Miss Pigsy gave birth to 11 piglets on Wednesday 16th at 11pm. We missed the birth but it seemed to be an easy labour for her and she did wonderfully well. 1 lil piglet was stillborn.

During the day on Thursday we had a few mishaps. Miss Pigsy, being so big and not used to little piglets running around and under her, accidently squished one. She then squished another 4 but we managed to save one, so from the 11 we were down to 6. Unfortunately i had to make the heartbreaking decision to take the remaining  piglets away from her. There were a few factors that made the decision easier. Miss Pigsy's milk was near non-exsistant. She was moving around a lot and wouldn't lay down for the piglets to feed, it was a very, very hot day, the man of the house wasn't home, the vet is 2 hours away. I did not make the decision lightly, i couldn't bear to lose anymore piglets so i took them and began the process of hand rearing. I trawlled the internet and found a lot of helpful information, i used info that has been repeated multiple times on all different websites. I felt reasonably confident i could help the piglets grow. I'd reared calves for many years so i had a basic understanding of what was right and wrong when it came to animals. They feed well from a bottle and the pink, squishy little piglets made it through that night with my help.

On the Saturday i persisted with them to get them to feed from a shallow dish as i'd read and been told by a few piggy people it's a better option. I was lucky the man of the house was home as i was very sleep deprived from the previous 2 nights and couldn't get the piglet to do what i wanted. Hubby said i was trying too hard lol. He left them to their own devices and sure enough, they got hungry and feed from the dish with no help. They then feed every 3 hours instead of hourly. We had them in a big cage with lots of hay and there they slept all night with their continued 3 hourly feeds.
Fast forward to today, they've been having weetbix mixed with their milk and it's making them fuller for longer. They sleep for 8 hours overnight. They're growing with no set backs whatsoever. I made the right decision on that Thursday and noone can tell me otherwise.

Miss Pigsy hasn't had any side effects from not having the piglets. She's eating, wallowing and looking ok although she does have a sad look about her as she knows she had piglets but doesn't know why they're not there now. The little milk she did have dried up quickly and thankfully she didn't suffer from mastitis.

So, there you have it. We survived our very 1st piglet birth. Would i do it all again, not in a hurry!

Until next time
~x~

I was wandering around blog world and came across a shopping bag swap. I for one can never have too many reuseable shopping bags. I use them for anything and everything.

If you'd like to participate, head over to CreativeChaos and follow the prompts. Sign ups close at the end of the month so get in quick :)

Until next time
~x~

There's nothing more refreshing on a 40 degree (Celsius) day then wallowing in a muddy hole, well, if you're a pig!

Mr Porky who's been with us for 4 months has finally realized there is nothing but goodness in a mud bath. I don't think his previous owners, who had him from birth (he's roughly 14 months old) ever gave him a mud bath or put a sprinkler on for him to get used to water. It's taken us quite a long time to get him used to it. I'm glad he is because with our shocking heat there's no other way to cool down.

Our little black piggy's  Jap and Sulky, have taken to water really well too. They're now 6 months old. I know, i said i was going to have them in the freezer by this month but we've been told they could grow a bit more and just before winter would be a good time for processing.

Miss Pigsy LOVES mud baths, more so now as she is 3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days pregnant :) She's due on the 17th of January but i'm hoping for her sake she births in the next day or 3. She doesn't do a lot these days apart from laying in her wallow. She's huge! I'll be sure to blog when she has her litter, here's hoping all goes smoothly for her.

Until next time
Keep cool
~x~

8 days in to 2013 and I've not had the energy to do a lot. The heat has been atrocious. Our high ceilinged, uninsulated home doesn't fare well during 40+ degree days. The air con is useless. The only things keeping us from becoming puddles on the floor are the swimming pool and icy poles. I'm sure we'll grow gills if this weather keeps forcing us into the pool lol

Christmas was quiet. On the 23rd we visited my parents for our annual fish and chips at the beach for my mums birthday. The munchkins had a lovely time body boarding on the foreshore. We even saw a couple of small stingrays.

 stingray skimming across the shallow water

the munchkins attempting to body surf with no waves

The 25th we stayed home and celebrated Christmas quietly, just the 5 of us. The munchkins were overjoyed with their stash of gifts. Lunch was cold meats and salads, no room for dessert! The evening meal was left overs and then we managed fruit mince tarts with custard for dessert.

Santa has been!

New Years Eve the man of the house was working during the day so we took a quick day trip to Melbourne with him. Did some shopping, tried to do a bit of plane spotting at Tullamarine Airport but we were on the wrong side of the airport this time. The planes weren't taking off or landing where they were last time. We returned home just on dark and celebrated the night away into the new year with neighbours.

 Plane spotting near the control tower

A festive town tree at Ararat

B1 had her room extended. The man of the house surrended one of his sheds, near my laundry so now her bedroom is the same size as B2's room. It's not finished. The ceiling and 2 walls need gyproking, skirting boards etc to finish the room off then i can paint it all. She's much happier with more space, i've been told she has more room to make a mess!

The extension of B1's room

There you have it. The first post for the new year with a rundown of what we did in the last week of the old year :)

Until next time
~x~

I don't have any photography skills, i just point and shoot. I have lusted after a DSLR for a few years but can't see the point in having one if i don't know the ins and outs of photography. The camera i have is a good one, i can't complain. Sometimes it amazes me how well a photo turns out.

The following photos took a lot of time and patience, i'm lucky the creatures involved were oblivious to my pointing and shooting lol

I'm rather proud of my efforts :)

Until next time
~x~

I've been in a bloggy funk. I've tried many times to write something but the words haven't flowed. I feel i haven't really done anything worthwhile to blog about. My days seem to be rollng into one another with no direction or fun. I'll get there, i just need to find the good in everything i do :)

Anyways, i have a small update on the church renovations. The man of the house had some time to spare and B2's bedroom has now grown in length. Her floor is the ceiling of B3's future bedroom which at the moment is the kitchen. She has so much room up there she doesn't know what to do with it. Some new furniture is on the list. She can now have a proper bed as there is height now she isn't stuck under the corner of the roof. We still haven't decided on a set of stairs. I have a few more ideas but need to discuss them with my builder and interior designer (ma and pa lol)

We've also aquired another 1/4 acre vacant block of land. It's not a fantastic piece of land but it's alongside our other block so we can either fence it as a half acre block or use it as a place to park the truck for now. I do have 3 vegie beds there that are doing well.

We've another addition to the family who came to us on 26th September. A boar by the name of Porky. He's not a permanent family member. We purchased him to service Pigsy. I'm 99% certain he's done his job, if so we should be welcoming some little squealers on the 17th January 2013. Porky will then be sold on. He's not the handsomest of creatures. He was quite mangy and sunburnt when we got him but we've fed him good wholesome food, given him loads of tlc and he's looking better than what he was, still not pretty but bareable lol.

 

That's all for now.

 

Until next time

~x~

We went on a train ride on the weekend. From Melbourne to Castlemaine, changed trains then onto Maldon for lunch and a walk aorund.

Our train was 2 beautiful old steam engines with 11 carriages behind them. The scenery was pretty in places. It was a long day. Longer for B1 as she worked in the buffet car.

Now i don't usually give a company a plug on my blog, but i will for Steamrail and not just becasue my good friend works there lol.

If you want to experience all that a steam train has to offer head to www.steamrail.com.au They are nothing like Puffing Billy. They run packaged trips often and for the price of them, they are well worth it. The amount of time, effort and sometimes hair pulling out moments the workers and volunteers go to behind the scenes to make the trips run smoothly, is something you need to see for yourself to appreciate it all.

The photo below was taken by a 14 year old lad. He was one of the many photographers dotted along the line trying to get that special shot. Actually, we saw him scampering all over the place between Melbourne and Maldon. Enthusiastic! We were in the 3rd carriage ;)

Photo credit - Henry Owen

Until next time
~x~