Hog Wild: Pigging Out at Windy’s Ranch & Rescue

(Chuck Muth) – We interrupt our regularly-scheduled political programming to bring you an uplifting little Sunday morning story of personal pride involving my daughter Jenna…

Since before she even got out of her crib, Jenna was an animal lover.  I could have bought a new car with all the money I spent on stuffed animals for her.  Not to mention all the tickets bought taking her and the other kids to zoos, aquariums, animal circuses, rodeos, etc.

Here she is (far right) holding a lion cub in Ensenada, Mexico a few yeas ago…

Anyway, when Jenna was around 12, she wanted to work in a pet store.  She knew she was probably too young to work directly with the animals, but would have been more than happy stocking shelves and cleaning cages…and probably would have done it for free.

Alas, the stupid government discourages young ‘uns from, you know, working, and has imposed all kinds of rules and restrictions on businesses.  So no one would hire her.

Then one day I met Janice Ridondo at one of Bobby Ellis’ monthly lunch get-togethers.

Janice runs Windy’s Ranch & Rescue, which specializes in rescuing pot-bellied pigs.  When I told her how frustrated Jenna was at not being able to get a job working around animals, Janice said: “Send her to me; I’ll put her to work!”

So Jenna started volunteering on Saturday mornings at Windy’s which, at the time, was on a ½-acre lot in North Las Vegas.  I’d drop her off, go have breakfast, and then hang out at the park around the corner reading the paper or a book for a couple hours.

Every Saturday morning was like Christmas for Jenna.  She was as happy as…well, a pig in slop!  Here she is back in the “braces days” with her adopted piglet, Penelope…

And as an added bonus, she met her BFF, Tiffany, while working there.

A couple years later, Janice moved to a 10-acre spread up in Logandale, about an hour away from Las Vegas.

So up and back I trekked almost every Saturday morning, taking advantage of Judy Metz’s hospitality and great food by making her local restaurant, Sugar’s, my Saturday morning office.

Then, last year, Jenna got her own car.

Now she’s volunteering multiple days a week at Windy’s and driving up herself, often spending the night.  And she’s at the point where she and Tiffany can now pretty much run the joint themselves when Janice is away.

Which brings me to Kirby Heyborne of BYU TV.

Kirby hosts his own show, “Making Good,” and just released a wonderful, 25-minute documentary on Windy’s that features my “baby” prominently as she helps put Kirby through his paces working on the ranch.

Couldn’t be more proud!  Kept choking up every time I saw her on screen.  You can dial it up by clicking here.

My favorite scene was watching her wrestle an abandoned pig to the ground and hold him there on his back while Kirby trimmed its overgrown tusks with razor wire.  Never seen anything like it.

If you want to learn more about pot-belly pigs and the great work Janice, Jenna, Tiffany and the gang of volunteers do at Windy’s, click here.

By the way, most of what the ranch costs in food, supplies, equipment, vaccines, vet bills, etc., comes out of Janice’s pocket.  It’s a calling.  A true labor of love.  And she’s one of my favorite people in the world.

If you can spare a few bucks to help her save and rescue these abandoned and sometimes abused critters, click here.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Thank you, Mr. Muth, for your insight of the goings-on in Nevada. I’m a new voter, middle-aged, and a grandma who is trying to learn the ropes. Please have patience with new voters, especially those who come from the Pacific northwest, California, and many other places where we’ve been indoctrinated since the 1980’s. We don’t want Nevada to become what we survived and outlived. We don’t want this crap at all.” – Elise Carey

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com.  You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.