It starts with a search for coroplast. That’s corrugated plastic. This is often the
most difficult of all the supplies to find.
The next step, a quick trip to the local hardware store for
zip ties. That’s for the grids. I also get duct tape. Hopefully matching the color of the corrugated plastic.
Over to the department store to purchase the said grids. That’s what college students use in their dorms
for storage. You know, the metal grids that you snap together to make cubes? Those.
I clear a large amount of space for my endeavor also my schedule. This will take some time. The large piece of coroplast takes over the
room and is cumbersome to manage.
Using a straight
razor I carefully drag it across the last 6 inches of the coroplast. Bending and taping the coroplast, I make a
six inch deep rectangular tray.
Making a three by two foot grid cube requires patience, a
love of zip ties, and good music. This
can be the longest part of the process but the outcome is so worth it.
Once I have my grids in place I take the coroplast tray and place
it into the grids. If the measurements
were accurate the rectangular tray should slide in with ease.
I lay down newspapers and a cut of fleece to line the
bottom of the tray. I’m so excited. This is generally when I start to grin widely. I make a manger and fill it with Timothy,
Alfalfa, and Oat Straw.
After I look over the masterpiece with what can only be described
as wild glee I’m off to the kitchen to make a salad. Juicy tomatoes, romaine, spinach, sliced
carrots, cucumbers, apple slices, and an orange to top it off. I’m off to the project site again.
I unceremoniously dump the salad into the structure and drop
in one or two over turned boxes with holes cut in them.
Now comes the part I’ve been working so hard for. I scoop up two guinea pigs and lower them
into this open topped cage I’ve created and spent my whole day doing and around
eighty dollars I don’t generally have to spend.
Nothing makes me happier than this next moment.
They popcorn and chirp.
An act of pleasure and gratitude only a guinea pig can display.
I love guinea pigs.
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