Breaking the Rules

Yesterday Nick and I shifted the Rescue Piglets out of their nursery (the turkey house) and into the sunroom of the big barn – it is bigger, sunnier and airier and hopefully there will be less flies.  This rain and heat is breeding a LOT of flies.

It very quickly became evident that Lurch, the last piglet with balance/spinal issues, was never going to be able to learn to walk if I left her in with her wild rambunctious sisters. Her sisters dance and play hard all day long and poor wee Lurch (yes she has a name now) kept being flattened, jumped on and played over.  She could not stand for more than a few seconds at a time and once she was down she was flat on her side on the floor, miserably trying to get up and being knocked back until I came by.

So I brought her into the garden with me. She tottered precariously about for ages with only a few falls, followed faithfully by BooBoo who was instantly in love. This is the first time that Boo has  been allowed near the rescue piglets for fear of contaminating other piglets and he is taking his new role very seriously.   Boo has no time for the over active dance troupe in the barn and yesterday he was very softly, very carefully following Lurch about. Every time she fell over Boo darted over to me and I offered Lurch (named for obvious reasons) a finger for her to lean on so she was able to practice getting up by herself. 

The piglet called Not called Elfie is on the left. She also is sometimes called The Rat due to her extreme size and pointy nose. She is a nice wee rat though. The other one has only one good eye and is a wild thing – sometimes she is called the Russian as she reminds us of a Russian Cossack. Both are hairless and cheerful.

Below is the Little Tank. A round short pig.  She is much quieter but sticks up for herself. None of them look alike at all. But they are all getting stronger and naughtier every day. They are fierce and always on the move. Because they all needed different nursing and medications and attention they ended up being given descriptive names, it was hard to avoid.  However they are not being kept as pets.

Lurch has drifted into a different category though. She is very small and long haired with two grades of brown running down her back. And she is sweet but deeply determined. After the gardening Lurch became tired  and was falling repeatedly so I brought her inside and propped her up to sleep in a blanket and that was that. I could not put her out with those sisters again. She will  be raised by me. 

Pat took this shot so you can get some idea of how very small she is.

So, we now have a pig recuperating inside. I am not exactly sure how this works. She may not live long with her condition, but she will live well and without fear.

Pat watched her while I did chores, she walked her and popped her into bed when she was tired.

I have made her an outside enclosure for when we are all busy (and so she can get on the grass). But last night it rained even more so I had her inside.   Breaking the rules Big Time.

The cows are not impressed with more torrential rain.  It is still raining now, the fields are closed and the cows have started eating the winter hay and I see no dry days ahead to get any more hay in. This is getting worrisome to say the least. 

But Lurch sleeps on with her  Nanny Boo only a nose away and  I am not sure if I have just made more work for myself or less but she wakes, pees, eats, pees again then meanders about until she finds her blanket in the basket (waiting on its side) , she climbs in, snuggles down, I right the basket, she sighs and sleeps with her feet folded under and her head in a normal piggie position. (No lying flat on her side screaming and paddling her feet until the skin comes off.)  Boo curls up beside her and sighs and puts his head on his feet and sleeps too. And it feels right and good and she is not shaking anymore, she eats with a great appetite and the whole household feels better about it.

She looks like a little mouse in her big basket.  And she has a name now.

Now if only we could turn the tap off – there is a chance of rain for the next seven days at least!

I hope you have a lovely day.

Love celi