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2005
July 2005 We took
our kids down to Kevin and Diana's house and then we
visited Washington D.C, for our annual family vacation.
We had a great time. Grampy animal sat while we were
gone. When we arrived back at home, grampy had built
a beautiful aviary type pen for our ring neck doves.
It has a roof with wire sides and the ground is grass.
They love to be outside during the summer, sometimes
I see them nibbling on the grass. They seem happy and
it is possible to hear them cooing and singing from
the porch.
Aug. 2005 Went to the Marshfield Fair today….
when I got home I discovered an e-mail from Virginia
telling us that the pig had delivered her piglets. There
were eight in the litter. They told us that we would
have the pick of the litter. This variety of pig normally
is one of two color combinations; one is white with
black spots and the other is a copper orange with black
spots. At first we thought that we would get two of
the same but, after thinking about it, we decided that
it would be better to get one of each so that people
could see both varieties. I guess we won't know which
ones to choose until we actually meet them in person.
How exciting, they should be adorable!
Aug 2005 When Cheryl
told me about the piglets and the problem of getting
them to our farm; I got to thinking! I had put in for
some time off in early November, combining Veteran's
Day with my regularly scheduled days off, getting a
very long weekend out of it all. Cheryl had forgotten
that I had those days off, so when I told her I would
gladly drive to Virginia and bring back our baby piglets
she looked at me like I was out of my mind. I told her
what my plan was and that I was serious, even though
she wasn't crazy about me driving down alone, she eventually
came around.
August 2005 The red
dorking chicks that we got from Plimoth Plantation recently
have grown into beautiful birds. They do not seem as
docile as the silver gray variety that we have in the
neighboring pen, but they are nice in their own way.
Sept 2005 Cheryl
was doing some heavy thinking about my trip to Virginia.
She was thinking of different strategies and ways to
bring Dalby Farm it's new piglets. She was also worried
about such a long drive for one person to make. She
devised a travel plan that included a stop over at good
ol'e Uncle Kevin and Auntie Diana's house in Manalapan,
N.J., assuming they would be available for my southward
trek.
Oct 2005 It's getting
close to the Veteran's Day weekend and my nerves are
getting the better of me. Cheryl has been worrying about
such a long trip, plus expressing her desire to accompany
me down to the farm. I can't say that I blame her either.
Cheryl has worked very hard getting us to where we are
today and she certainly deserves some of the glory in
bringing home another rare breed. Excluding nerves,
I was very excited about this trip. This trip means
a lot to both Cheryl and I, as well as, to Dalby Farm.
Nov 2005 The day
has arrived, Thursday, Veteran's Day, last minute directions
from map quest, not to mention jitters and advice from
Cheryl. She so wanted to go. I felt so sad and exhilarated
and nervous all at the same time. The first leg of my
trip brings me to Manalapan, NJ, roughly a five-hour
trip to Uncle Kevin and Auntie Diana's house.
They were fantastic that whole weekend. Kevin and Diana
fixed me a great supper and helped with directions and
sent me to bed early. My wake up call was to be around
6:00 Friday morning with a departure time of no later
than 7:00 a.m. Sleep did not come very easy as I tossed
and turned most of the night. The wake up call came
and I was on the road as planned.
This leg of my journey would be approximately 4 ½
to 5 hours. It was a very uneventful trip for most of
the way down to Virginia. The directions were very precise
and I was in constant contact with Cheryl all the way.
She was riding shotgun by cell phone and helped with
some later confusion when the directions became not
so precise. In any event, I reached the end of the directions
and was sitting on the side of a very rural road without
a clue to where I was.
So I pulled out my trusty cell phone and called Cheryl
for help. Her advice was to call the farm and ask for
some directions. Now that may seem an obvious solution
to most people but it somehow eluded me sitting there
in the middle of nowhere!!!!!
Thank God for cell phones and thank God for Cheryl.
Well, I placed the call and got the receptionist and
I told her of my dilemma along with where I thought
I was. She had no idea where I was based on the landmarks
I gave her. This situation was really going to mess
up my schedule if I didn't find someone who could figure
out my location. Fortunately, the receptionist took
my number and found someone to help me. He called me,
determined my location and came out to bring me safely
back to the Birthplace. I can't say enough of the people
I met at the Birthplace. They were fantastic people.
I got a short tour of the
farm and then was introduced to our future piglets.
Piglets three months old were sure bigger than I thought.
But choosing them was going to be a little tough, because
they were all really cute. Cheryl and I had decided
before leaving that selection should be based on coloring.
We wanted a good representation of the breed. Thus selection
became much easier for me. Selection was done and the
piglets were secured away in a large dog carrier in
the back of my Jeep Cherokee where they would spend
the next four and a half to five hours driving back
to Manalapan, N.J.
Getting lost caused me precious daylight hours, so,
I wanted to get going right away. The drive back was
uneventful and I pulled in the driveway around 9:30
Friday night. Uncle Kevin helped put the piglets in
the garage for the night. Then I went inside to dine,
shower and hit the sack for another early wake up call
Saturday morning.
After a quick breakfast
I hit the road and began the last leg of my journey
that would bring these beautiful Ossabaw Island Hogs
to Dalby Farm. Although my trip for the most part was
uneventful, I did encounter a taste of just how attractive
and appealing these two piglets really are. There wasn't
one rest stop along the way that I didn't attract a
crowd of onlookers. Old and young alike would flock
to my jeep and inquire about our two little pigs. I
found myself giving brief lectures at all the rest stops.
I was very proud of our little piglets and couldn't
wait to get them to their new home.
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