Russ is at it again. He must have thrown a temper tantrum. He broke his house. I tried to clean out the mud and straw that was stuck into the places where the house goes together. I was not able to fit it back on because of that, or so I thought. After I cleaned everything out, it still would not go back together and stay. I ended up getting some super glue to get it back together. This pig is hilarious. Look at this face. I could not be upset with him if I wanted to be. I do kind of wonder where he slept last night since I got up this morning and the house was in two pieces. It’s a mystery.

Today was a win in my book. I have been trying for so long to get Patsy out of her shell. When I picked her up in a rescue, she was very timid. She became very depressed that I was starting to worry when she first got here. She would lay in the corner with her brother (Brutus). She didn’t want to eat or anything for several days. That can be normal for them because transitioning is so hard for them. I just kept trying to get her to eat. She has been here almost a year. She is my last one to come out of her shell. She still runs when I come into the pen or get close to her. She will eat out of my hand and on occasion I have been able to give her some kisses. I am able to pet her in small doses. She just hasn’t been friendly. And that’s okay. She does seem a little delayed with things, but that’s okay also. We made some progress today though. I was giving belly rubs today and she finally let me rub her belly and did the belly flop for me. I was so excited. She was my last hold out. Her Mohawk tells me she was happy about this belly rub.  I am working on Russ again after he got upset over a shot, but that will come eventually.

It stormed again last night. Thunderstorms, tornado warnings, tornado watches, all of the things tornado season brings here in Arkansas. I’m not a fan of these months with all of that going on. I did not panic the last few times. I calmly went outside and prayed for protection for all of the property and the animals. I did stay up late and went to do a check after the storm was over. I walked out to all of the pens and looked in with a flashlight. The donkey and goats were looking at me like, why are you flashing a light in our faces. They were all good and no damage was done there. Went down to the pig pens and they all woke up and started running around the pens. They were not happy with me waking them up. They were all okay and there was no damage. It rained so much all of the bowls were full of water. That a lot in just two hours. I was grateful they were all fine.

Spam has started limping a bit the last few days. I sure didn’t see that today though. I decided to check out her feet and I didn’t see anything. So, then she was still limping just a bit yesterday. Today I decided to clip her hooves. Oh, well, that didn’t happen. I brought out the clippers and she freaked. So weird. When the mud dries up, she will be fine with this, I hope. She ran around that pen like she did not have a care in the word. I watched her jump over the tree roots. She was on a roll. I finally gave up and left her alone. As soon as this mud dries up, it’s spa day for these pigs and their hooves.

It’s 11:30 at night and what have I been doing the last hour?? Calling for Daisy. She was inside most of the day because of the storms. She must have had some pinned up energy in her. When I let them out so I could go to bed, I didn’t turn on her training collar and off she went. Maggie and Bella followed her but they both came right back. I have stood on the porch calling for her for an hour. I gave up twice and came inside. I then got in my car and drove down the driveway but it was too foggy and dark to see anything, so I can back. I sat down and prayed. I would be devastated if she didn’t come back. I’m afraid my husband would be too since it’s his dog. They have such a bond. I came back to the back door and didn’t see her one last time before I went to bed and there she was. I won’t be forgetting that training collar again. That was awful. She usually isn’t gone that long and the only thing I know for sure was she was in the creek. I was a mad tonight at her. I usually am not but it’s getting more frequent. The collar will be staying on. I’m grateful she came back. I did not want to have to tell Ronnie.

The saga of Russ continues. These other pigs are really getting on his nerves. They try to take his food and he runs them off. Then, I put straw in his bed to keep him warm and they decide to spread it out for him. He just dumps the whole house over when they do that. They all are in his space so he goes to their space to get away from them. Poor guy. I went out to check on them tonight and didn’t see his house. He must have gotten so mad that he dumped it and moved it to the middle of the pen. Half of his straw was missing so I went to put more in. This woke them all up. I moved the house back and I put more straw in because it’s in the 30s again tonight. Well, the other ones were back trying to spread it out for him. I should have just left it alone. Poor guy. Just came in from checking on them again and they were all back in their beds. I disturbed Russ again and he was not happy about it. Apparently, he likes his sleep.

Well, the sleeping arrangements in the pig pen did not go as I had envisioned. Russ still is refusing to sleep in the shelter with the other pigs. Even when he was in there and I didn’t think he could get out, he was sleeping outside. I went out to check on him last night before I went to bed and sure enough, he was in his dog house. I had put a lot of extra straw in there because I knew it was supposed to get cold. He was bundled up so well in the straw I could only see 1 ear. Bless his heart. He really likes to be alone. I guess we will be building him his own shelter after all. I really thought he would eventually get in the shelter with the other pigs, So building him one was kinda put off for awhile, but now I know it needs to happen. My question is this, if there is a shelter built over there, will the other pigs stay out of it, nope, probably not. So then what am I going to do? I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. I’m definitely working hard at keeping them all happy.