already had snacks prepared and a special spot for me to set up my temporary abode.  she had a water dish ready for me and had even taken the time to put a tiny umbrella in it!  oh, she held me and whispered sweet nothings into my ear all day and introduced me to her friends.   i met mr. felton, too.  he is just as much a guinea pig lover as miss ellis and mrs. akin, so i know we shall get along quite nicely on my future visits to the office.  i noticed that he and i have rather divergent tastes in music, but have found, much to my astonishment, that i quite enjoy listening to this lady gaga of his.  i suppose i shall have to get over the fact that she sings a song entitled poker face.

     at the end of the day, i was not ready to leave this peaceful oasis, especially since it gave me a 10-hour reprieve from charger the barbarian.  i have a feeling that i may be growing attached to mrs. akin, even after our brief day together.  i pray that miss ellis realizes that i have made a new friend and will allow me to accompany her to school more frequently.  after all, i would do anything for her...

i was not in g-force nor am i a member of the cast of wonder pets...

the past few days have been rough. thursday at 2:00 pm, miss ellis came home from work feeling quite ill. she promptly lay on the couch and did not move for some time. of course, i was concerned. i made it my mission to bring her back to her previous state of health, in which she spends quite a bit of her free time with me.

what miss ellis doesn't know is that i am a highly-skilled escape artist. if i simply lean against the door of my cage for a few moments, it will pop open and i am a free pig. i did so and made my way to the refrigerator, where i knew she stored some sprite. but, alas, being a guinea pig, i am much too small to open the door of this gigantic appliance myself. i decided, in an effort to save my beloved, that i must come to a truce with charger (oh, that charger!). not expecting him to comply, i was surprised to find that the meddlesome mutt was actually just as intent on restoring miss ellis' health as i was. i do think that he was more interested in being let out. but, in no time, we devised a plan that required me to climb onto his back and pry the refrigerator door open with a spatula. from there, i fashioned a sort of grappling hook from some yarn and a paperclip so as to reach the shelf on which the sprite was located. once i had tied the yarn around the can, i pushed it as close to the edge of the shelf as i could, then slowly lowered it onto charger's back before i began my descent. as quietly as possible, charger and i ferried miss ellis' sprite to her side and popped the tab. she began to stir, so i hastily made my way to my cage and signaled for charger to close the door. when she was fully awake, i could see that miss ellis was delighted to find a cool, refreshing sprite within her reach. too bad she thought it was from her sister, the other miss ellis. she got rewarded with a spa pedicure when miss ellis recovered, while the guinea pig got nothing...

wordless wednesday

diatribe against dog

     let's talk about the dog.  his name is charger and, quite frankly, he bugs me.

     i know he lived here for at least a year before i moved in, but miss ellis has known me for twice as long as she's known him.  PLUS, i don't drool all over the carpet or splash water on the floor when i'm refreshing myself.  i consider myself to be polite, well-read (we all know dogs just chew on books), and impeccably dressed.  clearly, i am the superior pet.

    but miss ellis doesn't see it that way.  the moment she enters the door each night, that beast is jumping up and down, just begging for her attention.  and she gives it to him.  just gets right down on his level and lets him kiss all over her face.  why would she even let a creature that spends so much time licking his nether regions get near her face!?!  that is beyond me.

     that dog is a camera hog.  the two pictures i've had taken since i moved have included him.  here's one of him invading my space the day i got here.  normally i don't mind visitors, but the moment one tries to sniff MY nether regions, i deem him an unworthy acquaintance.  good luck convincing me you're not so bad after all, buddy.

      this next picture is one i cropped charger out of.  in the original, you can see his long snout poking its way into the shot.  honestly.  don't i look just fabulous, though?  see how nice i keep my coat?  i bet you've never seen one quite as lustrous as this one.  but, i dogress...er, digress...

     anyway, i know that miss ellis loves me, but that dog is still in my way.  if you have any suggestions as to how i can secure the position of #1 in her heart (and possibly rid the world of that meddling dachshund), i'd really like to hear them.  you can tell me via comments or slide a little note into my cage.  it's the big one on the hearth.  you can't miss it.

allow me to introduce myself

     my name is mr. nibbles, but they call me mr. nibbs. i'm not your average guinea pig. in fact, i've done more in my 3 years than most people do in their entire lives.
     when i came to my first home away from the pet store, i was greeted by the henry family. soon afterward, they left me to go on vacation to chicago. i was not alone, but left in the care of a lovely girl named miss ellis. she's a 3rd grade teacher and she treated me very well. it was during that summer that my feelings for miss ellis blossomed from mere appreciation to true love. i was smitten.
     i knew that i only had 10 days with her before my family came home, so i had better make the most of it. we went all over the place during those days. here are some pictures that miss ellis snapped of my escapades.

     miss ellis thought i needed to remember my first pigloo in case i ever moved to a new house. she said something about upgrading to a two-story eventually.

     even though it was summertime, we decided to hop aboard a school bus and take a tour of little rock. apparently they don't mind if a guinea pig borrows a bus, so long as he holds a valid arkansas license and has proof of insurance.

     we drove out of town a little ways to a farm so that i could stock up on timothy grass, which is one of my favorite snacks. we loaded it onto the bus, but since there weren't windows or a roof, my beloved treat was gone with the wind.
     when the 10 days were up, i was heartbroken. i asked miss ellis to kiss me goodbye and i made sure we had a picture of the event for me to cherish always.

     for a while, i stayed with the henrys, but was soon forgotten when lucy, their new dog, moved in. i decided a change in scenery would be good for me, so i went to live with the henrys' cousin, meghan until she moved to nashville. apparently, there was no room for a little guy like me. well, i guess me, along with all my accouterments, might take up a little more space than i thought. i wasn't sure where i was going from meghan's. i wasn't even sure if they knew, but i was delighted to find that the henrys had made arrangements for me to live with miss ellis. i couldn't be happier, even with charger constantly sniffing me in inappropriate places and luna putting on airs. i guess she was right about that two-story...