Sunday, October 2, 2011

Coffee Time





I was just sitting down by the pond having a cup of coffee and enjoying my quiet time but alas my mind races. So why not put those thoughts to my blog and up date my friends.

The intended hay storage, quarantine and volunteer shelter we won the funds to build from The Vancouver Foundation is not going as planned. The job was to start July 25th and even that was a month from my meeting with my friend and carpenter. Getting our hay for winter and at a good price is long gone and with only three walls up, and not designed the way i wanted it by late September my patience popped. He will not be back.

I got three days of work in last week and that has been my only income in over a month now. Mom is helping me pay the mortgage with the little she can afford on a pension. Resumes go out daily here .

Pam and Dave were down picking up there son to bring back to Sorrento so we were fortunate to spend a few days together again and spent the nights talking about pigs to the WEE hours. They brought there helpful hands and a carload of buckets filled to the brims with apples. Dave took a look at the build so far on the shed and between us he drew out what i needed and wanted. He has offered to come back down to do the build , how so very kind of them. I just hope they are not reeling back home with there own projects to finish before there much harsher winters, I don't want to ask too much from such wonderful friends.

B.C. Corrections finished up the drainage at the front and it has really kept the areas free of standing water, yay!! All the guys wear a red uniform, decked out in red pants , t-shirts and caps. The cook gets the stove going first thing and macaroni and fried baloney is in the wind. So when i came out wearing red joggers they all laughed as i was almost dressed like them. The next thing you know one of the guys is walking toward me with a red t shirt to put on. Ten guys waiting for me to put it on had to be told " i'm not putting in on in front of you" This of course brought guilty laughter so off to the house i went and put it on and then came outside asking "wheres my baloney?" . We all had a few laughs that day. And no , i'm not afraid of these guys there all polite and very much gentlemen when they are here. And they work hard! Too bad they didn't have any inmate carpenters on there crew at this time. ;o)

A young couple moving here from Alberta with there two pig kids in tow are in between housing so the babies are here much to everyone's delight. There complete time wasters as you can sit and watch babies all day as they are so full of life as they explore there big new world here. And of course as cute as a dickens. And Amber and Brady are really a very nice couple and have already contacted one of the pubs in town to do a pub night for us. More YAYS!

Yesterday was a busy day as we all worked to clean up the Sanctuary. All the pools have been collected and need to be put away for the season. Roxanne is one awesome volunteer and friend and she didn't leave here until almost 5 last night. I should of just fed the pigs dinner before i came in but I hadn't eaten all day and was whooped. So i took a break and ate and then went back out and got back in about 9.

Today we had visitors all the way from North Vancouver and i know they had a good time. So cute the way they gifted up two baskets of goodies for the pigs and even some apple juice for our Penny. Fresh tomatoes , crackers and popcorn they didn't miss a pigs favorites.

My boss called me but immediately told me he didn't have any work for me but they had a crab apple tree and wanted to come out this morning and bring the kids. Come on over and they did arriving with two huge tubs full of granny smith apples! Grandma came with them at 89 years and talked about the feral pigs she saw in the forests of Germany where she grew up.

Funny how life is as i was just saying on facebook we never get goodies from folks apple trees or gardens and they would prefer it to rot on the ground then to give it to us to feed pigs. I have a good weeks worth and more off apples in storage now , this is such a huge savings at 16.00 a case here in town.

Oh and Roxane came after work one night with a friend and a van full of apple and plum tree's. So while they dug and planted, Dave went around and wired them to protect them from the pigs. It may take a few years before they produce but one day the kids will find there own treasures as they used too before moving here.

Now really the best part of today started off with feeding the pigs donated fancy bread and underneath a pile of raisin bread was a lemon pie. How can one divide a pie and who would get it?? DYLAN was so cute and so very happy diving into that pie and i hope Amber and Brady share those pictures.

Two weeks ago was a hoot as Kasun wanted to have his birthday shared with the pigs here and brought a huge vegan cake with the words "Pigs like Cake too" on it. We all shared a piece and sang him happy birthday and then he went around with his Mom and spoon fed his cake to every pig here. Now that was a ton of fun, we all had such a great time.


In between the jam packed days here are two pigs in Kelowna who will be moving to Duncan on the island. Thanks to Jean over there doing the home check for these fosters who hopefully will adopt. And a 700 lb pig call needing to get off the callers property , a message is left but the call is not returned and the next thing you know someone else is calling asking me to come over and access there new 700 pig captured by the SPCA out of a river out here. Another email comes in about two more and they are big pigs too we must find them a good home at least we know they won't end up in a river. I will share a picture here of where they were , this person thought pigs liked mud and the excrement they were laying in.

Why does this world think so little of pigs? They are no different from your cats who love to lay on fresh laundry , they like clean too. They relish in soft cozy nest of hay or a cozy bed like our dogs do. There heads will come down to your leg and hold themselves there like our horse do. And pigs give good kisses too.