Oh piggies - 13 years old today!

The piglets who were in a large part the inspiration for starting this blog are THIRTEEN today!  THIRTEEN! How can that be? 

Oh piggies....I watched you being born and fostered you and your parents for the first two years of your life.  It's hard to believe you are thirteen now, and both your parents (Scotch and Soda) have passed on. 

Clockwise: Babies on their birthday;  Whisper with his blankie that he tore from a larger one and placed over his own back;  Blue-eyed baby;  Fizzy posing for the camera at about 3 months. 

Who knew that when the SPCA seized your parents from a life of neglect and abuse and asked Hearts on Noses Sanctuary to take them in (who in turn asked me to foster the TWO pigs), that there were all those babies waiting in the wings - or the belly - to be born just two or three weeks later.  What a ride that was!  You brought me so much laughter in so many ways.

Belle, one of my shelties at that time, watching over the piglets. 

Toddy and his magical tail having fun in a pool.

Fostering you was one of the best times of my life.  I've visited you whenever I could, and I hope to visit you again once Covid is less of a threat where you live. 

Treats for my babies, during a visit to Hearts on Noses a few years ago.

RobRoy hoping the door to the feedroom will open

Happy thirteenth birthday, Whisper, RobRoy, Tom, Lizzie, Derby, Toddy, Swizzle, Fizzy, Rickey, and Spritzer.  May you have many more happy and safe years ahead.

Feasting on watermelon during a visit to the sanctuary.

The Piggies' Empty Stockings

Remember Scotch, Soda, and their ten little piglets - the family I fostered for Hearts on Noses Pig Sanctuary from 2007-2009?  Soda passed away this fall, but the rest are doing well at the Sanctuary along with their many piggy friends - forty three of them in all!

If you are stuck for gift ideas for the people who have everything, or if you hate shopping as much as I do, or if you just want to reduce over-the-top consumerism and subsequent waste and environmental impact........making a donation to one or more of the amazing charities out there is a great way to make a positive contribution to the world.  And if you enjoyed my many stories of life with the critters, perhaps you'll consider one of the rescues or sanctuaries that I've mentioned frequently in this blog.  Like Hearts on Noses.

Belle herding all the piglets in 2007

I hear rumors that the piggies have written their letters to Santa Claus and what they are hoping for is stockings full of money to pay for food and veterinary care and soft warm straw and maybe even a few treats.  In fact, they are hoping to find a total of $100 in each stocking Christmas morning.

My former foster piggies checking out the empty pan

Hearts on Noses has created a fundraiser page with 43 squares - one with each pig's name on it.  When a stocking reaches $100, that square turns green.  Of course, I'm partial to Scotch and the kiddies (now seniors!), so I stuffed a little into each of their stockings.  I'm hoping some of my followers on the blog might add a little more.  If you use the page to donate through Canada Helps, your tax receipt is issued automatically and immediately. In the message part, just tell my friends at Hearts on Noses, which pig's stocking your money is to go into.  The link is at the end of this post.

RobRoy's wondering if Santa is hiding in the shed

If your memory is failing, or if you are new to the blog but still want to help, the names of my former fosters are:  Scotch, Whisper, RobRoy, Tom, Lizzie, Derby, Toddy, Fizzy,, Rickey, Mica and Switzer (those last two were called Swizzle and Spritzer when I was fostering them.....somehow their names were changed over the years!)

Treats for my babies

I don't get over to the sanctuary very often, but every time I go there I am awed at the progress Janice and her amazing team of volunteers have made  - they provide an awesome, beautiful, safe haven for 43 very happy pigs and a few other critters as well. Let's make their Christmas special.

Visions of sugarplums dance in his head 

Here's the link to their page - just follow the directions on there: http://www.heartsonnoses.com/

Remembering Soda

Back in June 2007, when I was renting a very old farm house with a dilapidated  old barn on 5 acres of land, my friend Janice asked if I could foster two potbellied pigs that her sanctuary, Hearts on Noses, had been asked to take in.  The sanctuary was full, but my barn wasn't  - I had four dogs, a cat, and an alpaca, none of whom lived in the barn.  And I had grown to love piggies from my work at her sanctuary and another. So I said yes.

The pigs were part of an SPCA seizure, and they were in pretty bad shape - vastly overweight, living knee deep in filth in a crate barely large enough for two small dogs.  I have never forgotten the moment they waddled out of the trailer onto the green grass of my farm, and immediately began stretching and bowing and oofing (their happy noise) and kneading the lawn as they experienced freedom for what may have been the first time: 

First day at the farm

I named them Scotch and Soda.  Scotch was mellow, smooth, and leaves the mouth with an mmmmmmmmm smile. Soda was effervescent – I wouldn’t say bubbly but certainly she had “oomph” and attitude, with that sharp little edge of an unsweetened drink.  

Unbeknownst to us - or the the SPCA - Soda was already pregnant, and within just a few weeks she gave birth to twelve babies.  Sadly, one was stillborn and one died within a day or two, but the remaining ten were healthy and strong and so my two foster piggies became twelve foster piggies.  They lived with me for nearly two years, until I retired and moved away (as Janice had known I was going to do), and then the whole family moved to the sanctuary.

Newborn piglets

This Monday evening, Janice contacted me with the sad news that Soda had suddenly passed away.  She had been off her food a few days earlier, but seemed to bounce back, and then suddenly she was gone. Scotch and Soda were full grown when they came to us, which means they were likely 5 years old or more.  That would make Soda at least 16 at her passing . Her piggy family were with her in their cosy cabin at her passing, then they came outside. But when two of the volunteers went  into her pighouse to say their goodbyes, they found Scotch back  in there with her, straw on his nose where he had been rooting at her side, giving those nudges he was so prone to give to those he loved most.

Scotch and Soda 2007

Scotch and Soda were a truly bonded couple.  On the night that I separated Scotch and Soda for what was likely the first time in their lives – the separation being necessitated by Soda’s imminent piggybirth – I sat in the stall with Scotch and watched big wet tears silently slide down his cheeks. I sang him his favourite song and slowly the tears stopped and he lay there not understanding why his bunkmate wasn’t at his side. He was lonely and very sad. 

The next day I bought him a Soda-sized teddy bear and tucked it along side him, and he slept that way for several nights. One morning, I came in to find Teddy lying with his face in the water dish on the other side of the stall, nose and mouth immersed in water. To this day, I’m not sure if Scotch thought Teddy might be thirsty, or if he was trying to tell me a stuffed bear was no subsitute for his Soda.  Fortunately it wasn’t long before I was able to integrate Soda and the babies back into the main stall.

Scotch, Soda, and one of the kids.

Soda was a character - I'm quite sure Ms Piggy was her hero, and those that created the Muppet's character certainly captured the personality of a female pig, especially a female pig at that time of her cycle (which is every 21 days).  PMS is not just confined to humans!

Soda was bossy, pushy, funny,  sweet, bitchy, and one cool pig. In describing porcine communication, I once said:

Soda is the queen of the nasty noises: “arf, arf, arf” means “I’m pissed off,” and a very loud, very deep, very rude sound that is reminiscent of what happens when some people eat too many beans. It clearly means “I’m really, really mad at you, now BACK OFF YOU *&%%%”. This is accompanied by a facing off and a hard shove on the leg with the snout. It isn’t just [pig] verbal communication that amazes me but also the nonverbal communication of their emotions. Scotch arches his back downward, stretches out full length, raises his snoutie, and kneads the ground in pleasure every time he is let out into the big yard. Soda, I swear, tosses her head in the classic Ms Piggy move and with an exaggerated swivel of the hips, saunters past me with the message “I am QUEEN. Out of my way, peon!”. 

Soda loved food (okay, what pig doesn't) - but she had a knack for helping herself that surpassed all the others.  I still suspect her of instigating the Great Barn Raid back when the piggies were just little ones, though the piglets wrote the apology letter.  You can read it here.  Even after she moved to the sanctuary, she still found ways to steal a snack:

Soda helping herself from the feed bucket
as it was being prepared for the dinner rounds

And she was also the best mudwallow builder.  While Scotch would knock over water bowls, Soda would heave herself underneath the side of their kiddy pool and dump the whole thing onto the ground. She loved her mudbaths! 

Queen of the mudpacks

In recent years, when I visited Scotch and Soda and family at the sanctuary, I found it hard to tell Soda apart from her only daughter, Lizzie.  Soda never looked like an old pig (must be all those mudpacks!), and her daughter, now eleven years old, looks a lot like her.  It was a lot easier to tell them apart when I was fostering! 

Soda chats with daughter Lizzie, age three months.

Soda and Lizzie  November 2007

Fostering Scotch and Soda and their babies was one of the highlights of my life.  There wasn't a day without laughter, a day without amazement, a day without feeling great love for those funny, oh-so-smart, somewhat cheeky pigs.  And seldom a day with challenges! But Soda was the best mama ever.

Thank you, Janice, for entrusting me with her all those years ago, and thank you for loving her for so many years. My heart goes out to Scotch, who has lost his lifelong mate, and to Whisper, Toddy, Derby, Rickey, Swizzle, Spritzer, RobRoy, Fizzy, Tom and Lizzie, who have lost their piggy mama.  I am thankful they have their human mama to help them through the grief. 

You were a good, good pig, Soda.  You'll find your two tiny lost babies at the Rainbow Bridge, as well as so many sanctuary friends to play with and to boss around until the rest of your family joins you. And I'm betting there are lots of good muddy wallows and fresh green grass at there too.   Run free, sweet funny feisty girl.  You were greatly loved. 

Foster Mama
xxoooxx

Visiting Old Friends

I have just returned from a trip to the mainland to attend my nephew's Celebration of Life and to visit old friends. One of those friendship visits was to Hearts on Noses, the pig sanctuary for whom I once fostered Scotch, Soda, and their ten babies.  Those babies will be ELEVEN next month, which means Scotch and Soda are likely around 15, as they were full grown when they arrived at my little acreage.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my visit to the sanctuary:

First to greet me was Chilco, one of two dogs at the sanctuary.
In this photo, he was staring intensely at a bug crawling across
the spot of dirt where he wanted to lie down!

I'm not sure what Janice was saying, but I love how the pig (Cotton? Pete?)
is so attentive and engaged. Don't you wish all your conversation partners were this interested in what you have to say?

What would a photoshoot be without the twelve I fostered from 2007-2009?
That's Janice watching over the fence, volunteer Jana filling the water dishes, and Lacey grazing in the background.

Scotch, you've grown a bushy beard! 

Looking after pigs is thirsty work! 

Roscoe, in one of his calmer moments.

Anyone remember the time Roscoe knocked me over in the poop corner while I was trying to build his pen? You can read about it here: The handywoman, the pig, and the hot summer's day

I think he has mellowed a bit since then - well, sometimes.  I love this series of photos of volunteer Magda sharing a cuddle, some lovings and some greens with him:

There was a new family of volunteers the day I visited.  The son, Ryan, took some time to get to know Roscoe.

Ryan meets Roscoe
(photo posted with parental permission)

Rose, beautiful Rose - one of the first Hearts on Noses piggies I met, back around 2006 I think - when she was little enough to be a house pig and opened the fridge door, pulled open the crisper, and took off running with a bag of food!

Rose still gets excited about food -
I was distributing peanuts. 

Scotch the pigapotamus!

Of course, there are always a few critters who find their own way to the sanctuary,
and know a good thing when they see it!

Lots of healthy green grass for the pigs to munch on!

Whisper, Rob Roy and Fizzy
They always followed me around when I fostered them,
and were the first of the twelve to run up to me when I visited the other day.
One has flopped over for a belly rub! 

Maggie stayed home with a petsitter while I was on the mainland.  I think she wants to tell you about that herself - tomorrow, perhaps!

Can you say Happy Birthday?

I've written before about how much courage I think it takes to run a sanctuary. The endless hours of heavy work, the frustration at the never ending requests from people unable or unwilling to keep their animals for life, the fear when a loved animal resident becomes ill, the worry about where the money for vets and feed and property maintenance will come from, the difficulty recruiting and keeping reliable volunteers.

Hard work?? But we're so CUTE! 

And I KNOW that most of my readers get it - most of you came here to follow stories of the critters because you, too, are animal lovers. And, as animal lovers, you probably recall that a few weeks ago the Cowichan and District SPCA had 24 potbellied pigs surrendered to them, several of which were pregnant.  Sadly, finding homes for potbellied pigs is next to impossible - hence the massive numbers that end up in farm animal sanctuaries, and specifically pot bellied pig sanctuaries, across North America.

And yet, you'll also know how intelligent and funny and strong-willed and loving pot bellied pigs are. At least, you'll know that if you followed the stories I wrote way back at the beginning of this blog when I fostered two, then twelve, potbellied pigs for Hearts on Noses Sanctuary, a not-for-profit registered charity now located in Mission, BC.

Did foster mama bring us some treats?

A month ago, I wrote about transporting three of the SPCA pigs to Hearts on Noses.  Janice Gillett, who runs the sanctuary had kindly agreed to take them in.  She named the mama Rainbow, and the two babies Plumb and Tierra.

Rainbow in transit

Janice welcomes Tierra and Plumb

She took them in even though she has forty pigs there already and  struggles financially. She took them in even though she has a heart condition and needs heart surgery pretty damn soon. She took them in even though slogging through rain and snow and mud and blazing sun to feed all those pigs, to make sure they all get turns in the pasture, to scoop their poop and fix their houses and bring them straw for their beds and water for their dishes and feed for their bellies is hard work - darn hard work!

She took them in even though she knew she was somehow going to have to raise at least $1500 for their spays, in addition to the monthly costs of feeding three more mouths.

I hope this place has enough food for us!

One anonymous donor offered to pay for one spay. Several others have donated to raise another approximately $500 online at For the Love of Pigs, on Fundrazr.

In another month or two, the babes (and their mama, who is barely more than a babe herself)  will be ready for spaying, and we still need to raise at least another $500 - preferably more, as there are always more costs....medicine, unexpected emergencies, ongoing costs for growing piglets, alterations to the shelter and fencing.

An adorable house sits by the edge of Hearts on Noses' driveway,
waiting to be moved and fenced for the new piggy residents

And I know you get tired of being asked for money. Many of you are facing challenging financial times yourself. But if your good friend was celebrating a birthday, would you find a couple of bucks for a card? Maybe even buy them a cup of coffee, or spend a few dollars more on a gift, or a dinner, or a bottle of wine?  Would you?

Birthdays are meant to be CELEBRATED! 

Well, today is Janice's birthday!  If you appreciate the hard work she does for the animals, if you are thankful that there is a place piggies can go to live out their lives, knowing they are safe from abuse and neglect and abandonment,  perhaps you might think of her as a friend. So take that money you'd spend for a card and stamp, that money for the drink or the fancy cupcake you might buy her, and instead donate it to Rainbow, Plumb, and Tierra's spay fund.  Let's see that figure rise as the birthday wishes pour in.

Rainbow, Plumb and Tierra

Or go to Canada Helps and donate to Hearts on Noses there - you can add a message to specify it is for the spays of the piglets.  You'll even get a tax receipt.

Two dollars, five dollars, twenty dollars......whatever you can afford, whatever you might scrape together to wish your friend, your very courageous pig-loving friend,  a very happy birthday. Let's make this a birthday to remember - the birthday when the gifts didn't arrive in gaily coloured paper but instead arrived in the form of money for spays of three more rescued potbellied pigs.

Janice,  thank you for all you do for the pigs.  Thank you for adding Rainbow, Plumb and Tierra to your already large family.  Happy Birthday, my friend.  I'm heading to Canada Helps now.

Let's all head off to make a donation!
(Plumb front, Tierra rear) 

Again, here's the links for two ways to donate to Rainbow's, Plumb's, and Tierra's spay fund, the best birthday gift you can give our pig-loving friend:
Canada Helps
For the Love of Pigs




(Confession:  Some of the photos in this post were stolen from Janice's own page, since I'm too far away to get new photos.  I'm pretty sure she won't mind). 

Dogs, cats, pigs, and friends

A trip to the mainland always involves some of my least favourite things - like traffic, and being away from home, and traffic, and constantly figuring out changed and poorly signed routes, and traffic.  But that is balanced out by the opportunity to see some of my favourite people and pets and piggies.

A five day trip last month was no exception.  I wasn't off the ferry for more than fifteen minutes before new routes had me lost, and endless traffic had me chomping at the bit to return to my island. However, eventually I found the restaurant where my family and friends were waiting for me to join them for lunch - it has become almost a tradition for us to meet at the Riverhouse Pub near Deas Island Park on my way to or from the ferry.

After lunch, I headed out to my friends Ann and Ken in Abbotsford, who always offer Mitzi and me their self-contained lower level as a base while I take off hither and yon, and never fail to not only stock the fridge in 'my' space but also share many an amazing meal with me upstairs. In return, I let them beat me at whist at least once per visit.  They feed my stomach, I feed their egos. And we share a lot of laughs.  Mitzi isn't quite so happy about the visits - she is quite the homebody and even though our mainland space is familiar to her, she'd still much rather not travel at all:

Still, they have a big back yard that is frequently visited by cats, and there are few things that sniffer-dog Mitzi loves more than tracking the route a cat or two has taken.

Sniff sniff sniff
One grey, one orange, one black and white cat...

Which way did they go?

On Friday, I headed out to visit my friend Deb and her dog Lily and cat Hugo, at their new condo in South Surrey.

Hai!  I'm Hugo!
I hazn't seen you for a while!

You're not going to monopolize my mama, are you?

After a delicious lunch, Lily informed us it was time to go for a walk in the woods near her home:

C'mon!  Hurry up!  We've got a ball to chase!

Oops, sorry mom, I didn't mean to lose it. I know it's down there somewhere!
Find it, find it, find it! 

Dogs!  You don't see me losing my toys on some silly walk! 

Saturday saw a visit to Emma and her dad.  Emma, who turned twelve this week (Happy Birthday, Ems!), is doing well after a fun summer of swimming and lazing about in the interior.  She is a water dog through and through.  Her three favourite joys in life are food, swimming, and her dad.  I'm not sure what order she would place those in.  I'd like to think that I'm in her top ten still, and from the way she greets me, I think I am.

Emma (in front) and her best buddy Abby.
She who stares the hardest gets the first treat. 

On Sunday I spent time at Hearts on Noses Sanctuary with Janice and the piggies.  It was raining, so even the herd I fostered - Scotch and Soda and their ten 'babies' (who are now nine years old!) - was reluctant to come out of their nice cozy houses without a little added incentive.

Oh, okay, I guess we'll come say 'hi' if you're going to feed us apples.

Once they were out, they followed me around for a while - probably hoping for more apples - while I greeted my other porcine  - and canine - friends.

Who's out there?

Oh, look, someone left these apples near my door!

Did Santa Claus come early?

Whisper, one of my three velcro pigs, stayed with me the whole visit and introduced me to his new friend Sugar Ray. Sugar Ray, like a person with their head in a good book, was more interested in having his head in a good pumpkin than having his photo taken.

Pumpkinhead,,. aka Sugar Ray

Whisper doesn't mind sharing

Janice introduced me to some of the pigs who were new since my last visit, like Pete who carefully supervised Janice's apple-toss technique as we doled out treats to everyone:

Pete, not impressed with a throw where the apple doesn't land at his feet.

Chilco gets an apple too!

And what would a visit to Hearts on Noses be without a
photo of my pal Rose, with her beautiful feathery ears?

Coffee with my friend Luanne, dinner out with Ann and Ken at the Spaghetti Factory, some quiet time to read, little walks with Mitzi, and soon the five days were over and we were headed back home.  Allie greeted us with long stories of how Mary, our kind neighbour who takes care of her, was "too stingy with the Temptations and where the heck were you anyway?! ", and Mitzi bounced all over the house before running into the bedroom to snuggle down in her familiar space for a long winter's nap.

There's no place like home!