Face your Dreams

Turn your face to your dreams.

Yesterday (with snow and a dramatic drop in temperature in the forecast) I dug out the North doors – that side of the Home Barn is sinking so those doors are always stuck in the mud, they are the bane of my life- but I got them dug out and then closed, creating a nice pen so I could bring the three Plonkers in out of the fields. Weather is coming!

I always move pigs slowly. They look very robust, pigs do, but they are actually fragile creatures and do not respond to change very well, they will froth at the mouth and  breath heavily and get very over excited. But Weather is coming and they needed to come into the barn so I opened their gate quietly and let them saunter across the unfamiliar field. Ton: I put behind me (he is hopeless at herding pigs) and Boo: I put behind the pigs. Boo is always excited knowing he can do some work and immediately goes on point  and looks from the pigs to me, his eyes darting back and forth, to me- to the pig,  to me – to the pig, until I nod to the pig I need him to move, then like a rally car he gets in behind that pig and matches his stride.  His head down, but his eyes up.

I wait. There is no point in moving an animal (or a human for that matter) unless he is LOOKING towards where he is going – his goal (or in this case My goal).  So I let them run around a bit (Boo keeping pace like a trotting horse at a reasonable distance) then wait until the lead  pig is looking towards the side barn door, his body angling towards my goal, then exactly at the right moment I say very clearly in my teachers voice “Bring Him up BooBoo” and Boo instantly dives for the pigs ankle, at that precise angle – the pig jumps sideways and  leaps through the door. The right door.

So the moral of the story is make sure you are always facing the direction of your dreams in case some little ankle biter gives you a nip and you JUMP FORWARD! Imagine if you were facing the wrong way! And you leap through the wrong door.  Horrors!

Of course the Plonkers had a welcoming committee. Everyone loves a welcoming committee.

Once all three of the Plonkers are through the door they meander through other barn doorways and little corridors that I have fastidiously and carefully created using smoke and mirrors and then into their new home.  It is on the North side  ( the one I call the Black hole of Calcutta) but it is just for a few days until this cold front is through.  And they have piles of straw to sleep in.

Speaking of straw, while I was working in the barn settling the new kids in and mucking out stalls and making big beds for cows and little pigs,  Sheila was spending a good deal of time stacking straw into the North East Corner of the double bed that she shares with Poppy. How does she know this is where the Front is coming from? There will be a little snow but a lot of cold cold wind and a terrible drop in temperatures.  And she was methodically picking up straw in her mouth and using it to plaster that side of the barn.  Later, Poppy came into the sleeping area to see what Sheila was doing and was shrieked at by Aunty Sheila. “Get out – you are making a mess!” Poppy did not argue and leapt out of the way – she has never been one for housework has Our Poppy.

Above is Violet our beautiful girl.

And below is Geraldine our other beautiful girl.

How on earth are we going to tell these two apart by spring!?

I hope you have a lovely day.

celi