WE'RE NOT BORED, THAT'S FOR SURE.................!!!

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated in a few days.  It's not because of lack of something to write about.  It's because there is only so many hours in a day........!!!! 

Let's see, where to start.  I took the kittens to the vet Monday morning & they got their "brain" surgery.  Everybody did fine, they are back in the spa room in their "condo" for 5-7 days to recuperate.  I put up an ad at the vet clinic, so if someone calls before their healing time is over some of them might get a new home.  Otherwise we'll turn them loose to keep doing what they were doing, living in the hay barn & eating in the backyard.  

The 2 mares & their foals settled in nicely & Monday morning we went back to get the pigs, goats, & the stud colts.  We took both vans, I drove the tan van & trailer, & John drove the white van, & the woman had borrowed another stock trailer for him to tow.  

Loading really went well, she had already loaded the pigs by the time we got there.  The goats are suckers for anything in a bucket than sounds like food.  The 2 colts were a little wary, but really all in all loaded pretty easy.

I hauled the colts & John had the others.  We got home about 4pm & then the fun started.  There had to be pens built for all of them, except the goats.  Eight & one half hours later, (that's 12:30 in case you're keeping track) we finished the last pen & got the colts in it.  It had to have hot wire ran, in case they decided to go on walk-a-bout.  

We happened to have about 1/2 a bale of straw, which the pigs rooted around into a nest.  It's been really cold so today I went to the thrift shop & got a couple of blankets for them.  Between the straw & the blankets they should be comfortable.  When John gave them the blankets he said they grabbed them & were working them into the straw.  A friend of ours has 6 pot bellied pigs & they roll up in blankets.  Guess that's where the saying "pigs in a blanket" came from..........I know, that was really silly wasn't it.  

We got to bed about 4am Monday morning, & about 6:30am the dogs were really barking.  Needless to say we weren't very bright eyed, but John finally got outside.  Came back in to report that not only were the pigs running wild, but so were the goats.  Interesting way to start your day.........!!!! LOL  

Getting them back in was no problem, shake a bucket with food or something that sounds like food & they will go anywhere.  Actually the pigs about ran John down when they saw him, they really are people orientated, & so are the goats, they were busy trying to get back in the pen.  They seemed to know that there wasn't going to be any food unless they were where they belonged.  

It took John most of the day to fix what they tore up, & to try to outsmart them for the future.  Every place there was chicken wire he had to cover with corral panels.

Added to all the confusion was a herd of donkeys that was watching their new neighbors with a mixture of curiosity & sheer panic.  Before we got the pigs & goats back in their pens, they were running in amongst the donkeys, or trying to.  The donkeys weren't having any of it.  Wish I had my camera, it was absolutely hilarious.  Once the pigs were in their pen, Chester spent quite a bit of time, standing by their pen, trying to figure them out I guess.  

We also have some donkeys that think it's fun to unplug the hot wire around the colt's pen.  They obviously don't know how much fun they would be to chase if the colts got the chance.  John used duct tape to wrap the plugs, hopefully that will discourage them. 

Today the big pig took John around the pen & showed him where it needed to be fixed, if he wanted them to stay in it.  One area we'd left loose to use as a gate, she stuck her head under & lifted it enough that a couple of shakes of her shoulders & she would have been out.  Then she went to the other side of the pen & showed him where they had forgotten to hook it to a T-post.  So he got to fix those places.  In the process he forgot to put the corral panel back across the gate the goats took out to escape Sunday night.  Sure enough when we were feeding, Destiny the girl that helps us sometimes, asked if the goats were suppose to be standing by the wash..........!!!  NO, they weren't.  John went over with pellets in a bucket & they were more than happy to go back in their pen.  Actually the one with the long horns didn't make it out, the hole wasn't big enough for him to clear his head gear. 

We're going to be gone tomorrow all day, I hope everyone stays where they belong & we don't come home to a mess.  Just about the time we think we have them outsmarted they show us we aren't as smart as we think we are.  We're quickly getting use to the feeling. 

Courtney came today & we finally got Jenny's boots on.  Her feet were long enough I didn't want to put boots on until they were trimmed.  Courtney said everybody's feet are looking pretty good.  Even old Pepper's feet have improved & this year he can actually stand on 3 feet to get trimmed.  Last year there were times when we had to almost hold him up, & a time or two, Courtney just trimmed what she could without lifting his feet at all.  She really has made a difference with the nasty feet some of them have.