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!!!

Safe and Sound

I am too darn tired to think about where i left off but i can't help wanting to write. Feeling that if i don't, it will all disappear from my memory.

Saturday morning started with out our flat deck, poor guy broke down the day before and while he watched his truck being towed he thought of us and called to let us know. That thought alone was priceless.

Gord arrived with his partner and wife Mae, this family was one of the many huge spokes in this giant wheel. Not only did they meet my worry of them having to make two trips for sheds now with ease they hired a moving company , gave us a donation and a beautiful red sectional to fill the big room in this house. Although while it was all going down it seemed over the top , it was a smart move by Mae as we had the help that day to move everything.

We held back the horse trailers for the crane truck to remove the first two sheds , a lot easier picking this time and they were on there way.

We had basically three small herds of pigs to load so we grabbed every piece of plywood we could muster and made a quick long shoot. I may have got a bit testy this time but i didn't want a repeat of the last time. As the pigs are being herded down the shoot they are watching every movement and seeing it as a threat. This triggers there natural flight response, and wanting to turn back. I had made it very clear to our herders no one moves , no one talks and not one foot moves an inch up ahead of the pigs. Charlie , Kay's son and i brought the pigs forward with our herding boards. (thanks to Deb and Jim for those!) 6 pigs in and lets get the next four. We again rigged up a shoot into the one we created and walla , now there in.

Casanova and Winnie were next and they would go in the last section of Kay's goose neck stock trailer. Pretty cool how those doors slide closed and we have three separate box stalls. These two are my house pigs and have had more exposure too what pigs deem as scary,so Winnie basically said okay and Casa followed. Dylan alone, we crated and set him in the trailer, he was pretty heavy that little guy. Kay would return home do her horse's and bring the pigs when we were ready. Treats of alfalfa were met with waggy tails i am told during there wait for departure time .

We let the moving truck in and filled it up along with the trailer Mae pulled behind her , in fact i think we loaded that twice. Tons of rubber mats, wood, couches and even the outside fridge made the trip. I sent some of our helpers along with the moving van and hoped they would have that emptied by the time we filled all of our trucks.

Crane truck returned and grabbed the last two sheds. They had also set in all the sheds we had moved the day before into there ideal locations. Everything is going better then planned. ( see my smug smile here )

Karen arrived with her horse trailer and that got the rest of my hay and feed from the barn and as much more wood as we could fit in there.

Our last pig moved was our Carport Penny. John's, Mom had offered up her van so in went a mound of blanket's , two cushions and lets get the ramp and get this girl up there. Word back from these limo drivers was Penny even took a look out the window.

Jingles custom senior doggy ramp has come in very handy for this entire move Jean and Smitty! Many of the horse trailers are step ups and far to high for little pigs legs to muster. This is how we got Penny into the Van.

We all headed out together after securing the cats and carrying out the aquarium for Tippy into my truck. We arrived to find the crane truck had slipped off the driveway once the shed weight was removed and they were fighting the hole they were in. I had drove half way with two cats howling and then my poor scared cats well... the smell of the inside of my truck was how these poor guys in the hole must of felt .

These guys are pro's and had the truck out within 30 minutes and no sooner did they pull out and the moving truck pull in did the pigs arrive.

I had been barking orders and was running around like crazy as i could see many of the houses came with out there ramps or ramps were set far too high and i was all over trying to fix things before the pigs arrived. Gads the moving van isn't even unloaded yet and the pigs have arrived. What smug smile??? I was all over the place, these pigs needed to be able to get in there houses and we will be loosing light in an hour. Everyone was great as i gave orders for some one to grab bales of hay for some of these sheds and lets get some wheelbarrows of dirt to fill in the height on these ramps!!

Now getting them from the horse trailers too there pens was a little hairy scary but we did it , whew.

It was dark when we unloaded Penny and everyone is here safe!

The next two days was back to the old place , we had tons of work to do . Cleaning of the house and materials i wanted had to be torn from the pen work. Gates and 2 x 6s that all can be used again, down the road. And a few trips to the dump.

The house and every room is opened boxes , stacked boxes, tools here and there, Tortillas mess in the corner and outside is a mess of wood that wasn't stacked and half dozen vari kennels to wash. Tools everywhere and i got to attack that tomorrow and get Penny set up properly.

I have much to be grateful for and so many to thank for helping the pigs and I move. So many good people giving up there time to come so far and work for the animals here. Bringing trucks, equipment and trailers that would all have to be cleaned once they got home. There gift here did not end when they left as there chores that didn't get done are compiled now as well. Clothes and jackets soaked right threw and the muddy mess we all worked in. A lot of old faces and a lot of new. Thank you all so very much!!!!!!!!

Leaving the old place was difficult and i went down memory road from picture to picture remembering our life here . Thanking the apple trees for the treats they provided our babies and filling the bird feeder there for the last time. I left a bag of bird seed there with a note and i pray the new owners feed my birds as they don't ask for much to fill our lives with song.

I went out to Willy's garden and removed some of his things and left some of his too. I called out to all the animals who i put into the earth there and told them to follow me. I took one little tree that had been uprooted, it would represent all of my babies lost there and our new begining here.

I realized something very important when I was at the barn. Looking out where i had watched Willy get into the alfalfa and when i sat out here with the horses at night. And remembering Mark leaning on the post having a smoke that I realized that i wasn't leaving any of them. I was taking them with me , as these memories are coming with me!

So I closed the gates, put the chain over and drove away.

Another perfect Day!

Every one who offered to help arrived and Bill and Fanny rented the big truck and Jim arrived with the horse trailer.

We all got in position to herd Norm into the trailer and that little man went up and into the trailer like he had been doing it all his life. Tail wagging as we got the Butter Cup Kids ready to go. Casandra tried to out smart us but eventually Tuskers lead the way with Cassandra and Danny following. 20 minutes and four pigs are loaded into the horse trailer and Jim was on his way.

Bill is one of those kind of guys who goes for it , right on!! So with his lead we managed to roll, take down fences, remove posts , drag, lift and load three very large houses and one shed into that big truck.

Nancy stayed back washing dishes and water tubs and loaded her truck while we headed out to the new place. All the houses came off and were set up in front of pens ready to be lifted over by the crane truck when it comes tomorrow. And then we placed Georges house into a pen his is connected too.

Tortilla is still in the big house ripping and rooting things apart, keeping my Mom up all night . And when i walked by the trailer that housed George and Pebbles, it was shaking. Those two were duking it out so after the second time i walked by i let them both out. They leaped down from the trailer and followed me into there new pens. George was following around Pebbles like a puppy in love so it will be all right once they get sorted out who is going to be boss.

Norm and the Butter Cup Kids will remain in the trailer over night and that is where i fed them all and every one else before i left.

Don Juan has quite a story to tell when you visit him , he is chatting up every one who visits and telling them all about his harrowing ordeal yesterday. Cozy in a nest of hay we all gave him extra treats all day.

The horses are calm and settled in today , this brings me a huge amount of comfort and grazing so very close to the scary geese next door. lol.

My sister Nancy is spending the night out there and i guess this will be the last night i sleep here as all my kids will all be at there new home by tomorrow.

I will not be in front of my system tomorrow night, OMDAWGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is another big day, as there are three sheds to move,14 pigs, two cats and a turtle. Plus anything we can fit into and load into whatever arrives.

I am asleep at the keyboard here and must go out and feed the kids, left over chili is calling my name...

Thanks to every one who helped pull off today!!!!!!!

Today went perfect!

We got Don Juan crated in about 15 minutes . We blocked the door way to his shed and lined up the crate at the door way. John manned the crate and Nancy and I climbed into the shed with two herding boards and we herded him out the door way into the crate, perfect. Took all of 15 minutes , tops.

West Coast Tails Pet Taxi ( awesome) arrved right on time and we got him on his way to the vet to be nuetered and a tusk trim.

Karena arrived with the horse trailer and then we crated Jack , George , Pebbles and Tortilla. Peb and jack needed me to help them go all the way in the crate and they are all getting to feel heavy by this time lol. Tortilla was soooooooo good as was Gentlemen George.

While Nancy and John hung back washing all there dishes and water tubs i drove out leading the way for Karena. Pigs all were left crated in the trailer as i decided to go back and get Jacks house as his paddock was ready. Karena left her trailer with us and that is where Geroge and Pebbles are nested down. Tortilla in the big house in the games room at the new palce. We are doing better then my paln so far.. but we are tired already.

Back to the hosue i go and then we got Jacks hosue into my truck , loaded up more stuff and all of us headed to the new place again.

Jacks house got set up in the new place and then we carried jack out and set him free. Got some hay for Jack , George and Pebbles , water and food bowls and then i fed them all. Oh and Pebbles and George are out of the crates and have the horse trailer for over night.

Mom brought me out a bowl of home made vegan chili so I ate that on the fly.. yum!!!

The new two sheds arrive and the guys struggle with getting them in place but they did it!!! Way to Steve, Son of Steve's, Randy , John and Wayne the shed guy! And only $1200.00 not 1500.00.

Don Juan arrives home so we tuck him in. He was so good the vet and the Pet Taxi tell us, he never made a fuss all the way there and all the way home.

I just got home we all put in a nine hour day and i have to go feed the kids here yet.

Huge bummer is one of the paddocks is udner water after that terrible rain fall last night so i pray it will have drained away by Saturday. I may have to rent a pump or invest in one... but they won't drown!!!!!!!!!

I will have to bring in gravel and bark mulch but let me get them all moved there first!

And yes i stopped at the wine and beer store on my way home...

Final Stages

Thursday November 26th we will be here loading Don Juan at 9am in a crate to be transported for his neuter. He will be transported by a Pet Taxi as there is no one to do this for me right now. Nancy and Tracey will assist and when Don is ready to travel from the vets he will be taxied right too Mission into the shed on site for his recovery.

Karena will also be here arriving with her horse trailer and we will load George, Pebbles and Jack . We may have to crate to get them in the trailer . The horse trailer will travel to the Mission site and be parked there over night with the pigs until pens and houses are ready. ( four pigs moved)

I may have John here who is serving his community hours down here.

Two sheds will be delivered as purchased hopefully today or tomorrow to Mission site.

Friday November 27th . Bill and Fanny have rented a five ton with a lift and we will have the use of two horse trailers. What I hope to do here is load as many pigs as we can and get as many of the smaller pigs houses loaded into that truck. Tortilla and Dylan can be in one horse trailer that has a divider. Penny must be added to this move too.. stress… We will also move Norm and the Butter cup kids which is four more pigs that can remain in one trailer. Not sure how much room I have out there for all these trailers but will look again when I go back out there. ( seven pigs moved)

Saturday November 28th We get the use of one of the crane truck again as we still have four more big sheds to move . We do have Steve arriving with his big tilt flat deck and we can sling and roll/drag a couple of these sheds. However we need that crane truck to lift them up and over the fencing at the new place as the fencing crew is geared to completion now.
We will also see Kay here with her big horse trailer which will hold the three remaining herds. (last 12 pigs.) And Karen , yeaaaaaaaaa she can take Penny!!



Sunday November 29th Bill and Fanny will arrive with a cube van and this will remove the rest of the contents of my house such as the office , couch, kitchen table and chairs.

Sunday and the Monday being the last day of the month are the days I have left to remove everything and all fencing we are going to try and recycle back to Mission.

Every day the more hands we get the easier it will be on every one who is here to help. You do not have to be pig savvy or strong and no one will be in the way. We do however will need strong arms as well!!! I really need any one who can help on any of these days . Please call or email what days you can help . Start time every day is 9AM and dress warm with rain gear, gloves , and boots if you have them. We do have some extra gear here.