We did fencing yesterday. The middle sized pigs are pushing their fence outwards as they race up and down chasing cars in a mad kiind of gaggle. My UPS man – who visits almost every farm and house in the area -said he has never seen such hilarious pigs. They will knock each other sprawling to race the cars up and down. Anyway yesterday, in the heaving sodden pig trampled mud, that squirted water up at every step, our boots sticking in it, then sliding in it, we put up an electric fence rope alone the fence line.
The sticking and sliding is an interesting one. So your boots get stuck in the mud then slide sideways slightly as they go deeper but enough to unbalance you. You catch your body in the fall but your feet stay in the boots that are by then way stuck IN the mud. So you do this kind of jolly jumper kind of sway back and forth on your concrete feet. There is immediate panic of course as hitting the deck with mud and pigs below is NOT an option and moving forward has some planning involved.
Then once you have righted yourself you face the problem of pulling your feet AND the boots up and out of the mud for another step. Pulling the foot up without the boot is quite another thing altogether and to be avoided at all costs.
There are squelchy sounds too which I will not describe it was all too horrible.
Pigs love it of course. 
Although they are only in there another couple of weeks we were going to have pigs chasing cars all the way home if we did not fix that s the mud had to be dealt with.
After we finished that job we did the chores, feeding all the animals, bringing Molly in from the field, transferring plants into the glasshouse out of the blowing chill forecast, feeding out hay, etc and it began to pour down. Really pour. A face washing rain.
To work in the mud I had put on my clown pants and jacket and Alex was wearing a navy jump suit under his jacket and soon all these layers were soaked. I had not bothered going back to change into wet weather gear. We were already too wet.
So as the weather worsened we quickly because heavier and bulkier as our cold weather gear soaked in all the rain. It’s funny how being soaked standing up and walking is just wet. When we climbed into the truck to go and feed out at the West side we discovered that soaked and sitting down is much nastier. Very shortly the pressure of my seat had drawn the wet right through to my skin. I was even wetter. And it was cold.
I discovered yesterday that my miss-spent New Zealand youth hanging out with the fishermen (my Dad repaired many of their trawlers) was well spent, because I tie better knots than the Navy man! I did not scoff of course but I felt quietly smug. Though I guess knots on a nuclear submarine would not be useful.
Maybe I should do a class in knot tying for the kids. Tying a knot that creates tension in the rope or fence is very useful. My Dad taught me that one.
Here is the site I have filed for when I need to refer a kid to a knot.
The winds are coming now. But they are good for one thing. We need the wind to dry up some of this mud. Though warm wind would be nicer. We are going down to below freezing with this wind tonight.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
Weather Forecast
Cloudy and windy. Periods of light rain this morning. High around 50F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Winds will occasionally gust over 40 mph.
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “Knots Up”
When we changed from a high school to a middle school, I weeded (removed) an old book from our collection that was all about knots. I found it on my office shelf the other day as I slowly clear out for my impending retirement. I tucked it into my bag to bring home. I remember taking a class with my mother as a child in the seventies on making macrame hanging baskets. We knotted together! Knots bring families closer…there is a second layer to that phrase, yes? Have a good day C and Alex.
OH! We did macrame too – I made a bikini – my mother threw a FIT!!! c
Ha! I’m sure she did. We worked with that scratchy rope, definitely not bikini material.
Brrr. We have that boot sucking mud too (all that snow melt). I just can’t get over how green your pastures are! We still have standing water and freezing temps every night which translates to no grass growth yet 😦
Mud and standing water and freezing temps – your poor thing – you have it much worse over there.. c
Oh no worries. I’m just a baby. This time of year drives me crazy. There’s not much going on here besides waiting. The tomatoes and peppers and flowers are patiently languishing in the basement garden waiting for the temperatures to warm. The cows are standing in mud waiting for the water to recede and the grass to grow. It’s too early for our 4H pigs to arrive. Blah. Blah. Blah. I’m just a baby.
I’ve had a day like yours, except not raining. I’ve been standing in a muddy, wet ditch, shovelling out mud, silt and storm debris to clear it so the standing water in it can run away. I nearly overbalanced out of my boots a couple of times – I was seconds away from a muddy face-plant. I like knots too… years ago, when I learned to sail, they taught us to tie a bowline hitch one handed while we were in the water, as it might save our lives one day. It never came to that, but I can still tie a bowline with my eyes closed.
Being able to make knots is a great knowledge, maybe keep some rope in your pocket in case you fall out of that ditch! c
Perhaps I need to string a line along the ditch and attach myself with a Prusik knot 🙂
Car chasing piggies… that is a funny vision. Fighting against the mud while soaking wet in the cold is not something I’d look forward to. Sounds like an awful day!
Looks like we’re to get your weather today… a rain warning has been issued for today with winds gusting up to 70 km later this evening, and then a few centimeters of snow! Just when you’re thinking spring is really here, Mother Nature hits you with another dose of snow. Mind you, it won’t stay around cuz our temps are well above freezing but will certainly make doing anything outside perfectly miserable. Hope you can keep dry today ~ Mame 🙂
Dry today – lots of wind but dry at least. Fancy you getting snow – hope you can stay tucked up warm yourself! c
Yes, very mild here and tomorrow to go up to plus 4c., so not a problem. We have a massive 400 acre park in the city here and there is normally a grand showing of the cherry blossoms late-April/early-May, depending on temps… last year a late-April frost reduced the show dramatically so we’re crossing our fingers this year. And Saturday up to 11c and sunny — looking forward to that. 🙂
There's a saying 'There is none so happy as a pig in sh**.And it seems that it is true….But for humans it doesn't seemsuch fun..squelchy boots and heavy rain, wet clothes and cold winds..not a good combination
What happened to the piglets? Did they arrive yet?
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2017 at 2:44 PM
No piglets – I wll certainly tell you when they arrive!
Oh my – Pigs acting like dogs chasing cars….. That would be a sight to see. The 1st image in the post is such a lovely looking pig!!!!
Mud – yuck…. I have fallen in mud one too many times. Dad always got our jeep stuck on mountain passes in Colorado – and I was the one to be in the mud pushing while he was spinning his wheels throwing mud up on me – the TEEN…. I always took several changes of clothes on those trips. Not great memories of “FAMILY” vacations back then.
Oh no you poor kid – my Dad carried planks of wood for that express purpose
You have very special pigs 🙂
Yes they are – morning Mad!
Hilarious post, at least about the pigs! But, oh the mud. We’ve got rain back here with a vengeance today, too. Hope you don’t get too much snow tonight.
I hope we don’t get any – I am getting desperate for some warmth.. c
Oh Celi!! I’m visualizing and laughing so hard about the piggies chasing cars!!! Probably some of the best entertainment for the neighbors and UPS driver!!! Could we please share a video of this for OUR Fellowship entertainment??!! It might even win an Oscar!!! Put on long undies on tonite for the possible snow flurries!!! Have a great day!!
I think they have taken the snow out of our forecast but this cold is just hanging ON. c
Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I can’t stand all the mud, cold and rain. I wish I could send you some of the Italian sun….I really do!
I wish you could too !!
Another good site is “The Internation Guild OF Knot Tyers”
I will find it – thank you!
I remember having to tie knots for Brownies and Girl Guides badges a very long time ago 🙂 Pretty sure I would have demonstrated face and butt plant moving around in that horrible squelchy mud. Yuck. Laura
That would have been quite the demonstration.. c
Yuck… that all sounds sooo very nasty… Alex is sure a good sport! Question – do you think you could post a short video of the piggies running along the fence ‘trying to catch the cars’!! As for me, the barn and side shed are pretty much done… meaning cleaned out. I’ve given sooo much away but it’s all gone to people who drove by and picked out what they wanted… which makes me happy. I can’t keep all the things my husband collected from his travels, so I’m giving some of his things to a quirky male friend. It all works out in the end, doesn’t it? ; o )
Yes, it does all work out. c
Lesson # __ for Alex: “It’s funny how being soaked standing up and walking is just wet. . . [but] soaked and sitting down is much nastier.” A city boy, I never learned that one. But I can imagine. Ugh.
Alex is certainly being a trooper – he did not seem to mind at all.. c
I hate getting wet, so your jobs yesterday would of been hell for me, and I bet i would of fallen flat on my face in the mud! Your description of being stuck in the mud did make me chuckle though. laurel and Hardy in their concrete boots. 😂
I fell the other day, my feet went right out from under me and i fell into the water trough, just as my face was about to hit the water my hands grabbed the edges of the trough. So, simply put, if I was being observed it would look as though I was doing a push up with my legs way way out behind. . Which is what I did do (no-one was watching) – I very slowly pushed up raising my face back away from the water and slowly wriggled my feet back up under me. It actually was harder than it sounds. And I could not stop giggling – all alone!! c
Ohh sorry but that would of cracked me up! 😂😂