This morning as we were setting out for church around 10:30, Joe went to say good morning to our guinea pig Vindabel, and found her quite still, inside the small house in her cage. She must have died in the early hours of the morning, as she was cool to the touch and starting to stiffen up.
This is a bit of a shock since she seemed absolutely fine yesterday, and was only about two and a half. I thought guinea pigs had a four to five year life expectancy!
Guinea pigs are actually great pets. They’re soft and cuddly, don’t smell, don’t make a mess, and require relatively little care. Just feed them and clean the cage every so often. They make these funny chirping sounds and are nice to have around.
Here’s a photo of Vindabel, and then an explanation about her name.
Tim is (was) the nominal owner of Vindabel. Awhile before the guinea pig arrived, Tim bought a puppet-witch at school. When we asked him the name of the witch he thought for a few moments and then said “Vindabel.” When we got the pig, we thought that would be a great name for her, and Tim agreed.
Tim was upset this morning (as were all of us). Brigid had already left the house to pick up my mother for Mass, so when we got to Church I told Tim to stay outside of Church to tell them the sad story. Tim told Brigid, but then asked Brigid to tell Grandma, because “every time I start to say the name Vindabel, I start to cry.”
We (actually Brigid) dug a nice hole for Vindabel in the animal cemetery (birds, gerbels, etc) next to the house, put in some alfalfa and flower petals, and put a large, flat stone on top. Vindabel won’t be forgotten soon.
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