Weet! Weet!

That's the noise they made. Sunny and Fresh were 2 guinea pigs that Marilyn picked up on a class field trip to SunFresh Farms. They were very special pets who visited our classroom at least once a week and made their home, sweet home, in Marilyn's Arizona Room. When at school, the kids would get to hold, brush, pet and feed them as long as they had a folded towel in their lap (in case of g.p. accidents). When food was offered, Sunny and Fresh would start a shrill chorus of "WEET!, WEET!" and try to be the first to get the carrot, celery or other veggie delight held by the lucky kiddo. When Summer came, Marilyn and her husband planned an out of state trip and asked me if I would "pig-sit" for a couple of weeks and I agreed. My girls had met the two piggy sisters and were eager to help me take care of them...at least until the cage needed cleaning. 😉  The job came with the usual instructions for care and feeding but M threw a little curve ball at the end of her speech. Turns out, one of the little rodents had a problem with constipation and had to have abdominal massage to rid herself of waste. What?!! Yeah, my reaction, too! Once I got over the initial shock, I did some research and, it seemed, this could be a problem because she didn't get much hay or alfalfa to help things move along. I don't think Marilyn knew how important this was and neither did I. I helped Sunny, or was it Fresh?, with poopy duty (my children FLATLY declined) until I decided to try supplementing their diet with hay and alfalfa each day, per my research. Well, it was successful and the poor g.p. started to become regular and able to eliminate on her own. Whew! The only annoying side effect was the early morning "hey, she's awake!" cacophony that they would start as soon as my feet hit the floor. WEET! WEET! WEET! WEET!

I'll bet you're wondering what became of these precious noisemakers, right? After a year and a half, I needed to find a new home for them. My teacher friend had a colleague who had a boa constrictor that he kept in his classroom. WAIT! It didn't happen that way! I let her take them to him, intending that they could supplement the boa's diet. Sounds cruel, now that I remember it, but at the time I was thinking of nature and the food chain. So, for folks that have now decided that I'm a horrible person, here's how it went: Most of the 7th and 8th graders at this school circulated a petition to "SAVE SUNNY and FRESH!" The boa had to go back to a pedestrian diet of ordinary rats and mice and the "weet weets" lived a few more years-free from predators.