Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Ladies from Home School Fellowship!

The Pig Farmers of Pure Water Hollow

I think you can now officially call us "pig farmers"! This is the 4th set of piglets we've had from our two sows and this time it all went by the book. We noticed that our boar Rufus was trying to breed our sows, Nellie and Sally, about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days ago. (The books say a pig's gestation time is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.) I had projected a due date of December 5th back in September, so on Wednesday, December 3rd, we led Sally and Nellie down from the pig lot to the barn to get ready for giving birth. They are each 2 years and 3 months old now, and they have become old hands at giving birth. We put several bales of straw in their stalls and made them comfortable. I am so glad we moved them when we did, because the piglets came a day early (which was within the margin of error). When they gave birth in July, they surprised us and caught us off guard. We lost several of the piglets in those litters, partly because of poor planning, I think. But this time it felt like we knew what we were doing; I felt like a professional pig farmer!

In Sally’s stall Christina exclaimed, "Here comes one!" I looked over at Sally and Christina for just a moment and then trained my flashlight back on Nellie. I couldn’t believe that the beam revealed another piglet for Nellie! It must have come out just a second or two after Sally’s. This scene was repeated again about 5 minutes later. Christina delivered another piglet of Sally’s and I took a picture and then looked back at Nellie. This time my flashlight found two brand new piglets still attached by the umbilical cords to Nellie! They must have come, back to back, at nearly the same time Sally had pushed hers out!

All together, I witnessed Nellie giving birth to the last 6 of hers and the last 5 of Sally’s. I got home at about 4:30 and the last piglet was born at about 7:00. When Matthew had gone to check on the pigs earlier this afternoon at about 2:00, Nellie had already given birth to two piglets with one of them still attached by the cord. He flew down to the house on his 4-wheeler to let everyone else in on the news and then raced back up the hollow. Erica, Christina, Simon and Lisa with Timothy in her arms, arrived at the barn shortly thereafter. They were on hand to see Nellie deliver her next several and Sally’s first 9. Sometime around 4:00 Timothy declared he had had enough of standing around in a cold barn, so Erica and Simon took their screaming brother back to the house. Lisa stayed a couple of more hours and Christina did not leave until it was clear that all the piglets were born and safe.

Christina actually delivered all but one of Sally’s piglets. As each one came out, Christina made sure their airways were clear and she wiped them off and made sure they found a teat to nurse on. So, after 5 hours of birthing, Nellie had 13 adorable piglets nursing and Sally had 14 beautiful, healthy little piglets nursing.

Matthew and I did not leave until 9:30 because it was important to winterize the barn as much as possible. We stapled up feed sacks over all the cracks in the wallboards and over all the windows. By the time we were leaving, ice had formed on the metal gates in the barnyard, the mud in the road had become a frozen crunch, and a heavy frost was covering the hillsides. The low tonight is forecasted to be 18 degrees and the high tomorrow just above freezing. Tomorrow night the weather man says will also be 18 degrees and the 10 day forecast shows below freezing lows for the next 10 nights! The first week of life for these piglets will be a very cold one! Their first four nights are predicted to be 18, 18, 21, and 15 degrees with the highs only in the 30s!

This is the most piglets we have had to date, and if they all survive it will mean a substantial amount of possible cash. If we can sell 25 of the piglets in January for the going price of $40 each, it would mean $1000 in our pocket in just 5 or 6 weeks! If we sell them at a bargain basement price of $25 each, it would still be $625. And that would still leave 2 of them for us to raise as market hogs which we would either put in the freezer or sell for around $100 each live, or have processed and sell the packaged pork for a substantial profit. I really can't believe we have 27 piglets! From what I've read, Hampshire pigs usually do not have litters this large.

Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow!

I did take pictures and I will try to add them to this post someday soon.

a different christmas poem

Atlantic Beach

Surgery

How things work out some times is such a pain in the tush!  On Monday I got in the mail the ok from our insurance company to have more surgery on my still broken leg , I was so happy.  The key word is WAS.    Why was? 

Well...... last night Shannon brought home the paper work for the up coming year on our medical insurance.  Guess what ?  They changed insurance companies.     UUGGHHH.  I am glad we went back to our old insurance company, but did it have to start on 12-01-08???

Now we have to start all over with getting the insurance to approve for my new surgery.   I want this over and done with.  My leg has been broken for a year on the 27th of December. 

God Bless, mj

Cute saying from my grand-babies

We went to Disneyland on the 2nd with the grand-babies.  We had so much fun with them.  We took them to carry on the annual tradition we have of going to see Santa.  We have done this with our girls and Marty.  It is the 1st time in 12 years that Marty is not in the picture.  That was very hard on us all, we miss him so much. 

So on the way home I ask Shayna if Jeffie is in a pull up or panties??  Jeffie told me he is" wearing underwear and he is keeping them safe in his pants" .  We all laughed so hard.  How cute he is!!

While we were taking pictures of things Shayna is taking pictures of her purse who is a stuffed lion (don't ask) .  Maddie said " no pictures of the bear take pictures of MEEE".  

They are so cute.  What a blessing they are to us.   I will post pictures of Disneyland with the grand-babies soon.

God Bless, mj

Puppy tales!

Well, it has been a bit since I have talked about Sammie (the Goldendoodle).  Not that there hasn't been stories to share, but I am sure you all are probably tired of them a bit!  But, I just can't help but share a few more stories!

1.  Sammie has decided to "undecorate" the bows from the tree.   He doesn't tear them up, but will "steal" them and chew a little and then leave them on the ground.  I was replacing them and getting after him, but now I am saving them for mid next week to put back on the tree as we will be puppy sitting a much younger puppy who tends to actually destroy things.  So, I decided that Sammie was helping his "mommy" by clearing the tree before his friend Gus comes over to play!   Just so you know...we only put up lights and bows this year to make the tree "Sammie proof."  Next year should be better.....fingers crossed!  Maybe we will be able to place glass bulbs on the tree too! 

TOP OF TREE:

BOTTOM OF TREE WITH BOWS ON THE FLOOR:

2.  I am baking today.  I have made a batch of Peanut Butter cookies that are chilling in the fridge, made fudge and made 4 mini banana bread loaves.  While the bread was cooling, and I decided to sit down and look at the mail that just came, I realized that I had a BIG puppy that snuck into the kitchen (he knows he isn't supposed to be in there).  I went in to see what he was doing just as he nabbed a loaf of bread in his mouth and ran.    My dad helped me to corner him and get the fully intacked loaf of bread out of his mouth!  Hmmmm......which family member should I give that SPECIAL banana bread to???   April??????  JUST KIDDING!     

3.  Shane and I were holding hands the other day.  Sammie was sitting on my lap...yes, my 70 lb big boy thinks he is a lap dog.  After about a minute, he stretched out his paw and placed it on our hands and left it there.  Another time, when we were hugging, he gently jumped up and placed each front paw on each of our shoulders.  He just wants to be part of everything!    Oh...his mommy just loves him! 

MY LAP DOG:

4.  He loves to tease Holly by getting a ball and playing keep away!  He will run right by her as fast as he can.  What he has to remember is that she has a quick "bite."    She got his tale and had strands of his hair in her mouth.  He didn't flinch a bit.....he wanted to keep playing!    He loves to run up to Holly and swat her on the bottom with his paw to say, hey...let's play!   

Those are just a few puppy tales to share with you!