A fantabulous day



A beautiful drive on a glorious day


I didn't expect it to be a great day.  I was up in the night with Charley, who was wandering around in a daze.  I took her outside and she stood with her head pressed to the wall of the house.  Oh no, I thought, she's in trouble again.  I led her back in, gave her a tramadol (pain killer)....and amazingly, she went right to sleep and was fine in the morning.

Some time ago, I had made a commitment to take a potential piggy foster for Hearts on Noses down to Central Saanich to meet one of our adopters and her piggies.  With Charley being ill, and Pepper coming in, I was hesitant to go, knowing I would be away several hours.  But, hey, sometimes you just have to trust your gut and go.  So I took each dog for a morning walk, arranged for a neighbour to check on them and let them out for a pee (thanks, Mary),  put the cat in the bedroom and Pepper in the mudroom, and gave Charley and Sadie the run of the rest of the house.   I had done several departures yesterday, leaving Pepper for a half hour at a time and she handled them beautifully, but it is too soon to trust them together unsupervised for half a day.

It was a gorgeous day - hot and sunny with lots of blue sky.     I arranged to meet the potential foster in Duncan, twenty minutes south of me, and she suggested we take her car .  I must confess...she didn't have to twist my arm very hard:

Wow - I haven't been in a convertible since I was 17.  And that is...well....let just say it is many decades ago. The trip from here to there is a lengthy drive via the Malahat - a beautiful stretch of mountain road with ocean views.  I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

The piggy adopter we were visiting, Dawn,  is also in a beautiful locale, with mountain and ocean views beyond endless fields.  And I got my piggy fix.  Dawn adopted Ruby through Hearts on Noses in February of this year.  She (Ruby the pig, not Dawn!) had been found running down a road all by herself, and no one had ever claimed her from animal control, who then contacted the sanctuary. She wasn't in great shape.  Fortunately, Dawn had recently filled in an application and undergone a home visit and so was preapproved, just waiting for a piggy in need.

And so it is a story with a happy ending.  And here's the proof.



Ruby, happy and healthy at last.



Yum!

Not only that, but Dawn's daughter, who lives on the next acreage, also adopted two pigs in need.  Olie was a very young piglet found abandoned in a residence in the city, with a sibling who sadly did not make it.  Olie was a pretty sickly little guy at first, taken from his mama too young and then left to die.  You would never guess his rough start by looking at him today at about eight months old:

Speedy Olie

Blowing bubbles in his pool

And Gracie was also just a baby when her owner on the island decided she no longer wanted her and put up an online classified to just give her away like an old television set or a bag of used clothes. 

I'm doing just fine now, thank you.

All three piggies live a life of luxury now, with fresh straw and hay, good feed and treats, pasture to munch and warm beds at night. Their tails never stopped wagging from the time we arrived until the time we left; they are very happy, content pigs.

A content Ruby, about to roll over for a belly rub

Waggy tailed Olie

A swallow has built her nest in one of the piggy houses, and baby birds have hatched.  I caught her on the fence, waiting to feed them as soon as we retreated. 

A drive back across the Malahat hampered only by a lengthy traffic jam, and five hours after I left home I was back.  The dogs were all fine, though Pepper was starving and the cat was pissed off at being confined.  A lovely breeze came up and I again took each of the dogs for a little walk after dinner, and now they lie at my feet - the perfect end to a perfect day.

Hmmph - personally, I thought it was kinda boring.

Yeah, being locked up so a dorky dog can't eat me is no fun.

I'm sick.  My mama's not supposed to leave me!

Boring, boring, boring.

After spending time with the piggies today, and thinking how much the little ones remind me of my days fostering the ten babes of Scotch and Soda, I suddenly realized..... I completely forgot to wish Tom, Toddy, Lizzie, Rob Roy, Rickey, Derby, Spritzer, Swizzle, Whisper, and Fizzy a very happy 4th birthday this past Thursday! I'm such a bad former piggy foster mama! Happy birthday, little pigs!

It's about time!  When are you sending our presents?