Post by Mitra on Oct 25, 2007 17:47:31 GMT -5
I have tedious spreadsheets to work on and looming deadlines so I feel compelled ;D to write the rest of the story of the little red pigs and how I nearly lost them. Ah, procrastination at its finest!!!!
We got back from Jessika's late Saturday afternoon. I like to drive but even I was tired after two days of 4+ hours of driving. I also knew that Sunday morning, I would be loading up my van with soccer girls (my DD Shireen included) and driving two hours south to their quarter final games. We unloaded the pigs and put the girls in the pine shaving-filled pigbox in our basement. Some may remember that we have no barn and that my basement gets used for baby pigs, meat chicks, infirm animals, etc.
My older DD Shireen firmly planted herself in the basement to get acquainted with the piglets. We'd be leaving early the next morning so she had to get in her pig-time. Four hours in the car with the piglets was not enough for Roshan, who continued her vigil with them on a lawn chair in the pigbox. The piglets had Coburn Farm milk and settled into their new digs.
The next morning, Shireen and I left for So. Portland, ME for her soccer games. We picked up the other girls and off we went. We knew we wouldn't be back much before 6:00 in the evening. Roshan was going to spend as much time as she could with the piglets and she was also going to go to Grandma Joann's with her Dad Max (who had just returned from MA).
When Roshan and Max returned from the farm all was well at our place. Max decided that he really needed a quick nap. He had just settled into the couch when the phone rang and a few moments later a sobbing Roshan came running in to tell him that the neighbors had called wondering if we might be missing any piglets. What!!!
?!!!
Our neighbors used to own our property. They shaved off a 5 acre parcel for themselves and sold us the rest (18 acres). They are the best kind of neighbors because they are gone most of the time as they are long distance truckers. They happened to be home and the husband was in his garage tinkering on a car when into his garage walking side by side came two little red piglets. He said they were the cutest pigs he'd ever seen. They came right up to him and sniffed the cuff of his pants! He called his wife to come out. When she saw them, she ran back into the house to grab her camera. She returned and took a bunch of pictures and then went to call us to see if they were ours.
Max and Roshan were able to get them back over onto our property where they proceeded to run down our long driveway. After much chasing, panting and squealing, Max was able to catch Sophie, the smaller of the two. He decided that since she'd been able to literally hop out of the pigbox, she needed to go straight to the outside pig area, where we had just finished raising the 4 recently departed big boys. He set her down in there and ran off to see if he could catch Charlotte. After a lot more running and crashing through trees and the eagle proof chicken run, Max was able to catch Charlotte. He took her down to the pig area to reunite her with her sister and guess what? Sophie was gone!
They looked and looked and called and called. Nothing!!! When he called me and said, "one of the piglets has vanished" I could not make my brain wrap around what I was hearing. I was about a half hour from my house when I got the call and I had a vanload of girls to deliver home. BTW, they won both their games and are headed to state finals in two weeks! On the ride back, I had another Mom with me and she kindly suggested that they just go straight to my house so that all girls could help find Sophie. By the time we got home we had about 20 minutes of daylight left. I was feeling sick. Hunting season had just begun, would be in full swing by tomorrow morning, and I was imagining the worst.
The girls and I fanned out into woods. Here piggy piggy! Here piggy piggy! It seemed to get dark almost as soon we started. It was time to stop and for me to take the girls home. On my way back home, I stopped at a neighbor's, a dairy, about a half mile away and told him about our lost piglet. Then I decided I'd stop at each neighbor's house (about 5 places) between the dairy and our driveway to put them all on alert (they are ALL big time hunters).
At Mr. Wickson's house, about 0.25 miles from my driveway, he informed me that when he was bringing in his flag he had indeed seen the little piglet (although he wasn't sure what he'd seen). He said, "Is that what it was? A piglet you say. Yes, it WAS red. I stared and stared trying to figure out what it was. When I first saw her, she was trotting down the middle of the road like she was on a mission. She didn't seem scared, just on her way somewhere. I thought it was a dog but now I'm sure it was your red piglet. She took a left at my barn and that's the last I saw her." Mr. Wickson is 90 years old and has a very strong Maine accent. I was talking to him at 6:25 and he had seen her at 6:03 p.m. (he knew exactly what time he'd brought his flag inside for the night). I was thrilled that he'd seen her but freaked out that she'd made it that far down the road. I asked him if I could set up a big dog crate next to his barn with some food and perhaps she might be enticed that way. He gave me the green light. I raced home, picked up the crate Jessika had loaned me for piglet transport and set it up at Mr. Wickson's barn. I put in some food and decided I was either going to feed Sophie or provide a feast for the local raccoons.
I went home in tears. I couldn't believe we'd had them home for less than 24 hours and had already lost one. I decided I had to call Jessika and ask her for advice about getting Sophie back. I was much encouraged after talking to her. She said that the piglet would want to be back with her sister and that putting the crate there with her sister's scent was a good step toward getting her back. I got off the phone and lit a candle. By now it was 7:30 p.m. and I realized I hadn't closed up my chickens and ducks yet.
I was almost back to the house when I heard Max yelling from the other side of the house where the basement walk-out is. "I got her! I got the @!@#!#!! piglet!!! Remember in my previous post how I said he wasn't feeling the love?
I was crying again and running to the basement. While I'd been out of the house, Max heard a loud ruckus in the basement. He opened the door in the kitchen at the top of the basement stairs. He peered down the stairs and saw that the noise was coming from the runaway piglet Sophie hurling herself and trying to jump back INTO the pigbox with her sister! She couldn't manage it however because Max had added rails to the box, making it about a foot taller. He quickly closed the door and ran outside to the basement door so he could block her if she tried to make a dash for it. The basement door was already closed so the only way she could have gotten back into the basement was through the CAT DOOR! In her eight weeks of life I know she has never used a cat door. That's how strong the "I wanna be with my sister" urge was. And we know they are very smart. Max locked the cat door and proceeded to chase her until he caught her. He re-united her with her sister. She was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty girl. Once she'd had her milk, Sophie and Charlotte made a little pig pile and passed out.
And if you read ALL that, then you definitely get to see pictures of these two little gals:
Charlotte is in back and sophie up front. Charlotte is a deeper red.
Here's Sophie - Doesn't she just look naughty?
We got back from Jessika's late Saturday afternoon. I like to drive but even I was tired after two days of 4+ hours of driving. I also knew that Sunday morning, I would be loading up my van with soccer girls (my DD Shireen included) and driving two hours south to their quarter final games. We unloaded the pigs and put the girls in the pine shaving-filled pigbox in our basement. Some may remember that we have no barn and that my basement gets used for baby pigs, meat chicks, infirm animals, etc.
My older DD Shireen firmly planted herself in the basement to get acquainted with the piglets. We'd be leaving early the next morning so she had to get in her pig-time. Four hours in the car with the piglets was not enough for Roshan, who continued her vigil with them on a lawn chair in the pigbox. The piglets had Coburn Farm milk and settled into their new digs.
The next morning, Shireen and I left for So. Portland, ME for her soccer games. We picked up the other girls and off we went. We knew we wouldn't be back much before 6:00 in the evening. Roshan was going to spend as much time as she could with the piglets and she was also going to go to Grandma Joann's with her Dad Max (who had just returned from MA).
When Roshan and Max returned from the farm all was well at our place. Max decided that he really needed a quick nap. He had just settled into the couch when the phone rang and a few moments later a sobbing Roshan came running in to tell him that the neighbors had called wondering if we might be missing any piglets. What!!!
?!!! Our neighbors used to own our property. They shaved off a 5 acre parcel for themselves and sold us the rest (18 acres). They are the best kind of neighbors because they are gone most of the time as they are long distance truckers. They happened to be home and the husband was in his garage tinkering on a car when into his garage walking side by side came two little red piglets. He said they were the cutest pigs he'd ever seen. They came right up to him and sniffed the cuff of his pants! He called his wife to come out. When she saw them, she ran back into the house to grab her camera. She returned and took a bunch of pictures and then went to call us to see if they were ours.
Max and Roshan were able to get them back over onto our property where they proceeded to run down our long driveway. After much chasing, panting and squealing, Max was able to catch Sophie, the smaller of the two. He decided that since she'd been able to literally hop out of the pigbox, she needed to go straight to the outside pig area, where we had just finished raising the 4 recently departed big boys. He set her down in there and ran off to see if he could catch Charlotte. After a lot more running and crashing through trees and the eagle proof chicken run, Max was able to catch Charlotte. He took her down to the pig area to reunite her with her sister and guess what? Sophie was gone!
They looked and looked and called and called. Nothing!!! When he called me and said, "one of the piglets has vanished" I could not make my brain wrap around what I was hearing. I was about a half hour from my house when I got the call and I had a vanload of girls to deliver home. BTW, they won both their games and are headed to state finals in two weeks! On the ride back, I had another Mom with me and she kindly suggested that they just go straight to my house so that all girls could help find Sophie. By the time we got home we had about 20 minutes of daylight left. I was feeling sick. Hunting season had just begun, would be in full swing by tomorrow morning, and I was imagining the worst.
The girls and I fanned out into woods. Here piggy piggy! Here piggy piggy! It seemed to get dark almost as soon we started. It was time to stop and for me to take the girls home. On my way back home, I stopped at a neighbor's, a dairy, about a half mile away and told him about our lost piglet. Then I decided I'd stop at each neighbor's house (about 5 places) between the dairy and our driveway to put them all on alert (they are ALL big time hunters).
At Mr. Wickson's house, about 0.25 miles from my driveway, he informed me that when he was bringing in his flag he had indeed seen the little piglet (although he wasn't sure what he'd seen). He said, "Is that what it was? A piglet you say. Yes, it WAS red. I stared and stared trying to figure out what it was. When I first saw her, she was trotting down the middle of the road like she was on a mission. She didn't seem scared, just on her way somewhere. I thought it was a dog but now I'm sure it was your red piglet. She took a left at my barn and that's the last I saw her." Mr. Wickson is 90 years old and has a very strong Maine accent. I was talking to him at 6:25 and he had seen her at 6:03 p.m. (he knew exactly what time he'd brought his flag inside for the night). I was thrilled that he'd seen her but freaked out that she'd made it that far down the road. I asked him if I could set up a big dog crate next to his barn with some food and perhaps she might be enticed that way. He gave me the green light. I raced home, picked up the crate Jessika had loaned me for piglet transport and set it up at Mr. Wickson's barn. I put in some food and decided I was either going to feed Sophie or provide a feast for the local raccoons.
I went home in tears. I couldn't believe we'd had them home for less than 24 hours and had already lost one. I decided I had to call Jessika and ask her for advice about getting Sophie back. I was much encouraged after talking to her. She said that the piglet would want to be back with her sister and that putting the crate there with her sister's scent was a good step toward getting her back. I got off the phone and lit a candle. By now it was 7:30 p.m. and I realized I hadn't closed up my chickens and ducks yet.
I was almost back to the house when I heard Max yelling from the other side of the house where the basement walk-out is. "I got her! I got the @!@#!#!! piglet!!! Remember in my previous post how I said he wasn't feeling the love?
I was crying again and running to the basement. While I'd been out of the house, Max heard a loud ruckus in the basement. He opened the door in the kitchen at the top of the basement stairs. He peered down the stairs and saw that the noise was coming from the runaway piglet Sophie hurling herself and trying to jump back INTO the pigbox with her sister! She couldn't manage it however because Max had added rails to the box, making it about a foot taller. He quickly closed the door and ran outside to the basement door so he could block her if she tried to make a dash for it. The basement door was already closed so the only way she could have gotten back into the basement was through the CAT DOOR! In her eight weeks of life I know she has never used a cat door. That's how strong the "I wanna be with my sister" urge was. And we know they are very smart. Max locked the cat door and proceeded to chase her until he caught her. He re-united her with her sister. She was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty girl. Once she'd had her milk, Sophie and Charlotte made a little pig pile and passed out.And if you read ALL that, then you definitely get to see pictures of these two little gals:
Charlotte is in back and sophie up front. Charlotte is a deeper red.
Here's Sophie - Doesn't she just look naughty?
But one of the first nights they were on the loose, our new neighbors stopped breathless at our door. "There are 2 little pigs in the road, we tried to catch them (I stifled a laugh) are they yours?" They probably thought I was really heartless when I shrugged and said, "Yeah, but I'm tired of thinking about it. They'll come home in the morning."
