At any given time of any given day I can tell you with reasonable accuracy where any of my animals are and what they are doing. (Except Poppy who is sometimes where she should not be).
I can be cleaning out a pen in a group of cows and there is little chance that an animal can sneak up on me. Cows are usually the best sneakers, they walk slowly and carefully, quietly, but because I know the habits of my animals and their behaviours it is seldom that they can surprise me. Each animal has different levels of tameness, they have a pecking order, some will startle, some will simply stare, some are nosy, some just wait. So we flock and herd and always know where the others are to avoid collisions or competition with a bigger animal. I am smaller than the cows and the big pigs so my senses sharpen when in with the cows and pigs. For your own safety you think like a cow or a pig and be aware of your place in the herd.
I know each animal’s favourite corner to eat, the order they like to be fed in, where they are likely to sleep and when – where they are when my back is turned. What side they see best from. Who will test every fence for weaknesses and who will just follow along. It is seldom that an animal can give me a fright when it appears in a gateway or turns the corner by the barn. I know which birds to wait on and which birds do not mind me walking past.
Yet when a person – a human person – walks unexpectedly into the barn as I work in tune with my animals and birds, I can get quite the fright. My suck in my breath. Often I will even jump and squeal like a girl which is deeply embarrassing considering. Worse, the little pigs will jump and squeal in the exact same tone and at the exact same time then bolt for the corner behind me as we all whirl to face the human who has entered.
Am I going feral? Wild? More pig than girl? In touch with my inner animal just a bit too much?
Good morning. Sheila still refuses to have the little pigs near her (unless she is bearing down on them in full sail to steal their food) so I have concluded that she is just not a Pig Person.
Yesterday was dull with very little light and cold and I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
65 responses to “Cheap Frights”
you need more cow bell
Yes, I need to put a cow bell on Jake! c
Perhaps it’s not cold enough yet to make Sheila like the little pigs 🙂
They are very afraid of her too, the moment she rounds the corner they run off, and sidle past her to get to the other side.. It is interesting that they are still doing it. But in April they go to live close to Manu close so it is not such a problem really. c
I think Sheila might still warm to them…
Manu is going to have quite a little harem 😉
I just love the picture of the barn..it is so beautiful…just like the old barns you see on the old western films. I think you have a wonderful life on your farmy..A hard life, a dedicated life, a completely full life but one of complete contentment… keep warm and give Sheila and Poppy a cuddle for me And here is one for you (((((()))))
Thank you patrecia. Sheila especially loves hugs.
Every picture here looks like a study by an impressionist painter.
Of course you jump at intruders – you are protecting the flerd. Your training is what makes the animals copy you – they are more human New Zealander than animal…..
Love,
ViV x
Or vice versa! Hope your rain is lifting Viv?
It’s rained a great deal this past week or so, but in splotches, with sunshine in between.
Your senses are open to the animals, fully aware of them and their movements, filled with knowledge of what they will do at any given moment. Humans are too random. I think your reaction is completely understandable. I am hugely diverted by the notion that Sheila, that Grand Duchess of Pigness, is not a Pig Person. Surely she is the Ultimate Pig Personage… The twins have not yet learned the respect she demands. I seem to recall Poppy was tolerated for her central heating capabilities…
I really do think that Sheila sees herself (in her terms) as equal to me – my partner in the herd. And since I sleep separately so will she. Poppy was much braver than the twins.. they keep startling each other into avoiding her. c
I agree with you. Sheila is yours and you are Sheila’s–therefore, all the others are ‘just in the way.’
Linda
Yeah, that Sheila is too much, that’s for sure!!! She is used to your undivided attention and not having to deal with the ‘small stuff,’ like the two creatures that are now cohabiting with her. She may come around……., but then again, she may not! 🙂
It is true – she may not, they both have very good sleeping areas and in the summer they can have two huts out in the field.. c
When I was about 10, I walked around the corner of the barn late on a Saturday evening. Two pigs were asleep in the summer daze. My presence startled them. They jumped up and ran along the fence until they reached the corner. They ran full speed headlong into the woven wire fence and bounced back. One got up and ran off. The other broke its neck and died in front of me.
Not many can say they have scared a pig to death.
That is not how I expected that story to end!! And yes – I know no-one else who can say they scared a pig to death. I am sure that after that incident you learnt to whistle as you approached the barn. Bad luck killing itself on a wire wove fence though, that must be hard to do. c
Today in my neck of the woods the view is dull with very little light but plenty of cold window blurring rain. Yesterday I was out for coffee with a friend and came home with an unwelcome gift – a tummy bug – my friend was not the cause but she contacted me in the evening to say that while visiting another friend in a care home after we parted, she was asked to leave because the home was being closed to visitors due to an outbreak of Norovirus Thankfully my stomach bug is working downwards, and I am drinking plenty of fluids… a day or two should see me right again.
So I arrive early today for warm comfortable smiles! Celi, when I picture you in the barn working with and for you animals talking to them as you go, I am reminded of the 1967 Movie Dr Dolittle. I always found Rex Harrison’s voice comforting and your voice has the same effect on me as it seems to do with all the farmy residents. Having spoken to you once and followed your every word from Portland, I hear your voice in every word you write. Hope you stay warm and have a good day.
You seem to have it under control – I hate being sick.. hope you feel better soon!.. c
Staying quiet, cosy and with plenty of fluids I think I am winning.
I think Sheila is missing Poppy, they did cohabit quite a while, and Sheila probably thinks that Poppy has the nerve to go off on holiday and expect her to look after the twins … without even asking her first 🙂 Laura
Exactly. That Bloody Poppy! c
Ah, being in tune with your flock is never a bad thing. I think I am more beagle than human at times. And I much prefer beagles to some humans….. How many sleeps until you fly away?
Wait – I will count.. 34, thirty four sleeps until I fly away. c
The barn picture does look like a painting.
I must put it in the calendar folder!.. c
I love it that you are in tune to your flock. What a great metaphor for all of us. The last barn picture makes me weep. It’s soon beautiful. Like an old woman who refuses to go without a very good fight, indeed. Dignified and beautiful to the last. Her hair in a knot.
Do you want a hi-res copy Charlotte? You can print it and stick it on the fridge – though we do not want you weeping in the kitchen!
yes!! Please!! I promise not to weep!
Good girl!b c
Wonderful photos!!! I had to keep looking at them closely because my eye thought they were paintings. I love this tale too!! I remember being the one who would spook a barn full of pigs. It seemed like I was interrupting their party.
I love how they freeze when they hear me coming. I will walk in and they are all looking intently at the door completely silent then instantly break into talk and demands! c
I think it’s the best feeling to be in touch with your inner animal… more beast of the land than human. Feral… wild woman. I like that.
You are like this, but with the wilderness .. c
Beautiful, beautiful photos! And of course Sheila is not a Pig Person, she’s a Person Pig!
A Person Pig! Of course!! Morning Tanya.. c