Monday, December 30, 2013

Oh my, I'm laughing so hard!

Ben received a gift, a couple months ago, of a very nice iPod that does lots of nifty stuff, including taking pictures. Although he has not yet been exposed to "social media," Ben is certainly going to be prepared for it when the time comes. He has been perfecting the art of the "selfie." (You're gonna LOVE these! . . . well, I like them, anyway!)





 

 


 
And before you ask . . . no, he's not wearing an earring in the photo with the hat. That's a curl of hair - he needed a haircut! (And yeah, I had to look twice to make sure, myself, LOL)

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Sending out an email newsletter . . .

Yes, on Christmas Eve!

If you're not on our mailing list (or aren't sure if you're on the list), and you'd like to receive the letter, send your email address to trish (at) sowers4pastors.com. I'd be more than happy to add you to the mailing list.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

See something new?

Every year, Allen updates our ministry overview information. Yesterday I created a new tab at the top of the blog, so that this information will be easily available to everyone. If you're interested in seeing what we're up to, in the big picture, then take a look!

Monday, December 16, 2013

Pig Breeding Success!


Sadly, the two piglets we were bottle feeding didn't make it. 

Happily, this thriving litter of eight piglets was born on Sunday, Ben's birthday . . . during his birthday party! Mama and babies are all doing well!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

More Piglet Pictures . . . because CUTENESS!


The piglet above was smushed into the mud by the other pigs soon after birth. Boo dug him out, we warmed him up, and now he's doing great. He still has some mud on his face. He loves to nurse, and does it expertly!




This piglet has lovely reddish stripes down her back. She is a lousy nurser, and insists on having the bottle enter her mouth from the side. This decreases the suction, so we increased the size of the hole in the nipple. We weren't getting her to eat much before, but now she's happy. Those closed eyes in the photo indicate a nearly sated piglet!





Ahhh, here's some enthusiasm from the pretty piglet we thought we'd lose, due to her previous disinterest in nursing. She's doing so much better now!

A note: All gender references in this post should be disregarded. We don't know whether these piglets are male or female. LOL

Monday, December 9, 2013

SURPRISE: Piglets!

We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I mean, we have male and female pigs, together in the same pen, so it was kind of inevitable.

Only, we've been a bit distracted the past few months, and nobody was paying attention to the timing . . . and when Boo checked on the pigs this afternoon, one of them was giving birth!

The first few piglets were already born and dead when we found them, but two of the babies were rescued from the pen alive. Unfortunately, either because of our involvement, or possibly just because she is a first time mother, the sow refused to let her piglets nurse . . . in fact, she attacked them whenever they got near to her.

You know what that means, right? Uh huh. We're bottle feeding piglets now.

Sadly, the odds are against these little guys. They didn't nurse from their mother at all, so they didn't receive the first milk, called colostrum, which they need to help them fight off diseases. We'll give it our best shot, however, and see if we can keep the babies alive.

Another of the pigs is pregnant (we discovered that when we were dealing with this one), and so I'm hoping that, if she gives birth in a day or two, and if we can keep these piglets alive until then, maybe we can sneak these two in with the second litter. We manage this easily with our dogs, but we don't know much about pig nursing . . . so it will be an experiment.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Boo's Botanicals



I'm back from being sick, hurrah! I'm still moving kind of slow, but today I was working on organizing some photos, and I came across a few really lovely pictures Boo took of plants in our yard. I hope you enjoy them!