Bonnie and I have a new resident in the already cramped garage apartment: a guinea pig.

We didn�t intend to get a guinea pig. And Bonnie hasn�t even gotten home from work yet, so we�re still waiting to find out whether or not she�s allergic to it. If she�s as allergic to guinea pigs as she is to cats, then we have a problem.

Anyway, I decided to take it really easy today. I�ve been working like mad in the house � staining doors, painting baseboard, etc � and I guess I overdid, because I felt like poop when I woke up this morning. I slept late, stayed in bed computing for a while after waking up, didn�t bother taking a shower (I know, I�m a minger), ate ice cream and mostly just relaxed.

After lunch, which consisted of ice cream and buttered tortillas, I started to get cabin fever. The sun was shining outside and I wanted to be out soaking up the rays. I decided to go for a short walk, just to get out of the apartment for a while. It was darned hot out there, and I was glad to reach a shady area of road. I started to pick a few interestingly shaped leaves, thinking that maybe I could draw them later, when I heard a movement from the undergrowth.

Looking down, I saw a flash of ginger. There are lots of weird and wonderful creatures in this part of the USA, so I was naturally a little wary of what this wild beast might be. It wasn�t behaving very much like a wild beast, though. It was huddled under a clump of ivy, very much like my hamster used to hide under his shredded paper and think that I couldn�t see him.

Then I heard: �wheeeeee!� and I knew instantly that it was a guinea pig. Somebody�s escaped pet guinea pig. I was wilting from the heat myself, so I could hardly imagine how hot this little fellow must have been in his thick fur. If I left him behind, I was afraid that he would get heatstroke or dehydrate, and die. I figured that somebody was obviously missing him, and that the sooner I got him back home, the better. So, trying very hard not to think about what Bonnie would say (she has a fear of rodents), I stuck my hand into the poison ivy (yes, very smart Vicky) and tried to pick him up.

This was easier said than done, and required a lot of patience and coaxing on my part. However, we got there eventually, and once I had picked him up he settled nicely into my chest and stopped squirming.

I think Steve (the remodelling contractor working on the house) was pretty surprised when I came in, guinea pig in arms, asking if he had a spare cardboard box, but he quickly found one for me. I brought the guinea pig into the air conditioned garage apartment to cool down. He didn�t seem very interested in the dish of water I set down for him (which worries me a little), but he ate a little lettuce. He looks kinda lonely and scared in his cardboard box, and I feel so bad for him � apparently guinea pigs don�t do well on their own.

Next, I made some �found� notices on the computer and took them to the local animal hospital and the grocery store. I bought him a carrot at the grocery store, since somebody mentioned to me that too much lettuce can be poisonous for guinea pigs. I also knocked about half of the doors on the side of the street that I found him, but nobody knows of a missing guinea pig.

Now Bonnie is back, and I think she�s too surprised to be mad at me. She just looks bemused. We�re trying to figure out how to handle this � we�re due to drive to Mississippi on Saturday, so goodness knows what we�re going to do if we don�t have a home for the guinea pig by then. I have visions of him riding shotgun with me in the truck.

I won�t take a photo of him just yet because he�s already scared, and the flash would just scare him more. But he is cuuuute. (And I don�t even know that he�s a he. He might be a she. But I secretly hope that he is a he so I can call him Neville�)