I let the guinea pigs out for a romp this morning.

They ran. Ran fast. Using the room like an obstacle course. Ran around me. Ran to the corners. Made sharp and arbitrary turns. Jumped over my shoes next to the wall.

It makes me so happy to see them running free. :)

Sometimes, they will run in set patterns. They will make a pattern, one leading, the other bumping her nose on the butt of the leader. Then they'll do the pattern in reverse.

It's a problem when one does the original pattern and the other does the reverse pattern... They'll make a turn and run into each other!! They don't do patterns so often anymore.

Time to put them back in their home. Tess must always go in first. If Tegan goes home first and sees Tess running around on the outside, Tegan gets jealous and frustrated.

So, Tess goes first. She gets all excited and runs circles inside the home because I always give them treats when they both get back inside. Turn the attention to Tegan.

"Come here Tegan," holding out a green pea treat. She knows what's going on, she comes over for the pea. She knows she'll get more peas if she climbs up in my lap, but instead she walks over to the wall and lies down.

She's saying, Look at that crazy Tess. I don't want to go back in there to that hyper piggy. What if I just lie here for a little while? I won't be any trouble at all...

laugh. Sorry, piggy. Scoop her up. Back home they get their treats, the last of the peas, some flavor food thingees, and a yummy and healthful slice of orange for their vitamin C. Tess settles down a little and Tegan tries to nap around the Tess interruptions.