Yesterday started out like any other but turned out to be a bit of a bother. 
Daisy is almost definitely not pregnant. Which means I will have to milk her through the winter (sigh) and then breed her again in May/June next year. I do not want winter calves. It is too cold. 
Do you see this. This is Charlotte demonstrating why I should not have trained them to follow me through gates. 
The beans are almost ready. Once they are so dry that they are colour of dirt, the harvester will come and fill my house with dust. This is what they do. 
Good Morning. Yesterday I had come inside after all the morning work was done, ready to make my coffee, then realised I had left my little pail of milk out in the barn. So off I trotted out the door and down the steps and there was Charlotte. Yes Charlotte the pig standing in the flower garden at the bottom of the steps, waiting.
Charlotte, I said gently, what ARE you doing? You are meant to be in the fields in the morning.
She looked at me sadly, she was quite still and she said to me. I have lost Sheila.
Where is she, I said. Well, said Charlotte, miserably. Is that a rhetorical question? Because if I knew where she was. I would not be all alone. I would know where she was then, wouldn’t I. And when you asked me Where is Sheila -I would say, right here. But she isn’t and I don’t, so I guess we won’t. Find her that is. She is probably lost forever. See my tail, it has gone straight with worry. A fat pig should not have a straight tail, I read that once.
Oh, I said. I looked about and sure enough Sheila was nowhere to be seen. Followed closely by Charlotte, I looked in the gardens, through the fields, in the chook house, and around the barn. Charlotte very sweetly showed me how they bashed open a side barn door and then knocked over the pail of milk and drunk it off the floor. Then they wandered out the front doors and that is when they were seperated. We discussed the merits and demerits of drinking off the floor as we looked in the sheds and under the porch. I called and called and Charlotte grunted and barked throwing her ears up as she does, trotting along behind.
In the end I said to Charlotte we are going to have to put you in the Winter Quarters and then I will go and call through the beans. We don’t want you getting lost as well. So with fat Charlotte panting from her walk, still dogging my heels and TonTon dogging hers we went into the Winter Quarters through the open gate. As we rounded the corner who should pull herself up out of her night-time piggy bed, shaking straw out of her ears and yawning, but Sheila. She had set herself free then gone straight round to the open back gate and put herself to bed. She was tired and had to have a wee lie down.
Those piggies.
I have had enough of the chickens pecking at each other in their run, and moulting everywhere, so their doors are now opened. They turned on one of my Easter chickens yesterday so she is in Fort Knox, the crate I keep in the run for injured birds. Chickens are not always nice to each other. The gardens are about finished and we harvest the grapes this weekend so they may as well begin their winter freedom early. I will put a smaller door back on so they can come and go at will with the big doors shutting at dark and opening at dawn. It is much cheaper to keep them when they are fully free range.
Good morning darlings. 
It rained yesterday, what a treat. But I was being a baby and felt.. cold. Even though the temperature gauge told me it was lukewarm. I hope I am not catching Pseu’s lurgey. Then I would have to go to bed with a good book. And have a wee lie down too. What an interesting idea.
Today I am making Dutch Apple Pie for The Old Codger. So stand by. If it is good I will share the recipe.
Have a lovely day.
celi
On this day a year ago Seven deadly sins
Your temperature is getting chilly; the apple pie sounds lovely for an autumn feast!
Spring has come and gone; summer’s here already……….e
Ah, a busy morning already. Poor Charlotte must have been ever so worried! Looking forward to the apple pie recipe!
ROFL – those pigs are fantastic
I’ve heard chickens are sometimes not nice to each other. I think that’s where the term ‘hen-picked’ comes from. Pleased to hear you’ve had some rain. Those farm animals are always up to something – they won’t give you a rest xx
Charlotte sounds remarkably like my eldest on the Day We Lost Sarah… “She’s just gone, Mom…We’re never going to find her!”
That was when she was sent to stay with the neighbor while I continued to search…It might also be the last time I heard her express any concern for her sister’s well-being. Just like Sheila, we found Sarah in a Safe Place, where she’d been the whole time.
Wishing you a much less exciting day today, C!
The Day We Lost Sarah…sounds like a lovely children’s book to me.
Possibly…at least it has a happy ending.
Celi already talked me into sharing that one, but it’s waiting until later. Might be good for Halloween – God knows it was terrifying at the time!
Oh those little piggies indeed – lovely read C!
Mandy
Yippee for the rain!
those piggies are so entertaining. aren’t you glad you still have both of them?
I see it’s cooling down for you, about normal to warm for us! I’m going to lookout for a temperature gauge, so beautiful
Those piggies are such fun to hear about! What clever little (big) things….
I wish we would get some rain! Haven’t had a drop for months and more than likely we will head straight for snow. We were hoping to get out of here before the snow flies, but who knows!
Now Cecelia, there’s nothing wrong with having a chill when it’s raining and 60. I see nothing wrong with having a little nap with a good book while you wait for the weather to clear up.
Glad the Shush sisters are reunited. What a worry to have perambulating sides of bacon. There’s another long word:)
But 60 is 40 degrees less than your summer heat! Break out the parkas! Sorry Miss Daisy means winter milking and possible a winter calf. Brrr.
I wish I had a slice of your Dutch apple pie right now for breakfast. Johnny would like one too, please. Glad you found your “lost” pig!
I think the book you must write is on Time Management, Celi! How you do it all…PLUS finding wayward piggies and topping off the day with baking an apple pie! As the season shifts I am reminded by your mentions that your oversight to farmy and animals takes a turn, too. I wouldn’t have automatically considered the timing of breeding and your concerns with a “winter” calf. There is so much to always be considering. So I hope the piggies behave themselves today, Celi. You have a lot to do!
I love the conversations with the animals. I see a children’s book in your future, too!
Is that the kind of chick fight guys seem to get so excited about? That Charlotte is so well spoken!
Charlotte is well read, I think she is a cross between Eeyore and Owl.
It is definitely getting into prime baking weather! Naughty little (or not so little) Sheila.
Ah naughty piggy ! You’d need a GPS system to track everybody on the farm.
Oh Dear … has Hairy taken to stalking Mama? Looks like he is tiptoeing up to her – just before she takes off again. Love Charlottes accent
Laura
It does look like that doesn’t it. She is still showing no signs of interest. Mia on the other hand has not left the fence on the other side but she is not allowed babies this year after her fright last winter, were you here then Laura?
I was …. lurking and reading (backwards) for quite a while before commenting the first time
Laura
busy busy busy!!!! hope the pie turns out yummy!
I love those pigs! (Have I mentioned this before?!) Salt water gargle will chase away unwanted lurgis. And plenty of Vitamin C.
Why is it that you always find what you’re looking for in the last place you look? Don’t answer that daft question!
I love Dutch Apple Cake. Tomorrow I’m making my first ever pumpkin pie for friends coming for supper, then a Vivaldi concert at the local Chateau. I’ll let you know if it works!
Don’t let the silly piggies get that apple pie!!
As always, your writing makes me smile.
Brilliant, just have strong fences.. c
I adore, adore, adore, your posts, your animals, your photographs, your writing; have a glorious week!
Those piggies. Hope the curative effects of a dutch apple pie have helped you ward off any lurgey!
Yep, those beans browning in the fields are a sure sign that we’re into Fall. There’ll be no turning back now, I’m afraid. And what are you going to do with those piggies? Well, keep them safe, to be sure, but don’t restrict them too much. You have the makings of a great children’s book with the Shush Sisters as main characters. Don’t restrict your muses.
Have a great day, Celi!
I think they are pretty safe there.. restrictions are not for these piggies! c
So glad you found her..and milking through the winter (oh, Dear). Not what you had anticipated, but it will be nice to make a rich and creamy rice pudding (from your fresh milk) on a December evening. …now , if you will excuse me, I think I want rice pudding
I will keep milking unless it gets really bad with cold.. But I hate to be without the milk and so would the other animals that drink milk.. We will see how long she goes but you are right, it was not in the plan.. c
It sounds like Charlotte was on her way to the door to alert you to something being amiss–besides your pail of milk!
Oh, Sheila! So what is wrong with having a wee bit of a liedown
? All this fussum . . . 
! And, Daisy, didn’t you ‘put your makeup on’ and move enticingly enough at the appropriate time! Think how much easier it would have been for HER thru’ the winter 
!
Hairy’s devotion reminds me of those cheesy seventies soul singers like Barry White, “baby, baby, baby, can’t get enough of your love”, “you’re once, twice, three times a lady” that kind of thing. He has a lot of facial hair in common with those guys 70’s guys also.
Celi I love your writing, utterly entrancing.
If you have sore throat, you’re short of vitamin B complex…
And if you’re really taking to bed, take a some Stone’s Ginger wine with honey, fresh squeezed orange and hot water with you. It will warm the cockles of your heart and cut a cough.. XXX
Your temperature is dropping, it’s getting to be about the same as ours. How those colours have intensified in your verandah shot. It’s amazing what a bit of rain will do. What with naughty pigs and dropping temperatures, and a pregnancy disappointment for Daisy, it sounds like it’s time to cuddle up under the blankets and nurture yourself! Remember, the slow-down season is wrapping around you.
Love the look on Charlotte’s face. It clearly says, “I told you so.” =D
Delightful post!!