I was sitting on the veranda steps in the afternoon, head down, tying up the laces of my work boots when a large slow moving shadow passed across blocking the sun. “Out Boo,” I said, “you are in my light.”
“Grunt” said Sheila steaming past me and disappearing by slow degrees around the corner.
Boo moved up behind me and sighed. Ton immediately took off in hot pursuit of the resident farmy whale.
“Ah.” I said. (Luckily Inaki was close by and took this shot for you with his phone.)
Sheila is a very good pig. But she is also a PIG – headed pig. She will only change course if she believes this is the best direction for her. And when she is steaming along in a particular direction, like a large ocean going liner, it takes her a long time to negotiate a turn. And she has to really, really want to turn. Unfortunately the direction she was heading in was to one of the newly planted vegetable gardens. So a turn had to be engineered. (Do you know those buses that are so long they have like a concertina wheeze box middle. Sheila needs one of those).
To turn she leaves her back feet in one place, kind of treading water, while she slowly moves around with her front feet – sideways -following her head, her front feet taking bigger steps. Like a compass I guess, her back feet being the sharp end and her nose the pencil. After a couple of apples and the power of the bucket I was able to get her to turn all the way around and then we led her back to the barn with the promise of a nice cold mud puddle.
I do love this pig. It was warm yesterday – lovely and warm. Perfect day for mud and pigs.
And today is Saturday – today we hope to sow four acres of pasture. A busy day for the tractor driver.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
42 responses to “Pigs like buses”
Someday, I’m coming to that farmy! The picture of Sheila steaming by you sitting on the porch steps gives me joy.
Txiki doesn’t look much larger than a chicken! Love those kunekune faces. Sheila looks delighted in her puddle. I think everyone enjoyed the warm day!
Wow… free range pigs, free range peacocks etc. etc. It seems you never know who’s gonna show up at your front door. If I remember correctly, the peacocks aren’t ‘free range’ anymore…. or am I ‘misremembering’ it all? ; o ) I, too, loved the photo of you and ‘The Slow Moving Farm Bus’ very, very much!
Fabulous photos today – really get the size of Shelia when compared to you! But I can also tell that she doesn’t know she is bigger than you. Kind of like how your mother is always taller than you, even when she isn’t anymore.
Love the pic of Boo in mid-air, he looks like he was on a trampoline! And of course the fan of chooks – like a Hindu goddess.
I have a lovely mental picture now of Shelia the bendy bus steaming around the farm.
Oh me, oh my – well, we all knew Sheila is a somewhat corpulent lady, but that beautifully framed picture of Inaki’s really does put matters in proportion 🙂 !
Late, but you have always said to ‘pinch’ a photo if we liked it! OK – for the last few months I have been on a park road behind Apollo Bay, Victoria tho’ now I suddenly cannot get past an Inaki-styled pic of Celi and Sheila! Unreal!!!! OK – this must belong to somewhere where all the ‘other people’ in the world have access! Celi could easily make ‘Vogue’ in any country – I do not quite know the porcine equivalent in print or on line tho’ 🙂 . . . What glorious fun and thank you and my screen says so too!!
Some very funny comments in this lounge today. 😆. The animals bring out the best!
Now if you could just convince Sheila to let you ride her you could enter her into the reining competition at the local horse show. Sounds like she does a wonderful roll back and wouldn’t that just set all the horses off? I believe I’d pay to see that!
Love your description of the ‘accordion’ buses! Ms. Sheila! ❤
Such beautiful pictures! Love the two piggy snouts. And Sheila next to you! She is an ocean liner!! but so much thinner. Please tell her she looks quite elegant. A “Milanese” pig. Boo is wonderful doing aerial acrobatics…Love taking these tiny vacations into your world every day.
Those photos are a sight for sore eyes. Literally. Each time I try to return to my regular round of blog reading, some new problem raises an ugly head. Give me time… I can do what my Granny told us: “If you cannot read the words, read the pictures! 😉
I get the impression that your pigs “rule the roost” around your place – lol! I would be chasin ours down if/when I caught them out of their pens.
Grins of delight from beginning to end of the post. All beautiful!!!!
Fab, fab photos!
It looks like Boo saw a snake! Love the pictures today. Sheila is HUGE