Friday Night and all is well

Paula came over early this morning and while she started on the front piggy paddocks i started on the the big pigs and that being Roscoe first. Once the dog is put in and everything a big pig could tear into is put away out he comes. I tried to touch fingers with my arms wrapped around him and no can do! lol I think he likes it when i do that. I few wheel barrow loads out for him and a couple more back in as i round the back pasture to the left overs of old bark mulch to line his potty corner with. It is too old for anything else as it might as well be dirt but it cleans up that corner well. Once he was out for just short of a couple of hours we put him back in , let the dog out and the bigger herd . Roses pen is a nightmare as she always pushes straw out and every week-end it gets left and before you know it its a stinking heavy mess. I bet i pulled 6 loads out of there and tonight she replaced it . lol I tell her don't do this every night , quit making more work for your Mom!!

All the pigs got done , fresh waters , raked potty corners and bits of straw messes that make me crazy. I love it when i look back and everything is tidy, waters are sparkling and shavings line there potty corners. So we accomplished what we normally do on Saturdays so tomorrow will be a day of getting odds and ends done. You know replace that latch,and nail back up that board, all the little time consuming things that get left for that tomorrow which never seems to come. And pig friends will have a more enjoyable day and the pigs will also benefit from that. Instead of the 'excuse me" coming threw with a wheel barrow it will be oh hi Casanova , do you need some lovings.

Garage Sale/Open House next week end so this week will be making signs and getting ready for that . So much work and its not good money but it is better then nothing and I have to come up with something to replace the huge vet bills of last month.

Thoughts of the floods down south now and prayers to all of them and the animals who will suffer loss of life during this. I am sorry this is happening to all of you.

Winter was hard on all of us so we know it was hard on the wild life too. I had left a opened box of maro bones on the bench for the dog outside one night. Going to shut of the lights outside i happened to look out the window to see a raccoon with out stretched arms fishing the bottom of the box. They are so cute!!! I had thought i had a possum or a rat dining on my apples as bite marks left behind in them were so small. Not from the formidable canines of a raccoon, who would of thought!

Some of you may not know this but if you click on my pictures here it will expand them and you can get a better look at these bandits.

Cute Piggy Book!!!

A good friend of mine thanks to the world of cyberspace has wrote me saying the following...


We are so excited about this. Livea is a star! We had a little party the other night and I think she really understands its her book! Cindy belongs to several art and animal organizations and has worked with potbelly pig sanctuaries in placement of abused and abandoned potbelly pigs. Livea Rose ( pot belly) and Mike ( a horse of course) will donate portions of the proceeds from "The Flud" to these organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Cindy Inman

Lets help her sell her Piggy book!!!

Product Description
A heart-warming story about a very special Potbelly Pig, "Livea Rose." Based on true events that had taken place in Bedford Pennsylvania the summer of 2004. This is the first book of a series. Watch for the next edition! Livea will surely capture your heart!


http://www.amazon.com/Pigsylvania-Pigtales-Flud-Cindy-Inman/dp/0615277144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237914663&sr=1-1



Pigsylvania Pigtales: "The Flud"

A very good Day!

Yesterday was a mix of rain , hail and howling winds. What a surprise it was to wake up and see a clear blue sky and frosty ground. Working outside would be easier now without trying to push threw mud, well not much mud.

Lots of help today , all the horses and piggy paddocks are raked to perfection, dishes and water tubs sparkling clean and an abundance of apples gave all of them a juicy lunch time snack.

My energy soars tonight as does my heart as Roscoe our 2 year old farm pig found happiness today. When he arrived he was pen bound and brain washed and lived in a hyper state in the quest for food. This is what saved his little self as a piglet though as a passerby saw this runt getting trampled as he fought for food. So they took him home and he found his way here at 6 months old , his litter mates long gone by then and in someones freezer. It took another 6 months for Roscoe to calm down long enough to go for a walk with me in the pasture. And the only time i saw his tail wag ws when he found a tender black berry root. The beginnings of his little life was so deeply imprinted on him, until today.

I have never seen him soooooooooo happy, tail was just a whipping and we played!! I went and grabbed a towel in the carport and played "where's the pig? " as i covered his face until he took off spinning and bucking in happiness with it draped over his back. He did go out and about on his own to the pastures but when he came back to the carport as he does to make sure no one was eating anything, i am also sure he was also just coming back to us. Roscoe your happiness made my day!

Pigs, of course

Now that i am home, without work interfering with my pigs lives i can let them out every day. The pigs when i am away from the acreage are kept in piggy paddocks for safe keeping from coyotes or dogs. So Roscoe is let out first and away he goes and then we join in a lovely walk around the acreage. It makes me laugh when i see his tail wag when he is snout deep in dirt going after the roots of a young black berry bush. Good job Ross , good job!!

Oh and i had a surprise visit bearing apples on the week-end, my two good friends Maggie and Bob who now live on Texada Island. It is so nice to see really good friends and the pigs were happy as well. Don't you just love the smell of Gala's.

Today Mom and I had set the date to deworm all the pigs. A foul tasting treatment and one we would hide in those chocolate covered marshmallow cookies. It took and hour to prepare the amount of cookies we would need injecting each one, one ml at a time. That way we would feed the pigs the amount of cookies required for there weight. Baby Jack would only need one but the likes of Danny would get six so we needed a lot of cookies.

We used to do this in peanut butter sandwiches but the pigs caught on so we thought these cookies would do the trick. So out Mom and I went and handed a cookie to Danny who gave it the wrinkled nose treatment , spit it out and TOLD the others and none of them would have anything to do with it. We moved on to the next pen and so and so on and we did get them all done. But not without returning to the kitchen adding maple syrup to some and when that failed made jam sandwiches and it took two hours but they are all done. Stay tuned for a repeat of this care giving 10-14 days from now. I think we will start with the jam sandwiches.

Paula who started here as a volunteer and who i have come to love as a dear friend said good bye to one of hers dog children's today. Patch who lived as a puppy mill Mom made up for all her caged days when she moved in with this family. The love and life she found with Paula and Jim and of course her canine pal Kira were days of long walks, big smiles and under the covers at night with her Mom. She was a snuggle bunny of a dog and leaves behind a mourning family but today she fly's. Light a candle for Patch, in her memory and honor. And thank you for giving me that loving the last time we were together Patch , I will never forget you either.

Tomorrow Shaw Cable will be here at 11:30 to do a little interview with the pigs and I. Hopefully I will come off somewhat intelligent as every media attention we get spreads the word about pigs needing to be rescued too.

And if there are any animal advocates, Farm Sanctuary lovers , social workers and Doctors out there we need to talk, I have a brilliant idea!

Well its almost ten and i got to eat but i will say I am so glad Spring is in the air!!!

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This and That

Its been a month since i got laid off and it also marks two years since we were flooded. And I will take cool weather with sunny periods and light snow over torrential rain like we are normally dealing with this time of year.

The newsletters are done , with our Thanks You's and the receipt so hopefully everyone will receive them in the mail okay as we really stuffed the envelope haha this time.

Wyatt returned to his herd with a cost . Pigs although his family and being who they are hadn't been with him for a month and it is no doubt his smell would be different and they will not recognise him right away. Having slept on fleecy scented blankets and filling his little self with an assortment of life saving treatments will be hard on him still. The night before the big day i took out some of his blankets and tossed them into his families home to sensitize them to his new smell. He was so happy to be out and about but returned to my house several hours later with the tell tale wounds of a scuffle. I told him we would try and again tomorrow , that i was sorry he had to go threw this now. Day two when i put him in the paddock they live and closed the gate while the others had gone to bed he stood at the fence line looking for me. Cute little button i wanted to bring him back in but i had let out a bigger herd and no way could i get him past them all without the entire bunch wanting in the house too. Doing what i must do as a rescue and sanctuary operator i set aside my pet loving heart and told him he would have to push his way back into his house as this is where he belonged. ;o(( And the little mite did and although he is back with his family, his mother and litter mates i want to cry.

I haven't been on much here lately as i have spent quite a few nights sorting threw emails from pig loving families. I have a little extra time now and am not so rushed when answering the bazillion questions and my response's of quality care for these guys is a ton more detailed. And it is my hopes and prayers i have helped a few pigs this week and in trust that these caregivers listen to 15 years of experience and the learned teachings of those sanctuary directors from all over the world who both share our medical advice daily on here.

We had a short Celebration of Life for Peppermint Patty and Rocket yesterday. A ritual i started with a good friend many years ago. We hung two new bird feeders and will plant the orchids Mom brought as soon as it warms up. And in there honor and in turn each of us took a handful of seed and filled the feeders.

My foster Mom will be relocating in May so we must be ready to bring in 12 more. Time goes so fast and although we put ads in the paper, put posters up all over we were unsuccessful in finding great homes for any of them. Working full time with limited hours on our week-ends and one thing after another our babies are well over a 1 year old now. This herd has bonded strongly as they do and soft hearts prevent us from separating them now. However the reality of it is I will be able to do no more ...... God give me strength and are there any good homes out there??

Well my kitchen looks like a cyclone hit it and Buddy and i are hungry now! Out to give meds one more time and make sure Penny is tucked in and another day gets away from us.

Martin the Alpaca

In my freind Jeans words

Martin is such an undemanding companion that he seldom gets highlighted here. Feed him some grains and hay and the occasional sliced apple or handful for lettuce, make sure he has fresh water, scoop the poop once in a while (alpacas are very clean animals and choose just one or two spots to use as a bathroom), talk to him softly, and what do you get in return? A content, quiet, independent guy who makes the most interesting little noises, sounds the alarm when strange animals intrude, and provides your friends with an excellent supply of small, pellet-like fertilizer that can be dug straight into the garden.

Martin is still looking for his forever home. Abandoned on this property by a previous tenant a number of years ago, he has had no consistent care until I arrived. Although I knew I would not be here forever, and would not have acreage forever, I was not prepared to walk away from him and leave him to be neglected once again. And so I had the landlord sign him over to me, first making sure I had backup plans in place.

But people are fickle and circumstances change and those backup plans have evaporated. So now the search is on for someone who will care for him for the rest of his life. He will be neutered, sheared, and have toes and teeth trimmed before he leaves here. If you know of anyone who is willing to add one shy but very nice alpaca to their family, please email heartsonnoses@shaw.ca

And please cross post and tell your animal loving friends!!