Piggy Pics from Red Dog Photography

We've had several adoption inquiries about the pigs lately, and I always give people the blog address so they can see more pictures of them. I realized today that it has been a while since I posted piggy pictures, though there are some in the archives here and here and here and of course their "gotcha day" story here. And those are just the June entries. Perusing the other months will find uncover more.

But just so the piggies get fair share of the blogtime this month, here are the wonderful, amazing, marvellous, funny, sweet, loveable piggies as captured by Sheena of Red Dog Photography during her recent visit here. (I will post the Red Dog Photography doggy pictures another day, doggy fans!).

This is just a sampling of her great work - a few of my favourites from the disk she provided.

Piggy Worry Lines

Photo by Red Dog Photography

"Whatcha doin'?"

Photo by Red Dog Photography

Gettin' some luvin'

Photo by Red Dog Photography

Rickey

Photo by Red Dog Photography

Snouties Up!

Photo by Red Dog Photography

More Snouties Up!

Photo by Red Dog Photography

"Ooohhhh - Peanut Butter (Jelly) Time!!"

Photo by Red Dog Photography

One cute little piglet

Photo by Red Dog Photography

And Still MORE Snouties Up!

Photo by Red Dog Photography

"Do I have something on my face?"

Photo by Red Dog Photography

Sadie, world's best grandma-dog!

Grandma Sadie and pupster Tina

Well, I was working on a story about life at my house over the past couple of days with a certain five month old lab puppy in residence - Tina, my neighbour's dog who is staying with me while they are on vacation. I took about a hundred pictures, I thought of a number of catchy titles, and I started to write the story. Let's just say that the story has something to do with ..ummmm....a pup's sense of interior decorating.

However, keeping up with Tina, selling raffle tickets (hint, hint, keep those orders coming......I'm almost sold out of the 3/$10 but there's still a bunch of five dollar single tickets left!), keeping pigs watered and cool, and trying to write a textbook review I'm committed to turn in to the publisher early next week....well, the pictures didn't get edited, the story isn't finished, and my brain and body are decidedly exhausted. So I'll save that story for another day.

Instead, I'll share with you a series of shots of Tina, The Energizer Puppy, with Sadie, my newest senior rescue and the most solid, stable tempermentally-sound collie cross imaginable. Sadie is like the proverbial grandma who is always patient with the little ones. Every now and then, when Junior gets out of hand, she displays a firm paw and a stern voice and pup immediately listens. The perfect sitter. The perfect grandma for a rambunctious pup. Now if I could only teach her to bake cookies.....


"I'm bored, play with me Grandma Sadie!"


"Take my picture tooooooo"


"Your breath smells funny, Grandma Sadie!"


"Once upon a time, when I was a young pup...."


"Do those teeth come out at night, Grandma Sadie?"


"I was just kiddin!"


Bitey face!


"I love you, Grandma Sadie!"

Shaw Wars

It appears my shaw email, for those who contact me that way, is not working. I am receiving some emails by accessing it through my account, remotely, but I cannot send mail out other than once every six hours or so. And even some of that comes back with a message saying "there are too many listeners" or something like that.....what the heck is a listener?????

So... if you emailed me at my shaw account and you're wondering why I'm not responding, please use the animalsinrescue at hotmail.com address (replace at with @) until further notice.

I love the convenience of email. I hate it when it doesn't work as it should. Grrrrr.

It's gonna be a loooooong ten days!

This is Tina, The Energizer Pup With The Very Big Eyes And Even Bigger Paws, who has come to stay with us while her family (neighbours of mine) visit the grandfolks.
OH MY DOG......WHAT HAVE I GOT MYSELF INTO???????

We did all the right things to prepare for this. Tina has visited several times over the past couple of weeks, first for an hour, then two, then six. Her humans brought over her food, her dish, her favourite blankie, a bag of her favourite toys, her leash, and an old stinky shirt belonging to her human mom. I pulled a dusty old crate from the barn (her own is built in to their house), cleaned it and set it up in the kitchen. I puppy-proofed my house, made sure the baby gate was secured in place, and put extra water upstairs for the cat who will likely spend a LOT more time in the attic. I stocked up on nylabones and marrow bones and bully sticks, and I stuffed kongs with kibble and yogurt and peanut butter and stuck them in the freezer.

She's been here for three hours and I'm exhausted. She is convinced the Princess is a stuffy toy. Belle is not impressed. She is convinced the cat is a stuffy toy. Allie is not impressed. She thinks the crate I chose is too small (she may be right - tomorrow I will clean one of the extra-large ones) and she likes Charley's crate better - Charley is not impressed. Sadie is the only one that tolerates her well and seems to enjoy her company.

I had Tina in the kitchen with me as I washed the dishes. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Turned around expecting to see her chomping on the nylabone I had just given her. Nope. The wooden doorstop is much tastier. Took it away and returned to washing dishes. Chomp, thunk, chomp, thunk. Turned around to see her grabbing bottles of water from the box under the buffet and tossing them around the floor. Moved box. Mummmph, mummmph, mummmph. Turn around to see her pulling paper towels and dryer lint out of the laundry waste basket. Put waste basket on top of dryer.

Tried crating her in the larger crate in my office, for which she showed a preference. She howled like a hound dog. Waited her out and she quietened down.....until the Princess prissily sauntered up and barked in her face. Put Princess Belle back in living room. Hear angry barks and high pitched yelps from the office. Turned around to find Charley had repossessed crate and is staunchly defending it.

As I type this, Tina is alternately squeeking and yodelling in the kitchen, Belle is barking in the living room, Charley is firmly parked in the crate with Tina's favourite blanket. And I am gripping a glass of scotch and a bottle of Excedrin.

It is going to be a long, long, long ten days. Wish me good luck. Better yet, send chocolate.

More Birthday Pictures from Charley

"You look dorky."


"Yeah? Well so do you!"


"Pffttttt" [Note: you have to click on this to enlarge it, to see Sadie sticking her tongue out at Charley]


"Happy Birthday to YOOOUUUUUUUU!" [Notice that the princess refused to let me put a party hat on her. Apparently, princesses don't do party hats. She wants a tiara.]


"How embarrassing!"


"Get this #**!^& hat offa me!"



"C'mon, everybody, time for a walk!"

"Aw, mom, put the camera and hats away now, puleeeeze????"

Charley may not have thought much of the hat, but on the other hand:

"That chicken was GOOOOOOOD!!!!"

It's my BIRFDAY - by Charley

It's my birfday today. I is offishully ELEBEN. I is not the oldest dog here (that wud be Belle) but I haz been here the longest - ever since I waz a widdle puppy. So far I dontz see no pwesents - but mom made me put on a dorky hat and go outside for pictures. I fink the hat affected her bwain, 'cuz she mades us go for our walk before we evens got our breakfasts! Somethin' about getting some pictures in the pasture before it gots too hot.

My mom sez she will post more birfday pictures later but rite now she hasta go do a homecheck in Maple Ridge for one rescue, then pick up dog food in Langley for another rescue, then deliver raffle tickets to a volunteer at Mission Animal Control for a third rescue, then rush home to meet up wiv the peoples take the food the rest of the way and sell sum more raffle tickets an make dinner for some peoples I'z known ever since I waz a widdle puppy.

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that IT'S MY BIRFDAY TODAY!
Love, Charley.

What to write when there's nothing much to say....

Well.....I guess I could do a gentle reminder about the raffle tickets for Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue. Great Prizes! You don't want to miss out on this!!! Who can't use a little vacation or a gas card or restaurant/coffee/Timmy's cards?????
If you missed the original post, check here.

Both my $75 books of 25 tickets are now sold, as are about 2/3 of my tickets in the 3-fer-$10 books (assuming all the money comes in). So I need about another dozen people to buy 3 or more tickets at 3/$10; and twenty people to buy one or more tickets at $5.00 each. (The Gaming Commission regulations require that we decide in advance how many we are likely to sell in which categories, and have each category of tickets printed up in a different colour. Once the booklets of 3/$10 tickets are gone, it'll cost $5.00 per ticket regardless of how many you buy. Dumb rule, but I didn't make it).

Of course, if you really had your heart set on a book of 25 tickets for $75, I'm sure one of the other sellers may have one left and I will rustle it up for you.

Again, if you haven't ordered tickets, if you live in BC, and are over the age of 19, email me at animalsinrescue at hotmail.com [substitute @ for at]. You know you waaannnaaaa.

I told ya I'd nag you!




In accordance with BC Gaming Regulations: Purchasers must be 19 years of age or older. Chances are one in 185 to win a prize. Actual odds depend on number of tickets sold. Problem Gambling Help Line, call 1-888-795-6111 or log onto www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca. Know your limit, play within it. BC Gaming Event number 8775.

Belle's Royal Adventure

Her Royal Highness Princess Belle has decided that her humble servant, yours truly, should ensure Ms. Belle doesn’t miss out on any of the fun just because she is a little too ancient and small to keep up with the big girls.

Belle spent much of the morning in her crate to avoid the oversized paws of one very boisterous five month old lab puppy who was visiting us. So by the time the puppy went home and I was about to head out to the dikes with Sadie and Charley, our friend Lizzie and her dog, Nutmeg, Belle decided there was no way she was being left behind.

I knew she couldn’t do the walk, but – as usual – she won the argument and away we went. Of course, she pooped out after just a short distance. So what did we do? Stuffed her in my daypack!!

Belle in a backpack

Surprisingly, she LOVED it – she snuggled right in and, without a whine or a wiggle (well, except to bring her front paws out of the pack and drape them elegantly over the edge) she traveled that way for the rest of the afternoon.

Even when we stopped for a break and I took off the pack, she choose to remain tucked inside – and promptly lay her head on the grass for a snooze.

Belle in the "Napsack".

And here’s a few other shots of this afternoon’s adventure:

Charley and Sadie take a break

Happy, tired Nutmeg!

The long road home

One last shot

The Raffle Tickets are now available!

A short while back I did a post about the amazing work of Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue and the incredible prizes you can win in their raffle to raise funds for a transport vehicle. You'll find that story here.

Well, the tickets are now AVAILABLE!
And I am going to confess something: selling anything to anyone is waaaayyyyy out of my comfort zone. I absolutely hate asking anyone for anything, and especially to ask them for ...shhhh....gulp.....ummmmm....aaargh.....money.
But I so strongly believe in the work the Labattes are doing, and in the need for the only dog shelter in northern B.C. to continue its work of accepting, rehabilitating, and finding homes for the never ending parade of neglected, homeless, abused, abandoned, and stray animals (AND their Spay/Neuter clinic and educational program), that this time I must step outside that comfort zone and do everything I can to get these tickets sold.

That means that if I have your personal email address, you can expect a whining, pleading, cajoling, harassing, annoying, but heartfelt email from me asking you to buy a ticket...or three...or twenty-five...or any number in between.

If I don't have your personal email address, you will be nagged to death through this blog until I see a whole bunch of emails requesting tickets. For this particular event, you can email me at animalsinrescue at hotmail.com [replace the word "at" with the @ sign].

In accordance with BC Gaming Commission regulations, tickets may only be bought and sold in British Columbia. Those of you who live elsewhere have until Aug 22nd to move to this beautiful province.

Tickets are:
One ticket for $5.00
Three tickets for $10.00
Twenty-five tickets for $75.00 (why not get your whole family to pitch in, or your colleagues at work, or your neighbours? Five people and each of you would end up with five tickets for just $15!!!).

And what can you win? Well, check out the list: trips and gift cards and phone packages and pet portraits and tons of wonderful things!

Cynda has sent me two books of single tickets, three books of 3/$10 tickets, and two books of 25/$75 tickets to sell. So pleeeeeeaaaasssseee say you'll buy some!

And until I get some orders in, I'm just not going to tell you where to find the fabulous, amazing, wonderful, cute, funny, incredible photos that Red Dog Photography took of my dogs and pigs.




Endnotes: In accordance with tbe BC Gaming Commission, please note the following:

1. Payment cannot be made over the internet.
2. Ticket purchasers must be 19 years of age or older. Chances are one in 185 to win a prize. Actual odds depend on number of tickets sold. Problem Gambling Help Line, call 1-888-795-6111 or log onto www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca. Know your limit, play within it. BC Gaming Event number 8775.

Transformations in the pasture

I grew up in a small seaside town on the west coast, and although I did lots of camping and hiking I never lived in an agricultural area until adulthood, and never on acreage until I moved to this property two years ago. Pastures of my childhood were viewed from the road through a car window as we took off for the mountains, and those I saw more closely were either eaten down by livestock or mowed down by machines.

But here in my pasture there is one lone alpaca to trim the fields, and a dozen piggies who have access to the area beyond their own pigyard for a couple of hours per day. Watching the field in its natural state transform from barren land to sheaves of grasses far taller than I, and watching those grasses change from green to purple to golden, has been an education in itself. It is truly beautiful country, and nature's cycles and seasons are nowhere more clearly evidenced than in my own back yard:


Fall colours in the pasture, 2007


Martin in the winter snow, 2007


January, 2008


February, 2008: brown stubble dusted with frost


March, 2008: Signs of green begin to show in the willows and ground


April, 2008: The bushes and grass are greening up quickly


May, 2008: The fields are a blanket of yellow flowers


June, 2008: Masses of white daisies appear


Late June, 2008 - the grain towers above my head, beautiful shades of purple


Summer storm July 3, 2008: The grain turns to gold and bows to the ground with the weight of its seeds and the wind and rain. All too soon it will lay flat and dry, and the fall colours will begin to appear once more.

Shadow pictures

When I was a young child of maybe five or six, an elderly neighbour taught me how to hold my hands to cast shadows of elephants, dogs and spiders on the living room wall. I loved making those shadow pictures, watching the phantom dog bark or the phantom elephant wave his trunk back and forth.

I was reminded of those days as I entered the barn this morning to see a silhouette of a bird perched on the outside window ledge just above the piggies' stall. Returning to the house, another shadow picture revealed itself as my cat, Allie, sat on the wide ledge between the sunlit window and the mini blinds that cover it.

There are times when all we see in life are the shadows, the silhouettes of those around us, and yet they are every bit as beautiful as the more richly detailed beings they represent.

Bird through a barn window

Bird through a barn window (2)

Cat in window

Cat in window (2)


Cat in window (3)

And that reminded me of a shot I took of Soda many months ago, as she emerged from the barn into bright sunlight one crisp fall day - not a shadow picture, but still a contrast of light and dark:

Sunlight on a piggy's snout

Mr. Bell, the man who taught me to have fun with shadow pictures, has long since passed away. Little did he know he gave me a gift I would enjoy more than half a century later.

Meeting blog dogs face to face

Today Sheena of Red Dog Photography came out to do a photoshoot of my dogs. I have long been addicted to her blog (Three Woofs and a Woo; same link as above) and I love her close-up shots of her three dogs doing just what dogs do. So when I emailed her the other day to see if this Vancouver-based photographer ever came out to my area, I was delighted when she not only said she did but confessed that she would also love to shoot some pics of the piggies and alpaca.

Since my three canines tend to be couch potatoes unless there are others to play with, and since my place is a great place for city slicker canines to shake, shake, shake the willies out, I suggested Sheena feel free to bring her three buddies along for the shoot.

OMG THAT WAS SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! I heard Woo long before I saw him ...he was in the van and I discovered his screaming "I want out" sound is almost identical to screaming piglets - and at least as loud. Woo and Piper were much smaller than I expected, but every bit as lively and funny and sweet. But the one who stole my heart was Tweed. And although this shy boy apparently doesn't usually make friends with humans that readily, in no time at all he was lying on the grass beside me and giving me the occasional little licky kiss or two. Aw, Tweed, you are a dog after my own heart!

Sheena meanwhile went to work taking shot after shot after shot of my three running, barking, sleeping, looking pensive, being coy, being brave, being silly. Later we took all the dogs up to the top of the pasture, photographing Martin enroute. When we returned to the yard, I put the barrier in place and let the piggies into the pasture.

One of the things I love about fostering pigs is watching others fall head over heels for them. My little piggies "hammed" it up for all it was worth - running, ears wiggling, snouties snuffling, caked in mud, getting belly rubs, going bonkers for watermelon, and being as cute as they could possibly be (well, except for Scotch who decided it was all too much for him, and took himself off for a nap in the long grasses until the whole to-do was over). Sheena was hooked - I think if we could persuade her to leave the city, she would adopt the whole bunch!

The funniest, funniest, funniest part was when we gave peanut butter to the dogs (for those peanut butter face pictures); the piggies must have smelled the peanuts and so they came running to the gate squealing for their share. So.... I fed them peanut butter too, and we got piggy peanut butter face pictures galore, until one pulled the end right off the spatula and ran away with it! Game over.

Hundreds and hundreds of shots later, Sheena was on her way. I can't wait to receive my disk of her selection of the best of the day, all to use however I wish as long as I give credit to her. Needless to say, you can expect to see many of them posted here!

Sheena is awesome, her dogs are awesome, my animals were awesome.....what a great day!