Pigs

[poliphilo]

When we first got the guinea pigs we put them under the window in the back-room where- in a reversal of the old adage about children- they could be heard but not seen.

(I guess that's a 50s thing- my parents used to lay it on me if ever I threatened their self-absorbtion- "children should be seen and not heard"- boy did I resent it!

We have known better than to try it out on Joe- who is currently in his bedroom watching Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits with the sound turned turned up to the max so Ailz and I can enjoy it too.)

Anyway, it seemed a bit pointless to spend all that money on a cage and then not be able to see it- so yesterday I moved furniture around and the guinea pigs ended up in front of the fire-place. The back room has now been renamed The Zoo.

Comments

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

When I read that the room had been renamed I was somehow certain the new name would've involved "menagerie"... -But that's probably just because that was what i called the back of my parents garden where I kept my chickens, rabbits, duck and whatever other animals I kept in that suburban garden!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The kings of England used to have a menagerie at the Tower of London.

Workmen were excavating at the Tower the other day and they dug up a couple of lions' skulls- which turned out- after carbon dating- to be medieval.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

I read that on the Beeb, yes.

Amusing how one is somehow baffled that international trade and diplomacy took place in the Middle Ages; not so dark after all, now were they?

That era has had such a bad press... :-(

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I love these odd little insights into the past, especially when they challenge my unexamined prejudices.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

I actually knew about the meangerie at the Tower already (but then; I like the Tower...), but I wasn't aware that they had big cats so far back. Very suitable, of course, but one suspects that animal welfare might not have been at the top of their priorities back then! :-)

It surprised me to read that the dead lions were just dropped in the moat, though; one would've thought they'd have at least skinned them first, as a lion skin would, surely, be something exotic and regal, no?

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The "lions of England" have been part of the royals' coat of arms since, if memory serves, the time of Henry I. It was later, the reign of Edward III I believe, that they were quartered by the lilies of France.

Interestingly, some of the propaganda heraldry from the time of Edward IV quartered the arms of England and France with those of Castile and Leon, a visual nod to the tenuous claim they also had to the thrones of those two Spanish kindgoms.

Interestingly, Richard III had very cordial relations with Ferdinand and Isabella, so one assumes that big brother's overreaching in the claims department had not totally poisoned the well.

How do the archaeologists know that the lions weren't skinned before being dropped into the moat? Did they find bits of hair?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they skinned them before dumping them.

Did they practice taxidermy in the Middle Ages? Probably not.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Such cute little critters!

My mother used to call our whole house "The Zoo". :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Heh-heh.

The upper storey is critter-free at the moment- though Bunny has shown an interest in climbing the stairs....

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

and I was thinking "Pigs in Space" ....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....I just lurved the Muppet Show....

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. Unfortunately I've never seen Time Bandits, but this is the second or third thread I've seen that mentions it lately...what am I missing.

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

A wonderfully cool, sly, clever, imaginative movie! Here's a snip of dialogue:

"We work for a Supreme Being."

"You mean GOD?"

"Oh, we don't know him *that* well."

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

cool, sly, clever...somehow that doesn't sound like American television.

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

That's because it's a film by a British director, a former Pythoner. Rent it! now! *g*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's almost a Monty Python movie- most of the Python crew are in it- but so too are Sean Connery and Ian Holm and Ralph Richardson. It's a highly imaginative fantasy about time travel, with a satirical edge.

If you like the idea of John Cleese as Robin Hood or white stallions bursting out of wardrobes, then this is for you.

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

I love Time Bandits. It's a great movie and very quotable.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I still think it's the best thing Gilliam has ever done.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Piggysworth Palace is much better....:)

[zoe-1418.livejournal.com]

My one remaining pig (after 10.5 years of pig-raising adventures) lives in a very large cage/condo in our living room, right near the heaviest foot-traffic areas, so he won't get too lonely. He's in easy earshot of the kitchen, and he sqeals vigorously at any sound that might carry a hint that fresh produce is being prepared for him...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I wasn't prepared for how noisy guinea pigs are. They rumble and chirrup and squeal. The rabbit, by contrast, is wholly silent.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Aw!

What great names!

And they are cute little creatures.

My favorite is your rabbit, though.

Do the guinea pigs get to run around at all?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The guinea pigs are very timorous. If we let them run free we'd probably never catch them again. The rabbit is happy to be picked up, the pigs hate it. I guess they think we want to eat them.

completely unrelated

[cataptromancer.livejournal.com]

Where's the best place (i.e. book, I assume) to find Anne Carson's Catullus translations and adaptations?

Re: completely unrelated

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Her collection Men In The Off Hours contains a section of Catullus: Carmina.