WHERE-AS YESTERDAY I HAD WORDS
This morning I have no words available at all. Maybe it is a Saturday thing. Working alone each day and this week being a busy one I never even had time for a grocery shop, I do find myself drifting further and further away from words. 
I seem to be dealing more in pictures. I discovered my stock trailer had a flat tire and without thinking I took a picture of it and sent the picture to Our John. It was just information – no need for words.
I think a lot though. Here is Sheila. We do not often see her – down there in the back-field with Poppy. 
She got very thin for a while this summer so I am feeding her a little more. She is looking better now. These temperatures are perfect for pigs so she is more active.
These little piglets have actually made a tunnel here. Through the bales. Not quite reaching the freedom of their winter pen on the other side. I discovered it last night. And made them a big high-walled landing area on the other side. So they will come out to safety if they continue in the night and don’t just burrow further and further under the drifts of straw that are waiting to be their winter bed. They are on an escape mission of their own – piglets!
Usually, the babies do not go far from their Mum in the dark though. Pigs have prey mentalities for all their size. Though pigs have been part of daily farm life a long long time. I read that pigs may have been domesticated as early as 10,000BC. In fact the earliest dinner bones at archaeological sites have been from the pig. That is long enough ago to make some interesting evolutionary changes both intentional and accidental.
What I find most interesting is how quickly the porcine species can revert to the wild and survive very successfully. I wonder whether humans will fare as well when thrown back to living wild without our carefully devised infrastructure of dependence. We must be wary of dependence. We must also be VERY wary of being MANIPULATED into digital dependence: by Aunty Google and Faceless Facebook. (Facebook owns many other apps you know – including Whatsapp and Instagram – both of which I use).
It is hard to stay free of it all though as it is so damned convenient. Damned probably being the operative word in that sentence.
But when wildfires flare or storms or floods or earthquake – on the biblical scale we have seen through the ages, and particularly lately, we must be ready to at least be able to THINK by ourselves and for ourselves. On our feet. Not with our fingers.
Well, I certainly found my words!!
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi.
WEATHER:
Saturday 10/14 80% / 0.2 inThunderstorms likely this morning. Then the chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 76F/24C. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Saturday Night 10/1490% / 0.67 inShowers and thunderstorms likely. Low 52F/11C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
Sun
am pm
Moon
Waning Crescent, 29% visible am pm
c
57 Comments on “WHERE-AS YESTERDAY I HAD WORDS”
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thekitchensgarden 
glad you found your words and i find myself using them less and less as well
Where have our words gone? Maybe it is the onset of some kind of dementia..
interesting that you made this comment… I find myself wondering if I’m slipping gears or drifting into a fog. What I have found is that, nowadays, our words can so easily be misunderstood because ppl seem to be more and more on edge. I don’t think I have ever commented on your blog before but I do read it and it gives me much pleasure and Peace. Thank you.
Blogging daily, sometimes there’s off days, and a post is disappointingly flat or simple. Even when you’re feeling one of those days, though, you manage to produce something rich and layered. And yes, you sure found your words!
Good morning Selka and yes you are right – as with all writing: it is best when we just begin.
I’m sure Sheila loves the extra food!
Here’s a new article on British farmers copying the Spanish, putting old milk cows out to pasture where they become top beef:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/forget-wagyu-old-british-dairy-cows-make-best-beef/
That came up at the feed store the other day – and i was wondering about it – could it be because the milk cow always gets the best of everything. Mine eat the very best hay and the best fields..
It could be lucrative if you can piggy back it with pork sales to restaurants – prices for this beef are sky high in London. I think the dairy cows deserve a holiday after working so hard and I’m sure most of them just get put down.
Such an interesting link posted by Mad Dog, thanks. It might be better to hide it from Lady A for another year or so. Now, if it weren’t for my animals there would be days that I don’t use words at all, but I always come to enjoy yours.:) Laura
I agree about talking to the animals – I never run out of words with them
I’m with you on avoiding excessive dependence on the internet and especially social media. It’s why I don’t do FB, IG, WhatsApp, etc, since I don’t want FB getting its claws into my private life. Of course, it’s impossible to avoid these things altogether, but being aware helps one exercise caution. Thank you for sharing today’s modest store of words with us, and for that glimpse of a very svelte Miss Sheila 🙂
I could do without anything but Whatsapp – this enables me to talk to my children all over the world for free -and of course microsoft owns skype and all your texts and emails are stored or interpreted one way or the other – google amasses huge amounts of data that is sold for advertising so if you have any form of internet they have their sticky mitts in your private life. Facebook is the worst though – I think – as it is their AIM.
I’m lucky, I can use FaceTime, Mac’s own version, but then of course, Apple will have the info too… We need to keep in touch, and this is the price we pay.
When the time comes for survival, it might take decades to adjust in fits and spurts as with climate adjustments connected to global change. Or, it might take days or weeks with a catastrophic event like an asteroid impact or mega-volcanoes. Whatever the case, some humans will be survivors somewhere. The natural selection forces drive changes in species.
Yes I agree about natural selection though survival nowadays is a mix of natural and very un-natural selection. These wretched people in storm-ravaged regions still without tap water – the natural selection there will certainly take the poor and the elderly. It is also interesting how very quickly masses of people cannot survive without an infrastructure that they know nothing about managing. And it all hinges on electricity and gasoline. We MUST start looking at other ways of getting water and power other than plugging in or turning on a tap.
Absolutely
It’s always a winner post to jot down random thoughts and feelings. Your thoughts are so like our own and that is a bit of a comfort at times. And usually, your thoughts and observations give us little tidbits to ponder and chew on throughout the day. Your photographs are always interesting. Those fat piglet bottoms are a treasure! Ha ha. I send Forrest photos all of the time, so that he can direct me on how to repair something – or just do a little southern mechanicing to get me by. I do love the ease of phone photography and texting.
Yes! I love how I can send a picture all over the world and get an answer! Love it
I don’t do Instagram or Facebook except to like stuff on facebook occasionally. I do love the Instagram videos below of Wai and of the baby pigs. Wai is such a character!
Instagram is fun! I think the trick is not to mind about who follows or not – just have some fun with it.
Yes, you did find your words by the end of the post! And I smile because I can do the same thing. Have no words, then by the end of the meal I’m Mrs Chatty….. Hubby Dan just grins as I am the very quiet and non-verbal of the two of us. Keeping many opinions in my own head.
Love the piggy hind ends in the bails….. sweet photo.
BTW: I borrowed one of the piggy photos from yesterday for my daily “Smile” on Facebook. It’s just a daily photo or quote I post that is to help everyone remember to smile and take moments to be happy. I’m tired of Facebook being so negative…..
That is a funny pic, aye!!
Nice that you did find your words in the end! Those piggie photos are such a treat. I use IG and am very sorry that Facebook bought it, but it is a pleasure to share in others’ lives through photos. I only post a few times a year on FB so my cousins, who are scattered everywhere, can see my grandson as he grows. Maybe a semi-necessary evil. All of our particulars have been out there for quite awhile, I think real privacy left while we were sleeping about 20 years ago!
Yes real internet privacy is gone so we need to be careful as we roll with the times – I love instagram . I don’t care if it is not so in fashion anymore.. c
I love IG as well. It’s what I always wanted FB to be.
One of my children is very shy about speaking in public/at school/etc, and in Italian schools if you can’t “talk on your feet” you are in trouble. You may invent b.s. as you babble along, but if you are a good actor, unafraid, and willing to talk yourself out onto a limb, they tend to admire the skill and chutzpah of saying something/anything as if you know what you’re talking about rather than keeping your mouth shut when you are not sure of the facts. I told her just today, “Just start talking and see where it takes you. The words will come.” Boy. That is not at all what you were talking about! But if we were chatting over coffee, I would have blurted that out. I love your words and your pictures today. Wordlessness is a vacation sometimes. We are awash in words. And this comment is sad proof of that. My apologies.x
Honestly (having been on stage for much of my life) it really really does help to think of all those people sitting out there listening as being dressed in their pyjamas – really silly pyjamas. (not naked – I have never got the naked thing) That is what I would say if we were chatting over coffee. Soon?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Looks like you have quite a few here. Excellent words at that. Love those little piggy butts sticking out. I have been wondering about Sheila. Good to see her looking well. Sorry about the flat tire but I’m guessing it’s well handled now. 🙂 Have a wonderfilled weekend as well. Saturdays are a little slower.
The tire is not handled yet but soon I hope..
😦
So funny, I was just thinking about Sheila yesterday while feeding our very large pigs, wondering how she was doing! And about words…, being fairly isolated on the farm, by choice, I’ve become much less wordy, and sometimes worry that my social skills are leaving me too. A bit crazy, no doubt, but a bit of a worry. Love the pics of the baby cows! xo
We should get together one day and exchange social skills ! See what happens!
That would be fantastic!!!
I was very surprised to see how thin Sheila is. Hope she’s okay! Did she go on a diet? I’m remembering a photo of her with tomato all over her face.
Getting older I think
I think about that survival thing quite a lot. I won’t survive. Not least because I live in an apartment, without land.
I think the only people who thrive will be folks like you. People on a farm that already produces food that you can continue to replicate and expand. You have self sufficiency and tradeable commodities. Even people in suburban houses with land won’t have that head start or that knowledge. So only a few will barely survive.
So – being in an apartment – how can we help you survive? Because I want you to.
🙂
Well said!
Thank goodness you noticed it now and that flat didn’t happen when you were on the road! The calves are so cute (and well on their way to becoming their own little herd?: ). SO very intelligent, these little pigs! Are yours more so, or is this completely normal?
Completely normal I think – Though I have a rule to only breed clever pigs. They survive. Breeding stupid sows who are bad mothers is not in the plan. You just get dumb piglets who are hard to keep alive.
Completely logical (for breeding of any kind; )
thinking with our feet and not our fingers….I like that!
Yes!!
Good to see Sheila again. I still have my Tshirt, but she’s no longer fat.
I like to think I would be OK without gadgets and electricity. I also know that being in touch with friends around the world keeps me sane.
Growing food and surviving would keep me busy, but no communication with other artists and free thinkers at all… Not good.
This is true – to be so cut off!? That would be awful. I feel so bad for the people this happens to
I was surprised and horrified on a recent 1 hour flight to see all the small children clutching their very own brightly coloured plastic ipads, tablets whatever, then the HUGE tantrums when they had to turn them off at take off and landing, one small boy kicking my seat back so hard and screaming that he had to have Youtube and couldn’t wait. And parents saying they didn’t like technology but simply had to have for flights………what happened to talking to your kid, reading, doing colouring in? My daughter travelled the long haul from the US to Oz with 4 under 5, a pair of 2 year olds in the mix, with out any technological help, and set out with the mindset that she might be awake for a lot of that time, reading stories and keeping little ones occupied. I have trouble finding words someday too…………not today obviously 🙂
I agree. Though the tech tools are useful for kids they do need to know there are other things to do – like listening to a story. If those kids on that flight had been prepared though it would have been better. Then they would have been ready for the tech black out.
The very best thing I learnt studying economics some years back was the phrase ‘the opportunity cost of time and money’ – Methinks that enters my mind almost every day . . . each dollar can only be spent once, and each and every activity takes up time one cannot spend elsewhere or use again! So what will one choose: a cup of coffee and a loving talk with a friend or fooling around on Facebook; a healthy walk in the park communing with birds and animals or a trip to Instagram; learning a new skill or cooking an interesting meal from scratch or trolling along with Pinterest . . . I know which choices I have made! Crossing the world to learn about life and lifestyles of others likeminded on blogs at a time of short rests from other activities is great fun and leads to both knowledge and friendships . . . but life is here and now to be enjoyed . . . . and it ebbs and flows and we do not always have to have words . . . actually the best way to live is to empty one’s mind and go into total meditation for some periods every day – you live longer, healthier and happier . . . .
Yes – spending a dollar only once is something we should SHOUT out.
I lose my words all the time. I find that when my John is away hunting, fishing or whatever and I am solo out here in the country I become more and more silent by the day. I might murmur to my animals but to actually talk? It doesn’t happen as I’m not a ‘phone’ person either. Sometimes when John gets home I feel like my communication is stuck and I actually cannot get the words out, strange. Sometimes I think he believes I’m angry with him for being away – truly I’m not, I treasure my alone time. I do FB to keep track of family members, sadly since everybody is grown with families we don’t get together nearly often enough so it’s nice to see their posts. I must say, I would miss google, it’s just so darn convenient, say when you don’t have an ingredient for a recipe and need to find a substitute.
I know! We are always asking Aunty Google. For so much. I keep reminding myself to buy paper maps just in case!
But, Sherry, Mr Google is only an ‘operating system’ which certainly does not count as ‘social media’. At a time Encyclopaedia Britannica has become a great-grandparent or we may not have a dictionary in hand; at a time we may want to know weather conditions in our area or look up a word in French or Hindi; at a time most banking and dealing with govt orgs is done on line, how else could we manage? In my birth country of Estonia all voting and paying of taxes is done on line in a matter of minutes thru’ Mr Google. I am not arguing against using modern methods to make life simpler and faster, just wasting one minute of one day when there are more useful things to do in ‘real life’ 🙂 !
Agreed! I’m old enough to remember having to slog off to the library to consult the reference librarian! Sure wish I’d had Mr. Google when I was researching school assignments. Just think of all the time that would’ve been saved. That said, I often find some hilarious things on FB and having a good laugh is never a waste of time. As for the ugly stuff there, well that’s what the scroll wheel on the mouse is for.
J & D > Oh how we agree with you about dependency! Most of modern western society is now extremely vulnerable. Most electronics – especially if with cables attached (even if not connected to the grid) – is suscepible to damage in electric storms: usually some small component on a PCB will get burnt out (though not necessarily with visually apparent damage). Keeping livestock keeps us all grounded”
As one who has spent a quarter-century and more working on the docks, in solitude and silence, I understand perfectly that “loss of words.” The silence we choose to surround ourselves with can seep in until we haven’t, in fact, lost anything, but gained the sort of interior quiet that people spend enormous amounts of time and money chasing. Beyond that, we have time in that quiet to think. People used to do that a good bit: to solve problems, to ponder curiosities, to make connections between that which seems to others unrelated.
On a slightly different note, when I began blogging I followed a Danish graphic artist whose tagline at the top of her page was, “If I don’t have anything to say, I won’t say it.” It’s not a bad guideline.