Camping with Eddie: Petals and Pigs

Thought I'd melted into a puddle on the computer room rug, didn't you?  Well, it is still hot, but that isn't the whole reason for not blogging.  And I certainly have lots of photos and topics to blog about.  So as well as summer inertia, we'll blame it on lost dogs (not mine!), facebook (what a time sucker), company, gardening, volunteerism, writing for other purposes, and just plain laziness.

So let's wrap up the Camping with Eddie series and move on to other topics...

The last couple of days of our camping trip were spent lazing around, playing with the camera.  Although it was mid-June, the spring flowers had just come into full force - spring arrives much later in the mountains than on the island!  There were blossoms everywhere, in every colour and shape.  Here's just a few of my favourites:

Okay, not a blossom - a berry!
Salmonberry
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

California Poppies
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Foxglove
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Orange flower
(forgotten the name!)
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

A bee flew into this shot
just as I snapped the photo!

Wild Rose
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Don't know what these are -
They grew on a large tree and lower shrubs, with large, broad,  five-petalled leaves.
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

I was going to call this entry "Petals, Peckers, and Pigs", because I also have some photos of a woodpecker who entertained me one morning.  I thought, however, that pairing Peckers and Pigs in a title might be misinterpreted and who knows who might end up on this page while searching for completely different material!  But here are the photos of the woodpecker - he was either a rather large male Downy, or a male Hairy Woodpecker with a rather short beak. (The two species are almost identical except in overall size and in the length of the beak).

(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

On the day we left the campsite to return home, we took a sidetrip to Hearts on Noses Mini Pig Sanctuary. Janice, the owner, was in hospital having had a heart attack two days previous, but her mom and sister were there to receive the fruit and veggies we took for the piggies and to share a cup of tea while I said a quick hello to all the critters.

Molly and Chilko, Janice's two dogs, came to greet me first.

Molly

Chilko
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

And then Dior and  Lacey, the horses, came over to check out the apples I'd brought.

Got Apples?
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Then it was time to say hello to the pigs. They were all in their pens, as Janice's family was just about to leave for the hospital.  First stop was Panda, whose ears were bitten off by rats in the filthy conditions in which he was confined before coming to the sanctuary.

Panda
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Then there was this newcomer, whose name I don't know, but whose black and white markings and longer nose make him stand out in a crowd.

(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Then off to see the twelve I fostered.  Most were sleeping, but some made the effort to come say hello to their former foster mama.

Hi Former Foster Mama!
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

I didn't have treats on me - not wanting to get all the pigs excited just as everyone was about to leave - so some just opened their eyes and grunted a hello. 

What, no treats?
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Then round to see the pink pigs - Comet, Rose and Roscoe:

Comet
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Rose
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

Roscoe
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

And lastly a quick peek at some of the other potbellied porcines.  I particularly liked this shot:

Hello there.
Haz you seen our Mama Janice?
(c) Jean Ballard 2013 

And then it was back in the van, back on the boat, and back home to the island.  And onto other stories.

Yahoo!
(c) Jean Ballard 2013