Received the sad news the other day that Esther the Wonder Pig has passed away at 11 years old.

I first discovered Esther online quite a few years ago. She'd been adopted by a couple, Steve and Derek, under the illusion that she was a "micro pig" (a designation they later learned doesn't exist.) She was, in fact, a commercial pig that grew to be 650 lbs. She inspired Derek and Steve to not only become vegan but to take their love of animals and Esther and open a farm sanctuary, Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary (HEEFS), that I've talked about many, many times.



Esther struggled with cancer and a ongoing hoof problem that required her to wear a prosthetic, but she was always such a happy, joyful piggy. She loved cupcakes and belly rubs and her mattress. She lived in the house and was trained to do her business outside, which she could do by opening the sliding door with her snout! She was so smart! She inspired me to give up pork and to donate to HEEFS and other sanctuaries too. She was a special piggy who had been struggling so much in the last year of her life, and I'm going to miss her.

( Look at this beautiful girlCollapse )



Rest In Peace, beautiful piggy.
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I have an unexpectedly free day today.

My plans: Get up early-ish. Eat turkey sandwich. Work for a few hours. Turn on the Zoom event for HEEFS Cowpie Bingo (scheduled from 2pm to 4pm, because who knows who it'll take a cow to poop.) Work a few more hours. Something fun in the evening, like reading or a puzzle.

Actual day, as far as 2:40pm: Get up early-ish. Eat turkey sandwich. Log into work site and see that there are a total of 4 files available. Okay, so apparently I'm not working today. Play around online looking for habit tracking graphic ideas for my January 2022 not-really-a-bullet-journal. Work on my journal. Turn on the Zoom event for Cowpie Bingo. SIR DENVER POOPS AFTER 11 MINUTES. He does not poop on my square. Oh hey, I know, I should update my LJ!

Ah well. Hopefully this means I can finish my January journal pages today.

I've been binge-ing on movies lately. Loved Eurovision Song Contest, Blinded by the Light, and Don't Look Up. Hated Thunder Force and Everyone's Talking About Jamie. Patient Zero was okay, but I think that was mostly because everyone in it (Matt Smith, Clive Standen, Natalie Dormer) is ridiculously attractive. I rewatched the LotR trilogy because haldoor was talking about it. *heart clench for Boromir* *drool napkin for Aragorn, Legolas, all the elves but especially that one that goes to help in the fight at Helms Deep, Boromir, Faramir, random Rohirrim, et cetera, et cetera* I rewatched Last of the Mohicans because it had been too long and I WILL NEVER NOT LOVE EVERY BIT OF THAT MOVIE. Also watched the usual Christmas movies (Die Hard and Elf) and PETER RABBIT 2 is now out for free streaming eeeeeeee! It was not as good as the first one, but they never are. It was still adorable and made me laugh out loud within the first 4 minutes, so yay! (It was the pig. I love that pig.)

( Christmas!Collapse )

Also, yesterday ended ( Week 23 of 101 Things in 1001 DaysCollapse )

Hope everyone is well. :)
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Oskee Wee Wee!
Oskee Wa Wa!
Holy Mackinaw!
Tigers, Eat 'Em Raw!!



That's the cheer for my local Canadian Football League team, the Tiger Cats. Nope, I have no idea what it means, either. But it's Grey Cup Sunday and the Ticats are in the finals, and it's being held in my hometown, so I guess that means I gotta cheer. Go Ticats!

Some changes, some wins and some fails on this week's 101 List...

Week 22 – December 05 to 11, 2021

In Progress

12. Watch 5 new-to-me series
* I found an old British renovation series on Prime called "Build a New Life in the Country". It's about people buying old run down properties – I'm talking 300 year old churches and such – and converting them, usually by themselves on a laughable budget that the people are nonetheless absolutely CERTAIN is going to be more than enough. It's quite fun. I've watched Season One and four episodes of Season Two. There are five seasons in total.

14. Watch The Real World series
* Watched 4 episodes of Season 21

68. Donate $5 to HEEFS for every failed goal.
* Donated $10 for two failed 2021 goals.



75. Write to seniors.
* The city library is running a postcards for seniors campaign this holiday season, and advertised a few nursing homes in the city that wanted to participate. There were no names or personalization. I picked four nursing homes from the list and wrote out 5 notecards each. But what I really had in mind for this goal was something more personal, which relates back to the website I found last week with specific seniors who wanted correspondence. I'll be doing those letters today/this week.

92. Donate 500,000 grains of rice at freerice.com (119,000/500,000)
* Donated 3,000 grains of rice this week. I paused this week because my grains donated aren't accumulating. Waiting to get confirmation from freerice that the donation is still being calculated even though my count isn't going up.

Completed

26. Work on something creative monthly in 2021 (6/6)
* Started a new puzzle.

Changes

28 to 30 – These were previously blank. I decided to separate my goal of "do something creative monthly" by years just to make it easier to track.

53 to 56 - These were previously blank. I decided to separate my goal of "post one 5-star book monthly on ATY Best Book of the Month thread" by years just to make it easier to track.

Failures

61. 2021 – Get Visa to [secret]
* Not only did I fail miserably at this, I actually raised the amount owing. *sigh*

90. Go for a walk 2x a week for 2 years (non-consecutive)
* I've chosen to end this one because it's just too painful. I'm at the stage where I either need to see the doctor again to discuss surgery or look into getting a walker. Either way, forcing myself to lurch down the street on bad back days is not a good thing.

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I've also finally finished the second book in the Demon Cycle series. The first 25% of the book realllly slowed me down, but ultimately I loved the thing. Unfortunately, somebody else in the city decided to read the series at the same time as me, so the final three books are checked out of the library. I must be patient!

( 88. The Desert Spear by Peter V. BrettCollapse )

( StatsCollapse )

Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying a nice weekend!
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First, the good news. I heard from fansee! She had a bad fall at the end of October, must have been right after she posted. She got scraped up, banged her head and wrenched her midsection. Of course, in typical fansee fashion, she characterized that as "nothing really serious." It's kept her out of commission, but she did ask that I relay the info to everyone and says she misses us.

In what *might potentially be good news*, I got my ticket for Cow Pie Bingo!! It's... pretty much exactly like it sounds. A pasture has been divided into an online grid. Each little section of grid is for sale. On a designated date and time, two cows (at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary) are released into the pasture. The first poop that lands in the pasture will be coordinated with the grid and whoever has that spot on the grid wins the prize! (You can even watch the whole thing via Zoom!)

The cheapest ticket is $25, and the prize is pretty fabulous. Aside from some virtual events and merchandise that probably only a supporter of HEEFS would love, THE WINNER GETS A TRIP FOR TWO TO TORONTO, 5 DAYS/4 NIGHTS HOTEL ACCOMODATION, CAR RENTAL, AND $500 SPENDING MONEY, along with a private tour of HEEFS. I'm assuming the hotel would be in Toronto because it's the closest big city.

Which is my way of saying that EVERYONE SHOULD GET A TICKET because the trip alone is a great prize, and the money is going to an amazing group of people who love animals.

In case I convinced you, the link is here!

Lastly, I read another book and forgot to post about it. Teensy review:

( 87. The Umbrella Conspiracy by S.D. PerryCollapse )

( StatsCollapse )
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Hope everyone is having a lovely end of the month. If you are not, just take a look at this turtle!



Bet you feel better already. :)

I've had a good weekend. Today was the annual Pumpkin Smash at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary and there was a live Zoom event where we saw the pigs, goats, sheep, horse and donkey all get pumpkins! Watching those pigs run around excitedly from pumpkin to pumpkin always makes me smile.

Last month I found a new-to-me book community on Goodreads called The Challenge Factory, and they have a couple of neat ideas to clear off bookshelves. In both of them you get paired randomly with another person to pick books for you to read, among the books you tell them you *want* to read. One is called Finish What You Started. You post all the different book series that you've started but not finished, and then your partner picks two series for you to read one book from that month. The other is called Dusty Bookshelves and is the same deal, but this time it's books that are sitting in your TBR pile. Anyway, I signed up for both in November. MORE BOOKS!!

Speaking of books, I finished ( Book 79. The Bookish Life of Nina HillCollapse )

( StatsCollapse )

And lastly, 101 Things in 1001 Days!

Weeks 16 – October 24 to October 30, 2021

In Progress

06. Post one 5-star book per month on ATY's best book of month thread. (10/39)
* October' s book was We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

11. Finish TV series already started (5/6)
* watched 3 episodes of Preacher S2 (3/13)

12. Watch 5 new series (1/5)
* Watched V-Wars

90. Walk 2x/week for 2 years (non-consecutive)
(8/104)
* 10-27-21 – walked from home to bank, Sobey's, then back home (1 hour 20 minutes, including time in grocery store… 2.1 km)
* 10-30-21 – walked from home to library and return (1 hour 5 mins, 2 km)

92. Donate 500,000 grains of rice at freerice.com (80,000/500,000)
* Donated 3,000 grains of rice this week

Completed

49. Post Coming Home on AO3
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Tonight was the monthly donor online Zoom pizza party for the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary. I don't think I stopped grinning for an hour. First the guys had set up about 50 pizzas in two pastures. Then they opened the gates and let the piggies go wild! Oh my god, watching these pigs scurry from box to box was hilarious. They are SO adorable. Last year Captain Dan (he's the head of his herd) ate five pizzas alone! This year he only had 2.5. He's slimming down and watching the calories, obviously.

I took some pictures (of my computer screen, so crap quality) of the other animals getting their treats. I didn't even think of it during the pigs coz I was so enthralled!

( Cute Animals Here!Collapse )

And that was my Saturday evening! :)
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I took the survey over at The Story Graph today. Based on my responses, the site spits out 30 book recs. Pretty cool. My list was too heavily weighted toward fantasy - I'm going to have to eliminate that from my choices when I retake the survey - but out of 30 recommendations I did get 4 that I've added to my Want To Read List (and there was also one rec that I've already read.) I also didn't do the supplementary part of the survey where I can add in other search terms, which I realllllllllllllly should have done (because hi, zombies? vampires? yes, please.)

Anyway, it was pretty neat and I may add to it my 101 Things list as something to take every 3 months. I think that's a good range to get new recs to replace what I've read.

Also! A couple of weeks ago Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary held on online Pride event, both to thanks everyone who contributed to their Summer Sparkle fundraising campaign and because Toronto Pride was cancelled again due to COVID concerns. It was SUCH a fun time! They blew up their giant pig balloon, put it on a trailer and road it around the farm, stopping at all the different area to give the animals some treats (or in the case of the goats and the pigs, some smoothies!) Steve and Derek, the owners of Esther and the sanctuary, are just a couple of amazing guys. They go above and beyond for their animals (who they call residents) and their supporters!

Here's a couple of pics taken of my computer screen, so not great quality, but you get the gist:

( Happy Pride!Collapse )

Now, to decide how to spend my Saturday. Working on the 101 Things list? Relaxing with a book? Bit of Column A, bit of Column B? Hmm....
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REJUVENATION. My visit with my sister and brother-in-law ending up lasting from Tuesday until Friday morning. I had a great time! We actually went to the mall that is across the street from her apartment building. It's the first time I've been in a mall in a YEAR! Actually, it's the first time I've been in a store that doesn't sell groceries in a year. It was super ODD seeing other people and buying something that I didn't have to eat!

It was my birthday, so my sister made my favourite homemade apple pie, just like my mom used to make.

( YummyCollapse )

When I got home I glanced over at Puzzle #2 and got itchy fingers. I sat down with it for a few hours on Friday and finished it on Saturday. Yay!

( Puzzle #2Collapse )

Today was Nancy and Mary's belated Valentine's date at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary! The sanctuary was started by partners Steve and Derek when they realized the "mini-pig" they adopted was actually a full-sized commercial pig. They fell in love with her, became vegans, crowd-sourced to raise money for land, and now run a successful farm sanctuary. And to raise money, they do things like film two chickens heading out in a jeep for a pasta meal. Yes.

( True loveCollapse )

Somewhere in there I also managed to write (3 Oz drabbles and 1 QaF fic are forthcoming) AND finish another book. Whew!

( Archangel's War by Nalini SinghCollapse )

Books Read: 16/60
Goodreads Challenge: 16/52
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March 2021: 11/12
Total Page Count: 4872 pages

What a lovely week. Tomorrow I may play hooky from work and try to write some more on my Small Fandom Bang fic. Why not?
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