I have this dog named Pepper. She is mostly definitely my dog. I am her person. She has been the most loyal dog. She walks in the yard with me. She follows me to the pig pen. She patiently waits while I love on all the pigs and then the goats and donkey. She goes over and waits for me while I water the garden. This girl is so precious. She won’t go inside even when she is panting and super hot when someone else calls her name. She patiently waits on me with no complaints. I just felt like I needed to give her a shout out. I don’t talk about her much. She is always with me but she just patiently sits and waits. She hates the camera and tries to get away when I have it out so there is that.

You guys, these pigs are so smart. As I have said earlier, I have been spending a lot of time with Darla to make sure she is comfortable and getting used to being in a new place. I want to make sure every animal here is living their best life. If not, what’s the point in having them. I was giving Darla belly rubs earlier and here comes Bacon Bit. I gave her a little scratching on her head and she walked away kind of pouting. I didn’t think much of it and continued with chores. I came back and she was laying in one of the shelters. Usually she is still running around at this time of the night. I go into the pen and she doesn’t get up. I start to worry a little. I went into the shelter and sat down and she didn’t move. I mean she grunted and was looking at me. So I get really close to her and she leans over and gives me a piggy kiss. I then start rubbing on her to really check her body temp. She rolls over for a belly rub. She seems fine. I talk to her a bit and give her some attention. She talks back in her pig language like she is answering my questions. I get up and so does she. She then walks out of the shelter right after me and starts interacting with the other pigs. It was almost like she just needed my attention and then she was fine. She is a smart one for sure.

I think I have really done it now. Messed up that is. I went out to check on the goats and the donkey. I unlocked the pen and went in. I did not lock it back because I have never had to. They usually want my attention and will follow me wherever I go. Not this day. They saw an opportunity to get out for awhile and they were going to take it. I stopped them though. Hercules sure did fight to be able to get out. I mean, he fought to get out. Poor guy. I wasn’t about to let them out. I just had this feeling that if I did Hercules might not come back for awhile. It’s still funny regardless. They were all crowded around me wanting to get out.

Yesterday I was walking around checking on all the animals and the garden. That’s what I do. I am constantly checking. I know what that sounds like but I feel like it’s necessary to care for them properly. Anyway. As I’m checking on the goats and Cracker Jack, I see that Hercules is in the shelter and the rest of them are all out laying in hay around a bale of straw. I wondered what was happening. It looked like they were all mad at Hercules or something so they sent him away. I just thought that was funny to see.

Last night I had a surprise. I was checking sleeping arrangements again. I was so thrilled when I saw Russ and Darla in the big shelter and the other 4 were in the smaller shelter. It does crack me up that they like the smaller shelter better. All I really care about is that they have a nice place where they an stay warm and dry and I don’t have to worry about it. I love that Russ has accepted Darla like he has. He is such a loner that I really felt like he needed a friend and it is going really well. It just makes me happy.

I go into the pen after seeing the sleeping arrangements and by then they all knew I was there. They all came out to greet me. The 4 little pigs I think had a feeling what I was doing. When I cam in the pen, Darla came to greet me and so did Brutus. Russ stayed in the big shelter by himself and Bacon Bit and Pork chop decided to go over into that shelter. That left Patsy and Brutus and Darla to the new shelter. I am okay with that. I just don’t want a pig to get left out and have to sleep in the doghouse. I think truly that is where Russ wants to be so if it was him in there I wouldn’t care. He likes to be alone.

I go out to check on the pigs with the sleeping arrangements to make sure everyone was settled. In reality I wanted to make sure Darla was in a shelter and not in the dog house. Well, she was in the dog house. The 4 smaller pigs that have been here the longest have taken up residence in the house Ronnie built for Russ and Darla. I had a feeling that was what was happening and I wanted to see for myself. Russ was in the big shelter all by himself. I might need to take the doghouse out of the pen all together but haven’t for fear one of the pigs will have no where out of the weather to sleep and I do not want that. I did sneak up slowly so I could see where everyone was. I went in and everything changed.