If They are Happy, I'm Happy.

Well i got all the rest of the pigs houses filled with straw and raked the Super Wee's paddock and after doing the horses and two wheel barrows to start with i was done. It took five trips to wheel barrow over 5 bales of straw and i took two out filled with piggy pearls and pine needles out of the Super Wee's. The rest of the paddocks will have to wait until tomorrow.

All the pigs who weren't out free disappeared into there houses to fix the straw how they like it and search for delicious oats. And thank goodness because ohhhh poor poor Comet. His high pitched WEE'S translated too "let me out,I want out oh pleeeaseeeeeee" . Try as i might to explain that doesn't change anything. That he was out yesterday and others were watching him. Its only fair i am telling him and he stops and thinks about that for a few minutes and then he can't help himself and starts all over again.

It was 12: 30 so i started to call the Super Wee's ( JEANNNNNNNNNNNNN) and every body came except Tom. He had me walking all over the place thinking he was confused and was trying to find his way back. NOT.. he totally ignored me and even though i put a dish of crunch under his nose he had his own agenda.

I had to go into town so I left Buddy out to protect the little brat.

I got the truck loaded for the dump and let me tell you when i got there i could barley pull the card board out of my truck. I get quite a bit of cardboard here as get cases of apples and go threw about 4-6 cases a week . But i was out of strength and it feels so weird to be that weak lol

I got home about 3:30 and there was Tom pacing his fence line. "How do i get in???". "I want in nowwwwwwwwww". With a smirk on my face i walked out there before i unloaded my truck and thought to myself next time he will a good listener.

I almost forget there was reason for celebration on Saturday!! And i called Mom and my sister out so they could see!! Gads Danny has been with me for years and came in so fat his eye sight was permanently damaged. Back at the old place the Butter Cup kids had a huge paddock and that was good because only one of them ever wanted to go out. Danny, Casandra and Tuskers are The Butter Cup Kids and if you look back to when i first started this Blog you can read all about them.

http://heartsonnoses.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-my-pig-too-fat.html

When i talked to this herd about us moving one day i promised them no gravel driveway. There gate exited right onto the driveway and they had to cross it to get to the pasture. Tuskers and Danny both hated the rocks and it took cake to get Danny out at all. I would tell him "there are no holes" and "follow the fence line out". He couldn't see well and i needed too assure him.

Thankfully it was a promise i could keep, there is no gravel on this driveway and it is paved. So the gates were left open for them on Saturday just after noon and about 2:30 i was making sure they all had gone back in as i needed to start all there dinners soon. Cpt Norm was in and so was Cassandra and Tuskers , they were milling around in there paddock . Where is Danny???? I looked in there house twice, around back of it too as they have a really large L-shaped pen.

Danny was all the way across the pasture just trucking home and wagging his tail like a windshield wiper. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Danny, look at you go!!
I found a picture of him taken in the back yard at the old place as that was a big deal for him too.

The pigs are happier here , Danny says so.

Great day!

Well things are starting to feel more comfortable around here now that i have furniture basically in its place. I can start banging nails in the walls and hang my pictures and paintings. My bazillion stuffies have a home in here and I think all those shelves behind my bar ( HA! ) will be used for my piggy collectibles.

I have two old farm house frames i am going to have glazed with mirror and I will hang them down my hallway to bring more light down there. Lots of cedar on these walls and with the big beams and huge rock fireplace it works in this place.

I try and get a good four-five hours in outside every day starting with the horses barn of course. And filling up the wheel barrow on the way to the manure pile cleaning up the pasture as i go. Got to stay on top of that it is too daunting when i leave it too long.

Saturday Mom and my sister arrived so we played in the house all day moving some of the stuff i couldn't do alone. I sold my rubber mats i don't use and bought this huge shag rug with the money. Listened to my Mom tell me how much she hated it , how would i clean it and i can't vacuum it blah blah blah. I told her she was starting to piss me off and she said your pissing me off too . LOL She is 87 years old we both cracked up laughing.

Brent who is doing community service's hours was also here and he helped us inside for a bit and then I got him to work on the manure out on the pasture.

Sunday i am trying to remember what i did oh i was talking on the phone for almost two hours about pigs and forgot i had put a kettle on the stove and melted it. Could of burnt the house down for crying out loud. I sure miss my gas stove, boiling water and cooking was instant!

Great day to today , more beautiful mild weather. I had to clean out Don Juan's house as i sneaked a peak in there while he was eating and it looked wet in there. I had one little window not covered so i got everything prepared on the outside so i could get him locked out while i worked in his yard. Kind of stupid but the little shit still wants to fight me. So i got him out and he had a fight with the cardboard box instead. I left it outside for him on the driveway. It had the left over treats in it from all the pigs breakfast. I had to totally clean out his house, as all his bedding was saturated from him using his house as a litter box. I had two wheel barrows with me so that was good and i dried it out by pouring a bucket of shavings on the floor. I had a bale of straw there too , fixed his window with plastic, gave him a great straw nest and used the rest on Norms and the Butter cup kids.

Not sure why he is going in his house again. He did this when he first moved in with us and i think it was because of where he used to live . He must of had a barn big enough for him to potty inside. He stopped doing it after we replaced the floor down there and gave him a cover. This house is no where near as big as his old one so why is he doing this ??? I think his house needs to be lowered as his ramp is too high and i guess i am going to have to get him a cover as he appears to rather sleep in his shit then get his bristles wet.

I raked all the pens on that side , the ones i am showing you in the pictures. Dons house is the second one in . The first three are about 16 feet x 50 feet , they looks small in the pix, but the space goes behind each of there houses too. And then I scrubbed all the dishes and did all fresh waters for everyone. Ton of work when you can't bring the hose with you. All these paddocks are huge so the distance is further , and hooking up two 100ft hoses isn't going work for me here. Its too much work to get them around this and over that , it is easier to hand pail right now.

What i would like to do is set up some rain catchers at the furthest points and then i can get water closer to some of my pigs.

Colleen (SAINTS) arrived for a visit and with some dog crunch for the pigs so we had a nice visit and a cup of tea. It was perfect time for a break too before i feed dinner to them all. The pigs haven't had dog crunch since last summer i think so i will treat them that for breakfast tomorrow. I don't like to feed it too much as it makes them more thirsty, it would be like us eating chips every day.

What a great day , i got so much done and it makes me feel good to know all the pigs have fresh waters!! Treats in the cupboard, great weather and a nice visit from Colleen, perfect!!

But i am cold, wet, and my back hurts so i am going to jump in the shower before i feed all my inside kids oh and then me.

Tomorrow i will rake the rest of the pens and add straw to every ones houses so i know they are comfy and warm and good for the next few weeks again.

Well its about time!

What a difference in weather compared to last year,and i hope i don't jinx us by saying that. We were under three ft of snow last last year and it sure looked beautiful in the pictures lol. Well it is a tad wet here right now but i keep telling the pigs it is better then snow!

The area of the acreage i had built all the piggy paddocks on is a wetland. I go out there and i keep telling the pigs they are not moose , they are pigs! I guess i should be talking about ducks but moving from the worry of flood to this all I can say to the pigs is "what have I brought us too???".

I have plywood and walking boards in the big pigs paddocks as try feeding a 700 pound pig with a bucket in your hand and your boot stuck in the muck. Can you hear me telling them "DON"T BUMP ME". And three of the pots paddocks have them knee deep in water at the gates too. Thankfully where i placed all the houses are in the highest areas and room to feed and potty. I would also like to add had of these pigs not been the rooting machines they are it might of been a tad better to deal with. But they were so happy to have so much room and grass they couldn't help themselves!!! And even though i knew it was going to be bad one week into building them all i didn't want to cover all that grass with gravel or sand and take that away from them before they got to destroy it LOL . Okay then, it is all my fault...

Something major has to be done but we all will have to deal with it until dry weather as there is nothing i can do or bring in when the ground is saturated everywhere. ugh ugh and ugh And the reality of it is i couldn't of dealt with it in the time frame I had or the weather we were already in.

I did get my computer repaired by a great guy who came over the night i called him who worked for 2 1/2 hours on my system and only charged me 75.00. My camera was back in action until yesterday when i was going to take some pictures and now my camera says "card error" WTF now??? So I will share some of the ones i did get before my system got messed up.

Mouse is still in the house ..LOL and Penny is doing awesome!!! My horses are good too and my cats are still scared to death to come out of the living room. They have the entire two bedrooms in the attic and the living room but wild as they were when i brought them in the wild fear is still in them. I can't wait until they see the big room. lol

That has been an on going dilemma as what to call this games room. The den, the big room, the games room the bat cave??? I wish i had of taken pictures of this room to show you. Its HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to find some help here fast as i have no one coming to help here any more with the physical work besides my sister who comes half a day on most Saturdays. I could get that pig our of the shelter if i had some man help here for a day. But i can't do what i need to do by myself or pay any more out for help here and it will take a few of us to do what needs to be done. Lucy Lucy Lucy.. sigh...

The pen work cost me 21000,00 , the well pump 3100.00 , add two vet bills 3100.00 and i am tapped out as far as the loan goes. Can you imagine what it could of cost with me without all the help i got ??? Man oh man!!!!!!!! The crane trucks all those horse trailers and moving trucks!! And all the food, help, labour whewwwwwww thank God and my spirit herd!

Bosleys donated about ten bags of feed and that helps big time and friends are still helping by bringing apples and carrots when they can. And leaf bags of french bread is always a hit and great for the cold winter months to keep the fat on my kids to keep them warm. Yesterday the pigs not only had breakfast they also had blueberry's for an afternoon snack! So we are doing well with support that way and the donations are keeping the feed bills paid. Oh that reminds me to call back a friend who is pitching our cause to one of the grocery stores , i need to do a letter!!!

Ps i need to find a home for three rabbits FAST. Two lop ear and one friendly black. There little selves will be toast if i don't get them out of where they are. Thankfully they are being given a chance so I can't mess around here.

Happy New year

Today a little pig who was found abandoned and starving is on his way 'home'. The emergency only came threw a few days ago when my good friend Maggie wrote asking if there was room at the Inn. She lives on one of our Vancouver islands and this little pig was discovered by one of the neighbors, alone and starving.

Enter Jean our foster Mom to the Super Wee's here who moved to Crofton who jumped to work for this little pig. Net working with her new friends over there and knowing of someone who had spoken to her about getting a pig one day. Well today is the day!! LOL

Maggie, Bob and and Gail over there made arrangements to transport today and when the crate went down that little pig walked in knowing and trusting those around him that he would be going to a better place and he walked right in. ( jean called me first thing to let me know)

Jean will meet up with the rescue team in Crawford and transport the rest of the way to a piece of heaven near Crofton. There awaits Pat and hubby with a house full of straw , a large area to be a pig, mini goats, a horse friend and a small herd of mini dogs lol. And i am quite sure a bowl of everything a pig desires.

Pictures to follow once this little pig is 'home'!!!

Edited to add Jeans Blog who laid out the yellow brick road... http://mylifewiththecritters.blogspot.com/

Where does the time go?

Yikes it been forever since i posted on here! I should of at least come on to wish every one a Merry Christmas!!!!

Between unpacking , shopping for birthdays and Christmas presents and looking for stuff in all these boxes time slipped away from me. Mom stayed with me for four days so we weren't alone Christmas morning and opened gifts together.


We are all doing well and I am still surrounded by boxes but Mouse is doing awesome! I wish she would eat more but right now she only seems to be interested in her breakfast oatmeal. I slip in raisins and a vitamin as she is putting her nose up at ummm normal piggy pellets. It bothers me as i try different things as she leaves her dinner and yet needs to get her weight back up.

Penny had a rough few weeks as did I worrying about her kept me from sleeping. But i am cooking her soup and she is getting better , such a shame after loosing so much weight and moving really well that she can't seem to muscle her poop out. Boy does she get mad at me when i help her and then other times she accepts and lays down for it.. i have used every type of enema there is and spinach, prunes, juice well none of it helps her any more. But i will move on past this subject as she hasn't needed my help for about 4 days now.

Dior my quarter horse scared the heck out of my sister and I as she wobbled to the ground last week and looking like she was sleeping and having a nightmare we watched her have what at first thought was a stroke. By the time i raced into the house and got my vet on the phone she was rolling and i got out there to stop her. I stood behind her and asked her to stop and she got up all the while i was giving my vet a play by play. Then her eyes got so tired looking and when i looked over at Lacy she looked ready to drop too and it occurred to me that neither horse has laid down here to sleep yet. Something a horse must do every day or night to get adequate sleep. Horses only lay down when they feel safe in there environment, the move did have a toll on them after all.
As of today both horses show signs of having laid down and as i told them i am 20 feet from them now ( my house) so they are safe as can be!! A seizure brought on by sleep deprivation is my guess and my vet says there is not too much we can do.

I took pictures of Mouse out and about here at the new place and of all the new paddocks i had built. And this will be the first Christmas ever that I couldn't take pictures of their morning feast. For some reason my computer doesn't see my memory card for my camera and i have tried everything but replacing it. Next run into town i will get someone to check it out for me and replace the card so i can get back on track. Feel lost without my pictures to share here!

This Christmas was really great as no snow to stop pig friends from bringing us goodies and leaving cases of apples out at the gates. Two leaf bags of bread and buns and a bag of carrots with the biggest carrots i have ever seen. I told the big pigs they were made for them lol.

Well this is getting to long and i don't want to bore you , no pictures is no fun at all. And Mouse is up asking for soemthing!!!

Allright then!

This morning Angela arrived and we finished up her community hours with smashing ice, doing waters, tearing a fence down for the horses and picked horse manure from the pasture. By 2 we were both beat but we did it! That little fence allowed the horses some more grass. But as the saying goes the grass is always greener on the other side and so is the bird feeder. The horses explored the piggy village out front , ate bird seed and left a few good mounds on the driveway that had us bringing out the wheel barrow again.

Right now the work is easy and I don't ever recall saying that about winter but I'm not working right now so that could have a ton to do with it. Or the fact the acreage here is level ground and the horses are right up front here . No walking across the pasture threw the mud to the barn any more. Who ever put the barn out front here was a genius!

Carport Penny has the biggest of the two sheds that was here right next to where i keep all the feed. The only thing different for her is outside is a ton closer then it was before and that is good for her! No rocky driveway like the old place it is all paved here!

Mouse is licking up the bowl right now and i shared Penny's prunes with her. Today Mouse didn't potty at all so i am adding water to her pellets now too. Something more for me to worry about??

All the pigs seem to be settling in fine except for Winnie who is not a brave pig and has yet to venture out of her paddock.

Don Juan came at me again the day before. I was out in the middle of the front with only a little pail to protect myself. He lunged for me and a bucket of water over his head didn't change anything. I made a run for it when he leaped at me and jumped into Mouses mini pen. Watched him bite at the chair as he was feeling pretty mighty after seeing me run away lol. I grabbed the sorting board and walked towards his paddock and he stopped to eat bird seed and when I called him he was like his reg self. I hope when his hormones stop running rampant from the neuter so will he. If not he will never get out of his pen because he is a formidable opponent or unless i get some goalie pads and can take him off his feet. I will never be respected by him unless i win this fight.

This place wouldn't be too bad if i could keep the pellet stove running , it needs an over haul or something. Yesterday it stopped again so i went to grab the manual i found in one of the drawers to find out how you clean them. I read where it said do not vacuume unless its totally cold in there but stubborn and impatient that's me. And it was cold in here! So a quick vacuum then a dash threw the hosue with the bag on fire and there goes a perfectly good little car vacuum.

Mom stopped at the old place to pick up some mail from the new owner. The carport is gone and pretty much so is the kitchen. Major renovations happening over there. Funny how "home" has turned into the old place.

I am starting to feel like myself now although we worked hard today i feel good and snow is coming so i better get going early tomorrow!

Mouse is eating !!!

I am still way behind on emails but I wanted to thank everyone who posted there concerns as I took them to heart. I began force feeding her yogurt by the syringe. My vet actually came here yesterday morning to check on her which is something the practice doesn’t do. He works at the Grouse Mountain Wild Life Preserve as the vet there as well so me thinks he stopped on his way up the mountain. Even so something he didn’t get paid for and was here with Mouse for about an hour checking her over. He left us feeling confident she would begin eating today and he was right. Last night I offered her spinach and she ate it all up. Between last night at about 11 and this morning she ate her assortment of offerings and her served banana and apple pieces this morning. She was a little bit more of a challenge to get the meds in her so she is on her way to recovery now. Her first bowel movement will be the tell all for me and now that she has something in her I can expect that soon too. The prunes and spinach hopefully will make it an easy move-ment ;o))



She is here with me in the big house and the weather is really cold here right now. Hammering out ice out of waters twice a day and filling by the bucket until I get my electric hose today. Its only 40ft at over 200.00 but 40ft of not walking with a pail I will take at this price. Any how her little self will no doubt be spending a lot of house time as she is quite comfortable here in her nest of blankets.



The make shift pen is at the only access for pigs into or out of my house right now and I have the ramp set up for an easy way in and out for her and a tiny penned off area outside of it all. She has been using the litter tray , these guys are soo smart but you all know that!! She can stay in the big house as long as she wants , returning to the herd will be her decision.



I told her last night how she will be able to run like the wind again , no longer packing around that extra weight, and her natural sitting up on her back legs for treats will come again for this brave little girl!!

( stain on the couch was a squirt of meds as she resisted the offering a tad this morning! )



The operation was just a little over $2500.00 for enquiring minds wondering what the charges are like here . And it was a fair price as it was a steady 3 1/2 hours of surgery for Ken and his team and he went right from Mouse to another appointment waiting in the office. He was eating a cookie on the fly.

Mouse is refusing to eat

I have tried everything and anything! Waiting it out is not an option. I know she just had major surgery but a pig who refuses to eat is a very sick pig and i am not waiting it out any more. I forced fed her honey and the meds in a syringe tonight. Surprising it wasn't as difficult as i thought it would be , that is another sign things are not right.

Ken is coming to see her tommorrow morning..

Mouse is ready to come home!!!!!!!!!

The doctor says she is doing well and was standing up when I was talking to him. Color is good , heart rate good and she is a much smaller pig!! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa



I will arrange help to pick her up now and will bring her home this afternoon. She will have all the attention she needs here in the big house with me and will arrange her bed in front of the patio doors here. Ramps to be arranged for down the road and a way to keep her confined when we do go outside but for the next few days/weeks she will be a house pig!

EDITED TO ADD.. she is home in a nest full of blankets a few feet from me. The pellet stove is keeping is all toasty warm, i hope she feels better tomorrow. She is drinking but has refused food tonight of any kind. I won;t push it as the ride home probably exhausted her. Pigs never lie down in the crates..

Mouse

My brave little girl survived the removal of a 35lb tumour today and i pray with all my heart i will see her back with herd very soon. She will of course spend the night and these next 24 hours are in our creators hands now as Ken (Watcom Vet) did a wonderful job! I was there at 9:30 thanks to the help of Carol (SAINTS) and Smitty!! Three hours in surgery... i got home about 3:30 with the aid of West Coast Tails Pet Taxi who came back to pick me up again after getting us to the vets on time.

Please send postive thoughts and prayers for Mouse.

That is Mouse on your left hand side after her herd got into a bale of straw back at the old place. They had fun!!!