This was the morning yesterday, clear and cold with a good hard white crunchy frost.
Later yesterday evening Jake and I drove up to Chicago to the United Cargo depot to collect the latest member of the farmy family. After the shortest of waits Tane Mahuta,our kunekune boar baby, in his new big white crate, was wheeled into the waiting area -followed by a small collection of cooing airport tarmac workers. All in jackets and hats over bright vests and with big hardworking bellies, tatoos and beards, gone all soft and silly over the little grunting pig. By the time we reached Tane he was surrounded in large workers all smiling and exchanging pig stories and sticking their fingers through the bars to pat him. He gently tasted each finger one after the other but found none of them to his liking.
It was 10pm, pig and Jake and I were more than ready to get home but we exchanged our own pig stories and had a yarn, then they escorted us out to the lone jeep waiting in the empty parking lot on a cold still night and helped load Tima in. Then I gave him water and fed him slices of pear straight from Jake’s tree. He was very appreciative. He is a well brought up pig with very nice manners.
After the long drive home, back down through the country roads, Tane was released into the lock down pen in the center of the barn. It is draft free, with Tima’s upside down horse trough dog kennel in there – stuffed with straw to be extra warm and there is no chance of him escaping into a strange yard. When I checked him at five this morning he was fast asleep inside and warm as toast.
He really is a nice little chappie, not so little either. He is black and white, a good size, about four and a half months old now, has a much longer coat than Tima, a nicely squished nose and is very tame and friendly. You will like him.
When the sun comes up (it is dark much later in the mornings now) I will take some photos of him for you. We got back just after midnight last night and it was too late for a photo shoot. Today is windy and cold. Not a kind day for Halloween. But a good day to be in the barn.
Later this afternoon I will load Queenie into the stock trailer and when John comes home we will drive her over to the farm with the bull. The lady who owns the bull is a good friend of mine. You will remember her partner – he built all my new fences over at the West barn. Their cows run on grass as well so I know Queenie will be well looked after.
And tomorrow we have another expedition, the kiwi builder has invited John and I to go up to watch the rugby. New Zealand is playing the US tomorrow afternoon in Chicago. And it is sold out, he was lucky to get tickets. They are calling it an exhibition game, which I guess means the Eagles don’t expect to win? The All Blacks are a pretty grizzly bunch. Anyway it will be fun to watch my home team at Soldier Field and I guess there might be a few other New Zealanders there. We will take the Metra up and do a fast visit. Jake as usual is on hand to mind the farm and John needs a day out.
Boo got skunked last night. We have not seen a skunk in months!
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
P.S. Did you know: There are 21 reviews on Letters for my Little Sister on Amazon. How wonderful! If you wrote a review thank you so much and if you need to start your Christmas shopping with a book from one woman to another (and there is talk that men might benefit from reading this book too) then do think about getting your orders in soon. There are not terribly many books left but I would like to get them sold and out there being read and scribbled in. What a joy.
The Kitchen's Garden 
44 responses to “Tane of the night”
How exciting! It sounds like Tane got lots of fuss on his journey and I look forward to seeing him on the farmy soon 🙂
welcome to the Farmy Tane..such fun and adventures await you. It is like no other place on earth. I do hope that you will treat your new wife with kindness and care and lots of love and that you will soon have lots of teeny weeny piglets
they wil be teeny weeny too but not for a while, Tane is only four months old, he And Tima need to mature a bit first.. until then they can keep each other warm over the winter though.. c
Welcome to the farmy Tane, looking forward to seeing how lovely you are. You have landed up on the nicest farm ever!
C, it is always the best watch when The All Black play us Springboks.
Have a beautiful day.
🙂 Mandy xo
I think the americans will put their best foot forward, I am sure there will be some good plays.. though the springboks are the team to beat that is for sure.. c
Looking forward to those pictures!! Poor Boo…….
Can’t wait to see Tane in the light of day! I am sure he charmed everyone along the way. Have fun at the All Blacks game! What a fun opportunity!!! The hubby has an All Blacks hat and shirt–he is definitely a fan!
A well behaved little boy to keep all those rambunctious girls in order! I’m looking forward to the photos. And for the rugby, Waimarie pai!
I’m not a big rugby fan, but I have to agree with Mandy above, Springboks v All Blacks would be a much better ‘exhibition’ match for the US 🙂 Glad you and Tane had uneventful trip home and I’m looking forward to todays pics. Do you have to quarantine for a while, and then introduce him slowly to Tima – or does it just all happen at once? Laura
I will look out for you at Soldier Field. GO ALL BLACKS! Can’t wait to see pictures of Tane, he sounds like a little character.
Welcome to the Farmy little Tane! We have the same crate (same size too) that our two pups travel in all snuggled up between Spain and England. Enjoy the Rugby – ooh what fun!
Welcome Tane, I hope you will be good friends (and more when you’re ready) with little Tima. Enjoy the game, Celie.
Love,
ViV x
Okay, just reading about Tane made me go all soft and squishy. Can’t wait to see him tomorrow. Having a yarn with the airport fellows about pigs. What fun. 🙂 I’m sure they went home and told their families all about it. Have a wonderful time at the game. Kudos for the your kiwi friend on getting tickets. Stay warm and have a wonderful day!
I bet Tane Mahuta was the highlight of the cargo people’s day. (We should have loaned you Molly’s or the German’s crate – they do determine what car you drive, don’t they?) How delightful the new resident sounds.
You need to run an information “cheat sheet” for rugby – never seen a game, but heard it’s only for the very tough ones. There are casual teams around here somewhere…seen some of the aftermath in a bar or two in the past.
I think my copy of the book must have been lost in the mail (Not too surprising – (mail service is not so great in Houston area – sad to say lots of thefts and undelivered things)- Do I need to reorder? Please let me know.Thanks
Hope your Holler-Ring is howl-at-the-moon worthy!
Did you order with me or Amazon? One way or the other I will just send you another copy, no worries.. can you email me with your details again? That will hurry the process up no end. There is a lot of trouble with the P.O.s nation wide.. I wonder what is going wrong.. c
Ghostly goblins, no doubt – don’t fret. sent email. Bundle up this weekend ( 40’s here at night? Brrrr. But how nice to not have the AC on and the windows open. Ahhhhhhh…)
Glad Tane made it ok. I am sure he is a little confused right now, but sure he will settle in quickly into farmy life once he gets to meet and greet everyone.
An American friend once asked me why Rugby players wear “those sissy head bands” – he was quite shocked when I told him it was so their ears didn’t get pulled off in the scrums! Hope you enjoy the game, although I think it might be a bit one-sided!
Welcome Tane to the 5* farmy with great food, every comfort and very friendly residents.
Celi, I hope you enjoy the game and that you are practising the Haka Dance!
Oh the haka is for war parties, only men do the haka.. thankfully, it looks painful!.. c
You should do it every morning to frighten off the skunks!
True that!!
Twice now so recently you’ve been so close and yet so far away! I’m sorry I didn’t hang out at the cargo hangar to get a peak at Tane Mahita but it’s a good thingi didn’t …I wouldn’t get near him with all the men oohing and aahing. and as Kim said I’m sure they had much to tell their families. I hope you dress warm for the rugby game. It’s windy and cold on the lakefront.