Goodbye Piggies!

Our Tamworth pigs (bacon and DaLoiney) have been shipped to the processor. Bacon walked right up into the trailer and ate the offering of watermelon, but DaLoiney wasn't going to go without a fight... she ran all around her (big) pen, dodging everyone who tried to get in her way. We tried to fence her in, but she got around the corners every time. Her crowning glory was like a trick out of dog school... We have a chicken catching net that we thought would at least slow her down, but she came up to it and jumped through it, clearing the sides and ripping straight through the netting! We were all impressed and decided that we were never going to get this pig into a trailer, so Bacon left that day, and DaLoiney only left today. I wish I had gotten a video...

Matt the Catt

Matt is not our cat. Or at least some of us say that. He "blew in" the lane and we found him covered in matts meowing at us. We kind of adopted him, took care of him and cut all the matts out. He looked really bad for a while and his fur was grey with spots of black in it. He is growing quickly and his fur is now all black, but he's still really "clingy" and he sneezes a lot. Ick. Now he's just as big as Mercury and just as much of a pinhead as Titania! He is really cute, and lots of people like how he stretches up to hug you when you pick him up!

Titania

Titania is Mercuries littermate. They look quite a bit alike, except Titania is smaller, has more brown in her fur, and has a brain the size of a pin. She always loves to be picked up and cuddled. She and Mercury are very different cats; she is also a great mouser, but she is a lot more outgoing and will "myahrah!" at anyone near her! Some people love her because she is very funny, but some prefer a more intelligent cat. I am one of those people. Other than that shes a great cat! She is a good mouser and a great cuddler!

Mercury

Mercury is a barn cat from a different barn in our neighborhood. Especially when he was younger, he was a purple-ish colour with mauve pads on his paws. He is a great mouser, and loves to eat them on white duvets! He is incredibly sweet, and loves to snuggle. In fact, he gets into such raptures that he starts drooling on you! He's also shy, and the most people usually see of him, is a blueish-purple streak as he runs by! I know you shouldn't pick favourites of your "children", but Mercury is my favourite!

Shaylee

Shaylee was a tortoiseshell barn cat from the barn of the same neighbor I got my fancy pigeons from. She was a great cat at first... but later we found out that she had some disorder so she went crazy. We ended up giving her to somebody who wanted to take care of her. We were all sad to see her go, but we knew that it was for her own good

Anemonie

Anemonie or "the Princess" is fluffy white with black blobs. We got her on the way to our cottage by accident; there was a "free kitten" sign so we went to check it out. There were lots of fluffy, cute kitties! Anemonie and another little boy were my favourites. My family also liked a little grey girl, but she wasn't playing, she was just laying in a box. We settled on Anemonie and went to our cottage. A couple days later when we were coming back to pick her up and all the others were gone!! They had kept Anemonie just for us. We took her home and she adjusted quickly to our house. She especially liked this scratching post we have that has a knot hole in the bottom. We first took her outside on a leash and she loved it! Her fur grows longer every year and she has the attitude of a princess. (hence the nickname) I love Anemonie, and if she's in the mood, she's quite cuddly! She is a great cat.

Rainy

Rainy was an orange stripey barn cat... Yes, I know that the name isn't very good, but my mother promised me that I could name the cat. I wanted to call him rainbow, but my mom couldn't picture yelling "Rainbow" out the door. So we settled for Rainy. Rainy was an energetic kitten like most are, and he broke his leg once. It was hard to keep him from running around. Sadly our house was in town by a road, and Rainy died when he wasn't very old because he got hit by a car.

Stevie and Splinter

Stevie was a rescue cat from the barn beside our house that got torn down. Her brother, Splinter was also rescued with her and went to live with "the cousins". Stevie was not an outdoorsy cat that liked to eat and sleep and sit on you. She was rather fat, but we all loved her. Stevie died when she was 12, probably because of all the extra fat in her body. She got put down at a vets office and we took her home and buried her in our new backyard. Splinter lived with our cousins for most of his life. He was really mean and would swipe at you if you went near him. Due to some complications, after Stevie died he ended up coming to live with us. By this time he was partly senile and had decided that he didn't hate everyone anymore... now he wanted to have all the attention on him. He was the cat that just kept going and long overstayed his welcome in our house. He died at the age 18 a ratty old mess, and got cremated in our own fire pit. Not many people missed him. This is a picture of Splinter.

Asha

Asha is our "baby" dog! She's a German/Shiloh Shepherd which means that she is bred to have good hips and a flat back. Asha is slightly neurotic; she is fixated on light and shaddows. She'll stand with her tail wagging and her toungue slightly out. I call it her "shaddow face" even though she likes lights more. At first we let her play with them, but it got worse so we try to discourage her from that now. Asha has tonnes of energy, and she's very skinny even though she eats over 4 cups of food a day! Asha likes to lick peoples faces and sit on their laps, especially mine! She's our 70lb lap dog. She's very smart and learns quickly. I LOVE German Shepherds and reccomend them to anyone who likes big energetic dogs who love to do whatever you're doing.

Kiri

Kiri is a Finnish Spitz, which is a small, orange hunting dog. She is really good at hunting small rodents, as well as the duck eggs laying around the yard...On a good note, she has very shiny fur! Kiri is a very "licky" dog. We think it's because she likes the saltiness of your skin. She has a funny voice; she goes "woowoo" and "wohhhwno" She also has a very "ruhf"-ish voice. Kiri isn't great with other dogs, but her bark is way worse than her bite! Some people think that Kiri is a cat in a dog's body... I think that she's a dog, but whatever... genes don't mean that much do they! I recommend Finnish Spitz's to people who like big, docile cats... and lots of kisses!

Roq

Roq is a malamute cross, so he looks somewhat like a husky, but in browns and yellows. Roq was a bouncy puppy who has been with us for 12 years. He's coming to his end though... he has difficulty breathing and is showing his age. Roq loves to run and be active. He also has a taste for chickens... not the best quality for a dog on a farm, but we had him from before we had chickens. He was a rescue dog as well. I like malamutes, but he's the only one I've met. I recommend them to anyone who likes adventures, ski-joring, and he's also good with children!

Emma Dog

Emma was a German Shepherd who came as a full-grown dog from the humane society after she had puppies. She was a great dog who fiercely guarded the family. She also guarded her food... when I was very young, I got into her food and she bit me right around the eyes. My mother took me to the hospital, where she was sure they would try to take away her dog and her child... they actually commented on how gentle Emma had been. She could have crushed my skull if she wanted to. Sadly Emma died of old age. We buried her on a colourful piece of cardboard in our backyard. We all miss her but at least she died of old age, not a medical reason. She was a great dog and I love Shepherd!

Fish

I've had WAY to many fish to put them all in seperate blogs! When I was younger, we used to have a whole bunch of guppies. They bred like crazy, and we gave some away to friends so our tank didn't get to overpopulated. I've owned some Chinese Fighting Fish. The first was blue but died when a house sitter took care of him for a while. A while later I got a multicoloured one that I called Aurora. I also got a girl in the hopes that they would breed. They didn't. Aurora got fin rot and died, and the girl died shortly after. I've also had angel fish and a variety of small fishes that didn't really make much of an impression on me. Of all fish, I think that plucostomusses are my favourite. You may know them as algea eaters or sucker fish. I've had 3 in total (Costa, Costa ii, and Creature) and they are great fish... plus you don't have to clean the tank very often. The other fish I've had were supposed to be something they weren't. They started out small and brown and grew like crazy into huge, orange aksdofghad that ate every other fish in the tank. I called one Smeagle. I didn't like them, but that was mostly because they ate my other fish. They were very pretty... The picture in this post is them. It was mostly just to get their colours, which didn't work well in a video. It turns out to be the only picture of them because they died while we were on vacation. I say good riddence...