So, I am sure you have seen that Mya and I have 2 children’s books out. I just want everyone to know that we appreciate all of the support that has been shown for these books. Mya is the artist of these books. I have been writing the stories from things around the farm that actually have happened. I am trying to incorporate a lesson for children in each of these books. That is my goal. The next one is about a stubborn donkey and the one after that is about Carlos the goat. It is keeping us busy. I really do have an adult book coming out sometime this year from a publishing company. I am so excited about that. If you have not seen the children’s books, they are on amazon in paperback and ebook. One is called The Wayward Pig Kidstyle and the other one is called Russ The Unloved Pig. I did have a hard time with the title of that last one because I know he was loved before I got him but it was the story line. Anyway. Please check them out!!

I came home yesterday and Mya tells me to come over and look at Carlos’ eye. Oh goodness. I went over and his eye was about twice the size it should be and very pink looking. Looks like pink eye. I was so tired I barely had the energy to feed the animals, much less than having to look after a sick one. I get back in the car and go to the store to get meds for a goat with pink eye. I hate to admit this, but I’m really weird about eye stuff. Mya has been doctoring his eye and it is already looking so much better.

I have a 10 year old and overweight cat. He has been that way since he was neutered as a kitten. When we got started here on the farm, he started urinating in unusual places. I thought he might have a UTI. I was worried and bought some natural spray you spray in the mouth. It was a safe method. Well, I only had to use it a few days and he stopped doing it. It’s started up again and I started to use the spray again. I just caught him. I mean I have cleaned and cleaned because that is the worst smell ever. I cannot stand that this is happening again. I don’t know if it’s the new cat. Oreo has been here for months and this just started. I’m so frustrated and will be taking him to the vet. I feel bad for being so mad at him especially if he really is sick. I hope it’s nothing too serious also. I just hate that animals can’t tell us when they are sick so we know what to do. I do keep the litter box clean and I have already done that today so I know it’s not that.

Have you ever had a pet that wants so badly to be apart of the group but just isn’t part of the group?? Daisy has never really been good friends with Pepper and Maggie. Daisy is young and Maggie and pepper are up in years. I really didn’t realize how lonely Daisy was until Bella came to the farm. Daisy just wanted to play all the time but they didn’t. Now Bella wants to play also. I was a little worried about getting a 4th big dog, but Bella has really done well here. Her and Daisy are the best of friends. They run around in the woods and down to the creek and back. They even sleep in Bella’s small crate together. They don’t have to do that. The door is unlocked and opened. There are blankets down for them. There is even another bigger crate in there, but they stay in Bella’s Small crate. It is really funny. I’m so glad they are friends now. It took a bit to get them there but they are there.

Today has been a bad one. Not a little bad, the kind where your so stressed you can barely breathe. I had stress from about 5 different angles and they all kind of intersected at once. I still have a headache. Came home and all I wanted to do was feed and water the animals. That’s exactly what I did. All of the pigs were wanting attention. I gave belly rubs and patted them on the back. I know they love me and the attention. I also know they are emotional animals and they can feel when I’m stressed. I then went over and jumped the gate to the vet in the pen with the goats and the donkey. I’m pretty sure they know how I’m feeling also. Carlos was trying to give me kisses. Cracker Jack tried to knock me over to get my attention. Lucky didn’t want anything to do with me, but that’s normal. Hercules took lots of selfies with me. He is definitely the most out going goat I have ever seen. Romeo is so sweet and he just sat there and let me pet him. They followed me when I got up to go inside. Loving on all of them made me feel better, not great, but better. Life is stressful at some points in our lives and today was that for me.

I have to tell you, with the weather getting so hot during the day now here in Arkansas, I am grateful for where the pig pens sit. Back before we bought this place, behind the house was a dog kennel set up for breeding. I’m not a fan of that. I rescue dogs instead of paying big bucks for a dog coming from a breeder. For me, there are too many dogs out there that don’t have homes already. It’s just sad. Anyway. I used to hate going that far from the house because I wasn’t sure what would be down there. It was over grown and looked a little scary. We cleaned them all out once we got our first 2 pigs. It was most definitely in the best spot on the property. There is so much shad there for the pigs. It’s perfect. Of course whatever was growing there has been rooted up but they still get grass to eat and all of that. When I walked down there now, it’s like it’s 10 degrees cooler because of all of the shade. It really helps keep the pigs cool. Of course they get fresh water to drink daily and they get fresh water in their pools also daily to keep them cool. I used to hate it there because it just reminded me of sadness, but now it’s one of my favorite places on the property.

I can finally say after a very long time that all of the pigs will let me pet them. Some of them took a year to warm up and be able to let me give them a belly rub. They have all decided they are okay with me and know they are home. When a pig lays down for a belly rub, they are saying they trust you. That is a vulnerable position for them to be in. They don’t do it if they don’t trust you. Warms my heart that I have finally done it. It’s been work for sure!!

Let me tell you what. It’s the time of year that all the animals are shedding their hair. Good grief. It’s such fun. Hahahaha!! Well, the big pigs and a few of the smaller ones are shedding which is called blowing their coat. Why?? I really don’t know. Spam is so cranky about it. She wants all of my attention to rub her and scratch her so all of that hair will hurry up and fall out. I mean she is aggressive about it. I stopped petting her earlier and started petting Treat. Well spam snapped at me and then treat snapped at me and then they snapped at each other. I mean goodness. I’m very grateful my reflexes are so good. I’m sure they are itchy over it.

My dogs have started doing some craziness. Every morning at 6:30 or close to that time, all 4 of them start barking. They wake me up. Every single morning. I did not know why they were doing this. At first, I thought it was because Cracker Jack was braying around that time most mornings. Well, that’s not it. When Ronnie was home last time, he went and checked out what was happening. Apparently a deer is coming up in the yard. I think that is so awesome. I haven’t seen it yet. I hope I do one day.

This morning I go out to feed the pigs and Russ and Darla have been doing this thing where when I unlatch the gate they start to come out of their pen. Normally I just stand in front of them and they go back in because I have food. Not this morning. Darla just walks right past me. And she was not going to come back. She didn’t go far, just back and forth in front of the pens. But she would not go to the door of the pen. I ran inside and woke Mya up (I apologized later). I needed help to get Darla. I know what it is like to chase a pig in the woods for days and I did not want her to get to the woods. Feed didn’t work, hay didn’t work, and grapes didn’t work. We tried to catch her. She wasn’t having it. Finally, we coax her to the feed barn. She jumped in there for some food. We shut her in. Of course Mya and I were in there, too. I was trying to get her to calm down. She ate some food and I was petting on her. Tried to get her in a carrier, nope, too smart for that. Finally, we decided to just pick her up and run with her. She is about 80 pounds so it was going to be fun. Mya decided she would do it. You know, pigs hate to be picked up. They fight you and scream the entire time. Mya picks her up and it’s immediate, she starts screaming and fighting. I’m running to the pen to unlatch it. Mya starts screaming that she is dropping her, so I run back to help prop Darla up more. This happens a second time. Darla screaming the entire time. We finally get her to the pen and get her in there. Poor girl. I know that had to be traumatic for her. She was upset so I gave her some grapes for a treat. She was so mad, she almost didn’t take them. Almost. A few minutes later, my phone rings. It’s Ronnie. He asks if everything is okay. I said yes. I had already sent him pictures of Darla out of the pen. He said well, I just got a phone call from our neighbor saying it sounded like something was dying at our house. Of course I had to laugh. He did tell the neighbor that if he heard that noise that we must have gotten the pig back in the pen. Oh what a day. I have some bruises from the day. Glad she is back. And she isn’t mad anymore.

I have kind of kept this under my hat since I did not have a date yet and still don’t, but I have a book coming out sometime this year. It’s about these crazy animals, things I’ve learned and why I have them in the first place. It’s still in the editing phase with the publishing company. I did not know this but they get hundreds of manuscripts in every day and they are only able to pick 1 or 2 to publish and they picked mine. I was sitting at work exactly 3 days after I sent them my manuscript and I remember saying, Ok, Lord, I would really like to know what they are thinking about this book. I kid you not, it was about 10 minutes after that and I received the phone call that they had excepted my book. I probably did cry a few happy tears. I couldn’t believe it. That is an amazing accomplishment and have wanted to do that for years. I finally did it. Now, the book coming out is about these animals. Mya and I decided to write a kids version of the book. I would write it and she would illustrate it. It turned out so cute. Because it is so expensive for a publishing company to do it, we thought we would be smart and self publish. Yeah, it won’t be promoted like the other one will, but it’s an accomplishment for both of us. All week we have been working on getting the sizes right and the words to go where they needed to and all of that jazz. I now see why publishing companies charge to do some of that. It’s work for sure. But, after so many days of trying to get it done, we got it done. If it meets criteria, it should be available on Amazon in a week or less. There is a paperback and an ebook. And we have started another one already. It’s really just fun for us. I’m not expecting too much from any of it but it’s exciting. I hope you guys reading this will look into these books.

I have to tell you, today has been rough. I got up to find one of the dogs had been sick in the middle of the night. That was a nightmare in itself. Then I go out to feed the animals and Darla runs off. That took a couple hours to get her back to where she needed to be. I have bruises from that ordeal. Poor thing is still mad. Mya and I did get the house cleaned and the pool is opened, just need the chemicals to finish working. I have been really tired lately so I decided to take a nap. The cats wouldn’t stop fighting and then one of my cats got sick. She is still a little sick and I need to keep an eye on her. Cleaning up after her was a little rough. There might have been some blood in whatever that was I cleaned up. I know things happen. I wasn’t prepared for all that would happen today. What a day. I’m ready to go to bed and start another day.

My poor Maggie is getting up there in years. She is now 10 years old. She has had some health problems in the last couple of years. I’m pretty sure she has some hearing loss now as well. She loves to run with the younger dogs. Only problem is she gets left behind by them and it takes her so long to get back home. This morning was one of those times. Only she wasn’t running with the other dogs, but she did go into the woods by herself. When I went inside to get ready to go to work after feeding the other animals, Maggie wasn’t back. I left Daisy out and told her to go find Maggie. Sure as the world, a few minutes later, here comes Daisy... with Maggie. I was so shocked. I shouldn’t be because Daisy is good like that. I guess I’m really amazed at how smart animals are. That Daisy is a one in a million dogs. She is fabulous.

So, the farrier came out today to work on Cracker Jack’s feet. Cracker Jack really hates it. I was smart this time and scheduled it when Ronnie was home. I’m so grateful for that. The ferried is really good but I have difficulty holding Cracker Jack by myself. Ronnie was able to catch him and tie him up so when the farrier got there Cracker Jack was ready. More like super mad when Marshall showed up. I mean mad. The poor farrier was able to do all 4 feet this time. I have to tell you though, Cracker Jack is the protector of the goats but today those goats were worried and upset for Cracker Jack. Carlos kept going over to check on him. I couldn’t even bribe him with treats. After Cracker Jack was finished they all got some hay and peanuts and all is well.

I have done physical therapy for a profession for 13 years of my life. I stopped doing physical therapy a year ago. I say that to say this. I really did not know the physical pain some people were going through. I have treated so many people with plantar fasciitis throughout the years. Oh my goodness, I have been dealing with plantar fasciitis the last few weeks. I do believe it’s because of the boots I wear around the farm and they even have insoles in them. I only wear them here on the farm but when I get them off at night my foot hurts so badly. I am doing my own therapy on my foot but good grief. I have been wearing an old pair of tennis shoes around the last couple days and it is getting better. Good thing these animals are so cute and I love them so much.

I’ve talked about this new cat, Oreo lately. Interesting thing happened last night. Oreo was a stray and for months was fed leftovers, not here of course because I won’t let that happen. Food we eat is hard on a cat stomach or dog stomach. Last night, my husband had some food left in a bowl that he left on the table. He never does this so not sure how that happened. Anyway. Sometime during the night, Oreo are whatever it was in the bowl. I know they have food in their automatic feeder but apparently he was missing human food. I find that pretty funny. My other two don’t do things like that so I know it was him. Bless his little heart. He is trying to fit in here.

It’s getting closer here with Persia and Oreo. They are still fighting but they are able to get closer to each other. Bubba has excepted Oreo and he will lay close to him. Persia is still mad that he is here. Oreo tries really hard to be friends with her but she hates every new thing that comes in the door. Oreo is becoming better with being comfortable here. He had taken over Bubba’s spot on the couch but Bubba doesn’t act like it matters to him. It’s definitely a process with these cats. Mostly Persia makes it difficult. I’m hoping she gets over being a snob soon. They chased each othe hissing for a couple of hours this afternoon. It can get annoying.

I go out this morning for the morning chores and I see that the rest of the chicken wire in the smaller pig pen is half down. It wasn’t needed anymore. It was there to separate the pigs when Russ got here. Ronnie has taken half of the chicken wire down already. I guess the pigs decided they didn’t want it there anymore. I decided to take the rest of it down today. I got it down with no problem. I did cut my arm throwing it over the fence but that didn’t surprise me. Now there is just a small board showing where the two pens used to be separated. The pigs have been jumping over it all day which I find hilarious.

Yesterday was a very hot day here in the south. Heat index was around 103 degrees. Of course I was concerned about the farm animals. I left the dogs inside most of the afternoon so they would be okay. When I got up yesterday morning it was already hot with high humidity. I got out and fed everyone and then started cleaning out water bowls and pools for the day. I got the big pen pool finished and Spam and Gus fought over the pool and ended up getting in there together. The smaller pigs couldn’t wait until the pool was full and got in before it was full. Treat enjoyed the mud holes. They all enjoyed the sun and when it got too hot they all got in the shelters. The goats and donkey stayed in the shade. I went out and sprayed the pigs with water a couple of times to cool them off. They appreciated that. I did the same thing this morning. And the dogs are inside. Hope everyone stays safe in the heat. If you have pigs, they don’t sweat, so take measures to keep them cool.

I think the moon situation had Cracker Jack on edge yesterday. He didn’t bray at me at all. I started to get concerned because he always brays at me in the morning and then in the evening at least for food and he didn’t do that at all. I even went out to check on him to make sure he would come to me. He did but I was concerned. This morning I got up and went outside and thank goodness, I heard the sound of my faithful and very stubborn donkey. All is well in my world now.

Something wonderful happened today. As you all know I have 9 pot belly pigs. All of them are at least a year old. Most of them I got really young and didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. To be honest, some days I still don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. I go out to do my last check of the night on all of the animals. I get to the big pig pen and they won’t even get out of their shelter. They are comfortable and not messing with me. There are 3 in that pen. I got over to the other one with 6 pigs in it and they all come to the fence and demanded to get petted. It was so bad, 4 of the 6 roll over for belly rubs and I’m no where near them. Of course I went in and gave them belly rubs. They are so spoiled. It’s an adventure every day.