8 funerals, 6 dates and 1 Christmas wedding (the Tribe version of 2019)

Wiebke

Wiebke

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2019 has sadly been the year I have lost the largest number of piggies so far - but only because I have been blessed that so many have left me in old age.
But with over a quarter of my piggies leaving for the Rainbow Bridge, there have also been some new arrivals to fill in the gaps. And a Christmas piggy 'wedding' right in the middle of cage cleaning and suitcase packing...

So let's start...

DEPARTURES TO THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

Unfortunately there have also been three younger Tribe members that have made the journey to the Rainbow Bridge and that are still much missed, too!

- Heini 'Lively' sadly followed her beloved Carwyn only 3 months later in January; she was only 3 years old.
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- Old age caught up with 7 year old Hafren 'Sabrina/Severn' just a week later; she is now reunited with her best friend and partner in crime Iola.
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- In April Nosgan 'Nightsong' had to be sent to the Rainbow Bridge when a piece of gut got trapped in his inoperable hernia; he was about 5 years of age.
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- Sadly we found tiny Helygen 'Willow' very unexpectedly passed away just hours before our return home from a short break in May; she was only 4 years old.
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- Lovely Heulwen 'Sunshine' made her way to the Rainbow Bridge around her 8th birthday in Mid-July.
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- The record summer temperatures were sadly too much for 8 1/2 years old Ffwlbri's frail immune system at the end of July.
Ffwlbri 'Moonlight' was the last First Lady of the Tribe and a formidable personality in her day.
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- Tegan Syndod 'Little Beautiful Surprise', my little surprise baby and life-long rebel, beat her aunt Ffwlbri by a matter of days to become the piggy that has lived with me longest.
She died in Mid-August around the 8th anniversary of her inception only two weeks after Ffwlbri and four weeks after Heulwen.
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- The last standing member of my amazing large 2011 class, Hedydd 'Skylark', followed her sister Heulwen and her playmate Tegan in October shortly after celebrating her own 8th birthday as the last surviving member of the original Tribe.
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They are all much missed and are leaving precious paw prints all over my heart!

To be continued...
 
NEW ARRIVALS 2019

But inevitably there have also been quite a few new arrivals to help bolster the losses for bereaved or fallen out companions.

- Tiny Begw 'Little Pearl' (pronounced Beggoo) has become the perfect lady for ex-single Dylan in January when he got himself into trouble with teenage boy Llelo. Begw was surrendered as an 8 weeks old unwanted baby boy who promptly turned out to be a girl the size of a small three weeks old, which caused a problem with foster space at the same rescue I had adopted Dylan from, so in view of her young age they spent the mandatory quarantine together at my home before moving into their regular pen in the Tribe room. Begw can stand up for herself, but Dylan is thankfully as much in love as she is...
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- Submissive but vocal 4 year old Betsan (my Nosgan lookalike who is the last survivor from a friend's closed down larger group) turned out to be the piggy that Beryn was finally able to work through the remainder of her social issues with. They are a closely and very harmoniously bonded pair of middle-aged sows. It has only taken me 1 1/2 years to find 'Mrs Right' for dumped human orientated ex-single Beryn...
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- Heini lookalike, timid and shy Heilin 'Generous', arrived in May after Heini's bereaved companion Llawen got into serious trouble with her feuding sister Hapus again. In the end, it was not Llawen but Hapus who left to live happily with Heilin while timid Llawen is getting on well with Barri and Briallen without Hapus to set her up.
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- Poor large Pioden has lost all four wives (Pili Pala in Autumn 2018; Helygen, Heulwen and Hedydd this year) in the space of just about a year. He had joined the Old Ladies group in May after Helygen's unexpected loss.
In August after Tegan's passing I adopted baby Dryw 'Wren' (pronounced Dree-oo) for him to prevent him from becoming a bereaved single yet again when already very frail and elderly Hedydd would follow her life-long friends to the Rainbow Bridge.
Dryw has plenty of 'abytude', but Pioden is used to being hen-pecked by much smaller wives!
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WEDDINGS

- Divorced Llelo and his cage were accidentally invaded by Miaren, who found both the real estate and its unassuming and polite owner very much to her liking and claimed them both for herself...
As the lady had been on my dating list for Llelo and he was safely past his post-op neutering wait by then, I had no objections with one less squabbling sister pair on my hands!
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- Nosgan's (neutered) widower mate Nye has found a new life job as a very dutiful ad attentive husboar to his previous 'iron maiden' neighbours, mother Hyfryd and daughter Hirael, who have previously failed to accept any group or neutered boar they had been introduced to.
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- Within 3 days of Dryw, stuck in rescue Brathlys 'Scarlet Pimpernel', who'd not had a single enquiry and had failed any bonding attempt with neutered rescue boars in half a year, travelled here as my new project piggy to help work through their fear-aggression issues with both humans and other piggies.
PS: Note to myself: Do NOT mention certain preferences in breed or colouring on some other rescue piggies' post, or the rescue may come up with your custom-made perfect social rehabilitation piggy, promptly hand-delivered across half of England because you happen to be conveniently on the way to the rescue lady's holiday... HOW can you say no?
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- Freshly neutered Alan (who reminds me of my much loved master diplomat Terfel, RIP 2015) has come here at the end of October in the hopes that Brathlys would be able to make friends with him by dint of a very gradual and slow socialisation - and just for once, the best laid plans have actually come to fruition!
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After a month of small pre-intros on my lap and chair always just lasting until Brathlys started to go on overload, I put the two together on the roaming ground while I was cleaning out the divided cage the evening before our departure just to give them another ten minutes or so, but in fact they decided that they actually wanted to be together when the chips were down so I let them get on with it, left them on the roaming ground with plenty of space overnight and transferred them to the newly made up cage (minus divider) first thing in the morning... It was in fact one of the easiest bondings I have ever done and quite an anticlimax to all of Brathlys' shenanigans in the run-up!
The honeymoon is still in full swing...
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It has truly been a year of change for the Tribe!

While I will always miss my long time furry friends and very much feel the end of an era, new faces, fresh love stories and the start of a new happy and stable relationship for some bereaved and/or not easy to bond piggies have given me plenty of reason to rejoice, too!
 
All beautiful piggies and blessed to have had or have you in their lives. I have a mummy crush on Nosgan. He looks like he had lots of character and amazing whiskers
 
What are your cages like? I don’t believe I’ve seen them!
 
Sophie B said:
What are your cages like? I don’t believe I’ve seen them!
Click to expand...

The layout and size of the pens changes constantly, depending on the group constellations and how many I have got. I had 5 trios/quartets earlier last year but at the moment I am down to just 3 trios and lots of pairs, so the pens are currently smaller to accommodate them all. The front pens have all got direct access to the roaming area, which all piggies time share depending on their age and need - babies and youngsters get more time while older piggies who just enjoy a snooze in their favourite corner get less...

This is today (which is maxed out on space):
IMG_0947_edited-1.jpg

But with less but larger groups it can also look like this:
IMG_2111_edited-1.jpg
 
Wiebke said:
The layout and size of the pens changes constantly, depending on the group constellations and how many I have got. I had 5 trios/quartets earlier last years but at the moment I am down to just three trios and lots of pairs, so the pens are currently smaller to accommodate them all. The front pens have all got direct access to the roaming area, which all piggies time share depending on their age and need - babies and youngsters get more time while older piggies who just enjoy a snooze in their favourite corner get less...

This is today (which is maxed out on space):
View attachment 129940

But with less but larger groups it can also look like this:
View attachment 129941
Click to expand...
Wow that is amazing 😍
 
What a lovely review of 2019. So much sadness and also joy. Hope you and the tribe enjoy a fabulous 2020.

Happy New Year. xx
 
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