monday at saints

tonight was fun. ellie was a bezerker little pig at supper time. at one point she had both her front feet inside the 30 gallon tub of water. really ellie, some patience and manners please.

spritely's leg is still swollen, we are watching it carefully.

carl was polite with the other guys when everyone came in tonight but only i think cuz he knew i was watching.

ellen just about lost me over the cliff behind the chicken coop. we were fixing some fencing and i started to slide but she grabbed me, i told her she would have been in big trouble with the other volunteers if she had let me fall off the cliff! she noticed that the dogs were digging thru the bottom of the new manure pile...ugrhh! someone had thrown garbage in there and the bloody lab and hound dug it out. poor ellen had to collect it all up and carry it back to the house. note to everyone at saints...manure piles are for manure only, they are not for plastic garbage bags full of cat food tins from frodo out in the rabbit room.

so let's talk about petunia's and ellie's houses because it may raise some questions for tunie's caregivers, readers and visitors on why she isn't getting the same as ellie. ellie doesn't have a house. she stole a three foot area in the back far corner for bedtime by further crowding out the sheep. both she and the sheep are uncomfortably cramped. so a house for ellie is a priority. ellie will grow to 700 pounds, she is only going to physically fit in that space for another couple of weeks. since there is no extra or available stalls in the barn that will accomondate her full size, we are going to have to build her an outside home. i am not sure ellie is going to like being kicked out of the barn, that is where everyone else is. but right now we don't have a choice because we don't have any free appropriate space for her inside the barn right now.

petunia has a house that she really likes. it is in the barn and she likes it in there. there is plenty of room, she gets alot of company during the day while the barn is being cleaned and when everyone is being fed and put to bed. she loves that barn. i am not altogether convinced she truly wants a new house outside. i am afraid she will feel isolated and alone if she isn't in the middle of all the comings and goings like she is right now.;so...rather than upset petunia by changing everything and then discovering that we got it all wrong. we are taking our time to make sure that we give petunia what she really wants. with petunia we do have a choice on how she is housed, she is already in the barn and has a good place that is hers. so before we mess around with that, we need to make sure. and we will do that by letting petunia decide where she wants to live. come spring we will probably fix up the old chicken coop in the back yard. if tunie wants to hang out there for part of the day, or not at all, or move in there altogether, it will be entirely up to her because i think she should choose what she wants on her own. i like the animals to be given free choices, it saves me from guessing for them and making a mistake.

trevor went out with colleen today to learn some manners around the barn guys. apparently he did quite well altho he had a hard time keeping his eyes off the pig.

hannah went to the vets to start her cartrophen injections which we are really hoping will help her arthritic knees.

there is a 10 year old senior shepherd cross at one of the vets who needs a new home. her elderly caregiver passed away and now she is homeless. if anyone knows anyone, please have them contact me and maybe ella will find a new friend.