29 Hours

Dear Mom,
I was beginning to worry that we would have another restless night, that we had been outwitted by a guinea pig. I was imagining a ferocious guinea pig grown to the size of an opossum with thick matted hair emerging from under the hot tub months from now, snarling and wild.

At approximately 8:45 this evening just before darkness settled and after 29 hours on her own in the wilds under the hot tub, Oreo was trapped in Bonnie Jo's squirrel trap. And she is not one bit sorry for all the trouble she caused.

The equipment involved during the escape included 4 beach towels, an army blanket, 16 feet of wire fencing, 4 hockey sticks, a garden hose with spray nozzle, 2 flashlights, a chipmunk cage, a guinea pig igloo, carrots, lettuce, yogurt chips, broccoli slaw, timothy hay, a water bottle, and finally, the squirrel cage.

In desperation and frustration, "creative" suggestions were starting to emerge. The Young Man was taking the SWAT team approach to pig capture, suggesting we "smoke her out" with stink bombs. I told him this would probably not work as the prison riot treatment (blasting her with jet stream water from the garden hose) had failed. My Hero wanted to trap her in a miniature bear trap, but when we figured she would probably chew her own leg off and escape, he said, "Well, at least that would slow her down."

Feeling a bit panicky, at 6:00 pm we called Bonnie Jo and borrowed her squirrel trap. At 7:00 the trap was set. We waited. IF this didn't work......

Thankfully, a happy ending. Well, maybe not for Oreo. I think she liked living on the run.

Love,

Kim

The Fugitive

Dear Mom,
Yesterday afternoon, during a field trip into the backyard, Oreo escaped. She is hiding out under the hot tub deck.
The elusive pig has managed to evade all our attempts at capture which include bribes of lettuce, carrots, yogurt chips and broccoli slaw. We tried enticing her out with the sound of a shaking plastic produce bag. The hose nozzle set on "Jet" didn't force the speedy pig out. Even with each of us manning one side of the deck, using flashlights and a loose system of communication to shout which section the fugitive had escaped to, and armed with hockey sticks, the pig thwarted us. Heaven help me, I even had my good salad tongs out there trying to grab her if she got close enough to the edge. It was getting dark, the Young Lady now crying and prematurely mourning the death of her favorite pig. Covered in mud from all the jet stream spray, at 10pm we gave up and went to bed hoping Oreo survived her night in the wild.
After a restless night (for us), Oreo has been spotted a few times this morning, coming out from her hideout for a bite to eat and scurrying back before she could be captured. The current plan involves the chipmunk trap and some carrots.
I'll let you know how it all turns out.
Love,
Kim