Bonkers in Barnhart

Archive for the ‘Pets’ Category

Typically the first snow of the season means photos of the kids happily running around throwing snow at everyone and everything. 

But this time we give you something different – this time you get:

Muffin, Brave Guinea Pig Explorer of the Artic Midwest

Muffin had no idea that she would be expected to tackle a snowy landscape during her trip outdoors today.  But she is known for her resourcefulness and she was able to find some tasty grass to nibble on despite the chill.

Good thing she had an appropriate sweater for such a major event!

One of the best parts of an adventure is getting to explore – in this case, Muffin spent some time exploring the woods behind the house.  She found a great spot to enjoy the view (a fallen tree trunk). 

She was hoping to see some wildlife – a deer perhaps – but it was so quiet she could listen to the snow falling and think deep thoughts, like what she should request for her snack tonight (carrots, cilantro or peppers?). 

Here is the view Muffin is enjoying, very pretty.

Thank you Muffin, for sharing your adventure!

(All Photos by Alexandria)

Related articles

• Winners of the Great Carrot Decorating Contest!!
• The Great Carrot Decorating Contest (a post by Muffin the Guinea Pig)

Our apologies that this took a bit longer to accomplish then we had planned – it seems everyone in the family has been taking turns being sick (except for Muffin, who remains happy and healthy fortunately) and then Dad had to go and end up in the hospital for a couple days.

But Alexandria and Muffin (the Guinea Pig) are happy to officially announce the winners of their first ever Carrot Decorating Contest!  Since there were four entries Muffin picked the order (via numbered pieces of paper) and we decided to give prizes to all four entries!

Here is Muffin organizing her list of winners, isn’t she cute in an official looking way!  She took her job as judge very seriously!

The first place winner is:

Lola, Buffy and Broccoli (the guinea pigs) (aka Cavy Savy) for their delightful seahorse carrot carving.  Muffin has informed Alex that she would like some of her carrots carved in the shape of seahorses in the future, no more plain carrots thank you very much!!

The second place winner is:

Cosmo (the Parrot) for this wonderful Carrot Cabin that Muffin would like to move right into even though she would be tempted to eat it!  She is especially fond of the carrot pathway, how cute is that!

The Third Place Winner is:

Theodore Hamilton III (the guinea pig) for this fun Carrot Rocket Car.  Muffin is really hoping to get one of these for Christmas (hint, hint to the humans around here!!):

And Fourth Place (Honorable Mention) goes to:

Isadora (the Mouse) for her tasty Carrot Cheese Plate which Muffin thinks is great because while she doesn’t eat cheese she can certainly appreciate it when it’s made out of carrots!

Thank you to everyone who entered!  We had so much fun with this and Muffin is hoping to convince Alex to do another contest of some sort in the spring.

All prizes are packed and will be going out in the next day or so, we hope everyone enjoys them!!

Hugs and Wheeks!!!

Alexandria and Muffin the Guinea Pig

Related articles

• The Great Carrot Decorating Contest (a post by Muffin the Guinea Pig)

Update as of 12/13/12 — the judging shall commence, we plan to have the winners posted this weekend — wheek!

Update as of 11/28/12 — we have received three entries already and have two more on the way!  There are some impressive carrot decorating skills out there so don’t be shy send in your creation and join the fun — wheek!

Hey everyone –

My name is Muffin (or Muff to my friends, which I consider all my readers to be!).  That’s me in the photo above preparing my blog post – am I cute or what?!

So do you want to enter a cool contest?  Of course you do!

All you have to do is have your human help you decorate a carrot – it can be any design you want – carved, embellished, etc. — have fun with it!  As long as all decorations are edible, so your carrot lover can have the creation once you have sent the photo in, of course!  I know that most of time humans carve and decorate pumpkins but lets face it, I’m a carrot lover and a carrot eater – so carrots seemed like a great choice for a guinea pig holding a contest, don’t you think?!

Then have your human take a photo of the wonderful carrot creation and send it to us by email (marielay@gmail.com) along with your name, your human’s name and your email address.

My human (Alexandria who is 9) and I will pick the top three (with only numbers attached to the photos so she and I won’t know who submitted what) that we think are the most fun and creative and then I will select (by random nibbling) the grand prize, second place and third place winners.  I’m really good at picking winners – wheek!

Any pet who eats carrots is welcome to join in the fun – guinea pigs (like me!), rabbits, hamsters and gerbils.  If you are a dog, cat, chinchilla, etc. and you love carrots, well, join in, don’t be shy, carrots are lots of fun!

I bet you are wondering what you can win, right?  Of course you are!

The grand prize winner will receive a $20 gift card to Petco (so you can buy lots of goodies) and (if you have a young human) two beanie babies.

Second prize will be $10 worth of treats from Petco, selected for whatever type of cute animal you are.

Third prize will be a small mystery prize.

And we will, of course, post the top three entries so everyone can admire your creativity!

The contest will be open from November 23 to December 13, so get your entries in now.  I can’t promise delivery of prizes by the holidays but we will do our best and get them to you asap!

xoxoxoxox and Happy Thanksgiving (a tad late) to all my furry friends!!!!

Muff

Countess Lady is ready for the ball at Downton Abbey:

This is what happens when you let a 9 year old watch too much Downton Abbey!  Lady had a bustle but she managed to wiggle out of it, although she was very patient about the “gloves”, “dress”, and ear decorations!

The indignity that a dog must endure in the name of historical dressing up

Related articles

• Secrets of Downton Abbey Style(bellasugar.com)

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• Downton Abbey Beauty: No Mascara, Please, We’re Edwardians(bellasugar.com)

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• Hilarity Ensues When Dogs Are Cast as Downton Abbey Characters [Downton Abbey](jezebel.com)

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This is not something you see very often in our household – MacKayla the Empress (who does not like any of the boy kitties, *at all*!), Joel Gray (the mellowest of the group) and Giblet Paws the Kitten (who is seldom not in a state of constant motion!) hanging out together on the couch. I rushed to get a photo so I would have proof that miracles do in fact happen in Barnhart – albeit furry ones!

Related articles

• The Feline Hierarchic System(philadelphia.cbslocal.com)

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Sorry, missed yesterday because things got really busy and I was tired last night, so I’ll do catch up today starting with Your Five Senses Right Now.  The 31 Day Blog Challenge is hosted by Boy Oh Boy!

SEE:  A gray and cloudy day today matching the fluffy gray kitty (Joel Gray) who is sleeping soundly on the couch nearby.

TASTE:  Pepsi – breakfast of champions – LOL

FEEL:  A little stuffy since it’s a humid day.  If I could get Joel Gray to come over by me I could rub his really soft fur but he is studiously ignoring me!

HEAR:  The rain falling steadily outside, the clock ticking in the kitchen, the click of the keys as I type.

SMELL:  Nothing, which is probably a good thing!

In case you are wondering what he looks like, here is Joel Gray is all his sleepy glory – isn’t he cute!

Related articles

• 31 Day Blog Challenge: Day 5 – Top Ten Songs I Like Right Now(bonkersinbarnhart.com)

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• 31 Day Blog Challenge: Day 4 – What Are You Afraid of?(bonkersinbarnhart.com)

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I don’t know about you but I’ve always been a fan of Groundhog Day — I’m not entirely sure why but I find it an appealing holiday.  Perhaps because it focuses on such a cute furry critter — which I grew up calling a woodchuck by the way.  Or perhaps its because I always live in hope that something, anything will bring winter to an early close!  I’m just not a winter person.

So today is Groundhog Day and the first thing the kids and I did this morning was to look for news about Punxsutawney Phil.  In case you missed it, he is predicting 6 more weeks of winter — sigh.  My only hope in this case is the fact that he only has a 39% accuracy rate!  Cuteness obviously counts for a lot when you’re a groundhog predicting the weather!

We also read two excellent books in preparation for Groundhog’s Day this year — one a non-fiction book for kids about the history of Groundhog’s Day (title coming later since Mac took the book to school to share) and the other was Punxsutawney Phyllis about a girl groundhog who dreams of taking Uncle Phil’s place as the annual weather predictor.  The kids thought it was a nice twist on the typical story and enjoyed it.

It also gave my daughter a “great idea” as she put it — if Phyllis could be the all-important Groundhog guru then why not a Guinea Pig named Magic.  Groundhog, Guinea Pig — sure, why not?!

So after we checked in on Phil and everyone was dressed for school we trooped outside with Magic the Magnificent, our own personal  weather prognosticator.

Here she is ready to make her debut:

Yes, unfortunately, as you can see in the next (dramatically staged!) photo, Magic the Magnificent saw her shadow and was forced to agree with Punxsutawney Phil about the continuance of winter — well, fine, just be that way!

Despite this gloomy forecast Magic the Magnificent received the adulation due to her as she made her way inside to a celebratory feast of carrots and parsley.

And there you have it, the First Annual Guinea Pig Winter Prediction by Magic the Magnificent.  You may discuss among yourselves now and prepare for the next six (long) weeks of winter.  I’m personally considering hibernation!!

If you would like to see the Groundhog Day craft we did last year (which Alex saved to hang up again this year — yes, we are the family that decorates for Groundhog Day, don’t you?!) you can find it here:

Let’s Celebrate Groundhog Day with Phil

Related articles:

• Happy Groundhog Day! (neatorama.com)
• Groundhog Day 2012: Punxsutawney Phil Sees Shadow, Predicts More Winter (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
• I Saw Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day! (mediumjoe.wordpress.com)
• Groundhog Day And a Haiku or Two (dyingbraincells.wordpress.com)
• Groundhog Day: Thousands Watch Punxsutawney Phil See His Shadow (newsfeed.time.com)
• Happy Groundhog Day! (mattdantodd.wordpress.com)
• Groundhogs behaving badly: When forecasting critters go rogue (mercurynews.com)

Yes, William the Orange likes strawberries, in fact if you don’t share with him he will maul you for them.  Trust me, it’s better to just share in the first place!

And while you are it, why not plant some strawberry plants for the kitties in your life

I want you to take a look at this picture:

Is that not the picture of innocence?  There is a feline who could do no wrong — a cat of many talents, but certainly not a single mean bone in his 20+ pound (!) body.

Well, not really.  That adorable face and those lovely golden eyes disguise the heart of a troublemaker,  a rebel (definitely lacking a cause, feline or otherwise), and sometimes even a bully.   I feel like I should burst into a song from the Music Man about trouble right here in River City (aka Barnhart) — I’ve seen too many musicals obviously!

William the Orange is the third cat in our household but certainly top cat in terms of rank, and unfortunately he tends toward more then his fair share of arrogance and attitude.  And lately he’s been picking on the lovely (and older) MacKayla the Empress who is having problems with arthritis in her hip.

I’ve tried various methods to discourage this, the most effective being a spray bottle when William decides to be pushy, but really he’s acting like a brat!

There are days when I wish there were kitty time outs — or perhaps kitty military school!

Do you have a multi-cat household?  If so, how do you handle disagreements/bickering among the various members?

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It’s all for the love of cats! Enjoy! This fun meme is hosted by The True Book Addict.

This a lap inhabited by a cat.

Who taught those annoying young people to use a camera grumps the cat.

Can’t they tell I need my nap!

(P.S.  Joel Gray may not be good at poetry (!)  but he loves fiction and he highly recommends the book Pie by Sarah Weeks as it features a grumpy kitty he can identify with quite well!)