It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon. The day is overcast, so a tad cooler. Gabby and I have just come in from a little weeding in the garden and picking some vegetables for tonight’s dinner. The perfect opportunity to enjoy a sit down over a cup of tea in our living room.
We’ve added to our menagerie this month. Two guinea pigs have joined us on their summer holidays, whilst their owners go camping en famille. This was just cause to re-arrange the furniture in our living room to create a space for their home. As you do.
It’s an awkward room. Not square, more trapezoidal in shape, like a triangle but with the top point cut off. (Wikipedia show exactly how our living room is shaped in their example of a trapezoid.)
Add in 2 doors top and bottom, on the left side, and a window also on the left side. It does not leave very much space to place a sofa, chair, dog/duck bed and now large guinea pig cage.
The new seating arrangement has ended up looking at the window, a sort of live view TV. Except that the view is of our neighbours wall and roof top. So maybe more of a blank canvas? But there is this tiny little bird that likes to flit about and somehow hangs on the wall, often almost upside down.
He is a cheeky curious soul with very little fear of us (though hopefully a healthy dose when it comes to our cats). There is often a song involved also. Now we have a ring side seat to watch his antics.
The guinea pig home is at the top of the trapezoid, in the middle. We can easily see them, and they us. Good for socialisation. Particularly of our pets as they get used to them being here.
Chewie, our standard sized dachshund remembers them from last year. He is part enamoured, part curious and part wanting to eat them. Dachshunds are by nature badger hunters. That is what their name, in German, actually means. Dachs hund = Badger dog. Before the mini version, the standard sized dachshund was bred to hunt badgers, eg burrowing animals. Sort of like guinea pigs, only much bigger.
His instinct would be to wish to chase, catch and kill. Luckily his training holds him back. So when I take a guinea pig out for a cuddle he is all about snuffling them, rather than hurting them. Still we would never put temptation to the test as they are our honoured guests.
One by one and sometimes en masse our pets keep coming to visit, watching the new arrivals go about their business. A sort of zoo for pets, I guess. But as all our animals have a very healthy dose of curiosity it spells out hours of entertainment for them. Consequently our living room is now a hive of activity, albeit rather tranquil activity. With lots of staring.