Howdy! Thank you for having me here for a visit today. I first wanted to say happy Veteran’s Day and thank you to all of those who’ve served in the military or are currently serving. We appreciate you.
So, you may be wondering how a ranch of guinea pigs can possibly tie into a western theme. 🙂 And is there such a thing as a ranch of guinea pigs? When I set out to work on book three of my current series I’m writing, I ended up researching guinea pigs. My heroine’s name is Gertrude Miller. Many years ago, when my boys were still living at home, I had a picture frame sitting on a table and had yet to put a photo in it. Instead, it had a photo of a woman that the frame came with when we bought it at the store. We jokingly named her Aunt Gertrude. Eventually I spun a story about her living on a ranch in Texas and how she was raising guinea pigs. Many, many guinea pigs.
When my sons found out the name of my next heroine, they teased me about having a guinea pig featured as part of her story. They sent me photos of cowboys riding guinea pigs, while also corralling guinea pigs into fenced areas. They found videos of people who have hundreds of guinea pigs they are raising. I’ve since learned that in Peru, guinea pigs are often eaten, but we won’t go there.
I thought it would be fun to add a guinea pig to Gertrude’s story since she lives in Kansas in the 1870s in honor of my sons. The question I had to answer, was it feasible? Research showed these little critters first came from South America. They ran wild and were eventually domesticated. They were introduced to Europe and North America in the 16th Century. They became pets of the wealthy and elite. It’s believed that even Queen Elizabeth I had one as a pet. There’s a painting in the National Portrait Gallery in London of Elizabeth as a young girl holding a guinea pig.
Several sites I checked into mentioned that they were shipped to America in 1627 to Jamestown, Virginia. Others stated they were first introduced as part of the exotic pet trade during this time period. I had enough information to realize that while unusual, it definitely was possible and believable to have a guinea pig or two be featured in Gertrude’s story.
I also decided to make mention of Queen Elizabeth I having one as a pet. I always love when I can introduce fun historical facts in a story I’m writing. I enjoy discovering fun things like this when I read historical romance books. I decided to go one step more and have Gertrude make an off-handed comment about wouldn’t it be nice to have a ranch of guinea pigs. It was a humorous way to honor my sons and our family joke.
In honor of Veteran’s Day and being exactly one year since the release of Protecting Annie, I’ll be giving away a print copy of it (US only), or ebook for international readers.
Leave a comment by answering this question: What amusing stories and history do you like to see included in historical romances?
Protecting Annie
After twenty years living along the trail as a deputy U.S. Marshal, Joshua Walker takes a job as sheriff in Burrton Springs, Kansas so he can be closer to his sister. Only problem is, she no longer requires his protecting.
After the death of her father, Annie McPherson needs a change. She accepts a position as schoolmarm hoping her past won’t catch up with her. Life is good, except for the pesky lawman who creates confrontations at every turn and continually questions her ability to adjust to life in the west.
When the irritating schoolteacher’s past and present collide, dragging Josh into the turmoil, he has to decide who he’s willing to defend.
Jodie Wolfe
Jodie Wolfe Stories
Where Hope and Quirky Meet
I enjoyed odd facts that surprise me. Some examples are when camels were introduced to the West and silk worms tried in South Carolina and Georgia. Neither experiment was very successful.
Ooh. That’s interesting. I’ve never hear of either of those. Thanks for sharing, Janice.
Little know facts about anything in history.
Thanks for stopping by. I love learning those little known facts. 🙂
I love little known facts woven into a story.
Me too, Denise. Thanks for taking time to stop by today.
Jodie, so nice to see you in another venue. Never having owned guinea pigs, I didn’t know ANY of that. I read historical fiction, well any kind of fiction really, to open my world. As long as the research doesn’t show, I’m fine with it.
Chuckle. I know what you mean, Kathy. Although it’s difficult to not overshare fun historical information when you come across it. 🙂
I love any little known fact. I often look up things after finding them in a novel and I love it when it’s something I haven’t heard of before but turns out to be true like bath chairs.
I do the same thing, Rhonda. I love coming across little things like that when reading a historical novel.
I like when they try new inventions that do not work well
That’s a fun one too, Debby. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
It is interesting that guinea pigs were introduced to our country and not native. I knew about the camel experiment. I found that out by a movie “One Little Indian” with James Garner. Imagine my surprise when I researched after watching the movie and found it was true.
I’ll have to look up that movie. Thanks for sharing, Kari Jean.
I enjoyed reading about the guinea pig history. I always wanted one when I was a child.
They are such enjoyable pets. 🙂
can’t think of anything
🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Good morning, I like reading about things that are really hard to believe, but are true. I like to read about how the pigeons were trained, to do what they did, they were heroes . Have a great day and a great weekend.
I hope you have a great day and weekend too, Alicia. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen pigeons featured in a book before. 🙂
welcome Jodi. That is so fun about the picture frame and where it all went. We had a guinea pig growing up. Our two kiddos had a guinea pig. We named her Muffin. The top of her head hair looked like one of the muffins that blew up in the oven. Spiky. (Never did figure out why the one muffin did that) Anyway, we had a birthday for our daughter and of course we had balloons. Muffin lived in the living room. At night suddenly we were all awakened by a loud screeching noise. My husband went down the hall with the rest of us following. LOL Turned out that one of the helium balloons had started loosing air and was hoovering around Muffins cage and she was screeching. We looked into it and found out that in the wild a guinea pig would screech like this to warn the others of danger. That was truly interesting. Muffin ran the house. LOL She would take after our mid sized dog and poor Penny would run from her, and Muffin would chase her. She knew where her carrots were stored and she would go to the front of the fridge and make lots of noise. We all loved her. But she would not set foot on grass. What amusing stories and history do you like to see included in historical romances? I love to read about true historical things, about things that most people dont think about or know, about how this ties into what is happening in the story and why. I love to read about humor in stories, because humor is a part of life. God gave us all, humans and animals humor and I love to read how God shows humor in all of our lives
What a fun story, Lori. Thank you for sharing. 🙂 One of our guinea pigs also knew to run to the fridge and to the veggie drawer when she wanted carrots.
I’m with you on enjoying humor in a story. I try to include it in the stories I write, although I’m never sure if the readers will find funny what I do. 🙂
Your new tale involving guinea pigs sound charming. Our first home had a husband who was intrigued with guinea pigs so he was determined to have a couple of them. I could never get interested. My Son was too into catching pigeons rather than having a caged pet he had to feed. Pigeons came and went with him and he didn’t have any in the house. Best of luck with this new venture with Miss Gertrude and her guinea pig(s).
Thanks, Judy. I know one of my sons still has a fondness for guinea pigs. He and his wife decided to get two pet rabbits for their kids instead. They also have a distinct personality.
I think it would be fun to hear about some mishaps that might happen in a bank or train robbery to the bad guys that would spoil their getaways.
That’s a good idea, Connie Lee. In one of my books I included a true story about an outlaw visiting one of my husband’s relatives while the men were trying to track him down.
I like to see interesting tidbits float in and out of historical romances, especially those that pertain to WWII.
Those interesting tidbits can make for a fun story. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Becky.
I love that you and your sons had a hamster rancher named ‘Aunt Gertrude’ as a relative. Very cute and funny…
🙂 Always love when I can bring in a little bit of my family’s history into a story.
Interesting facts that I didn’t know about included in a story.
I like that too, Diana. So glad you stopped by this afternoon.
I Like any known facts I don’t know about Have a Blessed Day!
Thank you, Sarah. I hope your day is blessed as well.
What an adorable idea to put in a story. I love stories with unusual animals are raised, such as alpacas. This is my first time hearing about a guinea pig ranch. My family and I had two guinea pigs many years ago and I remember how much we loved their antics. They have since passed on but just thinking about them still brings a smile to my face.
I know what you mean, Cherie. I often thought of the antics of our guinea pigs through the years as I wrote this story. I hope readers will enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂
Very interesting history of guinea pigs and I love that you included your boys in this way! I enjoyed this post. I enjoy learning church history while reading historical romances. I especially enjoyed Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion series. It was quite inspiring!
Hi Stephanie. Great to have you stop by. I think my sons will get a kick out of some of the things I included with the guinea pigs. 🙂
How fun. I love the thought of adding guinea pigs to a historical story. I own 2 male guinea pigs and my son has two female guinea pigs. His stay in his room and mine stay downstairs and no, they don’t visit each other 🙂 I love out guinea pigs they are such sociable pets. I’d love to read your book, it sounds like such fun.
Hi Deanne. I bet your home is full of fun with four guinea pigs. 🙂 I imagine you have a number of great stories with their antics.
They are such lovable creatures, Jodie.
What a fun story. Have you ever read the story “Pigs is Pigs?” It is about a shipment of 2 guinea pigs and the office claims they are livestock and ship at the higher rate and the receiver refuses as they are pets. As the argument goes on the pigs keep increasing in number. Look on Archive.org for a copy.
No, I’ve never heard of it. I’ll have to look it up. Sounds like a cute story. Thank you for stopping by.
It is always enjoyable and interesting to come across an unusual or humorous bit of information when reading or doing research. I like it best when it is totally unexpected and out of the norm – a pet you would not expect a person to have, an unusual collection, a hobby the person would not be expected to participate in, something above or below their social station or gender.
I agree, Patricia. 🙂
I enjoy little tidbits in a story. My son had a boy guinea pig when he was younger and his cousins had a girl guinea and cousins borrowed my sons guinea pig for a while so we could get more guinea pigs. Then we ended up with a baby guinea pig. Then we discovered that my son had an allergy to the pigs so we gave them to the school for a classroom pet.
Thanks for sharing your guinea pig story, Quilt Lady. 🙂