The Cat and her Pig

I was taking photographs of the plonkers yesterday which is a challenging task as they are never still…

… and with the sun being so low I needd to get myelf low to get a shot but the moment I lowered my hanches to the ground I was mobbed.  So it was a frustrating business.

I looked back to the house and there they were. The cat and her pig. The pig and his cat. Tane and LuLu.  I know we saw this the other day  but it is so cute it bears repeating.

Just hanging out in the cool sun.  They have been good friends for years these two but it is hard to get these pictures as LuLu is very camera shy.

Tane’s back legs are no better after a two week course of anti inflammatories so I will be again consulting with the Vet today.

Boo has also developed a limp (from jumping) and both dogs are due for their shots so I will take a video of this little boar walking to the vet with me when I take the dogs in.   I hope the Vet has another idea. Ton lves the Vet. Boo tried to climb into my pocket and in fact last time he saw the vet he climbed into a chair behind me and refused to come back down.

At best he has not got worse.

The sun rises at 6.49 today and sets at 4.28 and  it is raining and presumably overcast (too dark to see yet).  A perfectly acceptable 39F/3C. Our high today looks to be around 46F/7C. Nice weather.  These temperatures look like holding for the next ten days.  I use the app wunderground for my weather. Having the app on my phone improves my daily farm planning and give me all kinds of useful and sometimes critical information.

So while I am writing to you on my old laptop I am checking my weather on the phone.

We could go into a long and (in fact hilarious) description of the journey of mobile phones from the first that were as big and embarressing as a small handbag with an aerial to these mini computers in our pockets.  My favourite one was in the late 90’s – it was a flip top, and so small it could hide in the palm of my hand,  you could call in and call out and it gave me my GPS location. That was all.  It was gold and I loved that phone.

My favourite car was a small well used mini. It went forwards and backwards and had a radio that got the local station and that was all. Of course it was a manual but then most cars in New Zealand are manuals (stick shift).

The GPS ability disappeared from phones for years and has returned (comparitively recently)  with maps attached but I have never been able to find one that small again. We need the big screen.

I love smart phones. I love the apps. Keeping pace with the development of technology is a journey we must pursue actively. It changes fast and it would be very easy to get left behind.  Learning is good. But dependence is bad. And phones depend on power. And we do not always have power out here. (We don’t always have drinkable water either if it comes to that). So I still save written directions and maps and a paper list of phone numbers and addresses and my fivers and my recipes and jugs of good water in the pantry.  I still watch the sky for clues to the weather.  And I still take photographs with Camera House, and print the best for safekeeping.

I like to balance technology with common sense. And it is a balancing act.

Oh, did I tell you? Molly (young sow) is in with Manu (the Hereford Boar) now both cruising the field and today I will take Poppy (senior sow) from her piglets straight into the trailer and she will go to the West Barn today. Though I will keep her in the big back pens – away from the boar, for a month so the two Mums cannot farrow too close together.

Time to get moving on Part One of my day.

Hope you have a lovely day!

celi