Pigs love boxes! And as any varsity motorbike rider from days gone by will tell you; cardboard is a great aid in keeping warm. It is wonderful insulation against a cold wind. My first husband used to insert a piece of cardboard between his singlet and his warmie as a windbreak when he rode his motorbike up the island to see his parents.
We were poor students.
So I give Jude and FreeBee cardboard boxes to rip apart for entertainment then they inevitably end up in their beds as extra cold weather bedding.
The Quacker and Quacker Show
Still going.
We still have little Quacker loudly visiting.
Weather
It is warm enough now to start hanging the washing on the clothesline again. Which is great because as you know I do not have a tumble dryer.
My sister in law was here on the weekend and as she chatted she turned and widened her eyes.
“Is that a peacock in the window?” She was surprised. I was not surprised and answered in the affirmative without turning. “That is Mr Flowers”.
“He is tapping on the window”, she said, “with his beak.”
“It would be funny if he tapped with his claw,” I said. “Right? More tea?”
Travels
I leave for a week in California in two days.
To visit my son.
Home Help is all arranged for MiL and John’s son is coming out every evening to do the heavy chores. This first trip is a trial run. So fingers crossed.
Both morning and evening editions of The Kitchens Garden will be published as I travel. I have always taken you with me. So not to worry. TKG Take10 Travel will be an exciting new development. And an experiment. 10 minutes somewhere new each evening.
I imagine there will be sounds of rain in California!
The Evening Edition
Click here for the weekly story. (From when I was a very young solo Mum with lots of kids) and a recipe. And a sustainable lifestyle challenge. It is worth it to subscribe. My daughter upgraded to Paid the other day and wrote in the comments “because you are my writer-mother”.
Click Here for Fridays TKG TAKE10. You will see Mr Flowers super close up.
New Cat
Tall teenager’s cat gift is settling in but he is loud.
He stands out by the barn and meows piteously every time Tall Teenager arrives to train for taking over chores for me.
Sightings of the Black Cat are becoming more frequent too.
Boo is in training again not to chase them.
I spent the weekend working in the barn and cleaning the pond. The pond has thawed out and all the dead fish have come floating to the surface. The smell is pretty nasty.
It is getting better. It took me a while to get the pump running well again. I set it to pumping out buckets of warm water to clear the ice out of the workings.
Next winter I will put a heater in the pond. And run the pump more often. Him Indoors usually brings the pump in for the winter – but he forgot. Though it still runs so that is the main thing. And I can easily pop it in a box in the basement when the weather is cold.
No big woop, as my Mother In Law (MiL) would say.
Maybe I will put the fish in a tank in the basement next winter, with a little pump. It was sad to see those big dead fish. And frogs, too.
Learning all the time.
Have a good one.
See you this evening at TKG TAKE10.
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
16 responses to “Pigs love Boxes”
Black cat does enjoy his high perches…keeping a watchful eye on the comings and goings I think. I wonder if he will ever be calm enough or interested enough to interact on a closer level?
I think none of us would blink an eye to see a peacock at your window. In fact, if I was visiting I would simply walk over and toss out a bit of seed. Just another bird at the local feeder… 🙂
I do hope the trip goes well, both for the MIL and the farmy (which I suspect will be just fine) but also for you headed to CA with the horrendous weather they are having. Best to pack your rain gear and gum boots I think. The rain totals and flooding are off the charts.
Yes! The rains look dreadful – but when one’s son calls Mama comes – I learnt that lesson the hard way!
Yes, I fully understand that and I hope he is not hanging from a tree over anything very sharp!
Hope you find California still attached to the mainland. The Tall Teenager’s cat looks like it might be at least part Maine-coon? Interesting about hanging out clothes, I just came back in from hanging out sheets. Lots of sun 42 degrees right now and on up to 52 by early afternoon. They might just get dry by late afternoon. Sweet!
I LOVE the scent of sheets dried in the sun. So good!
All the animals want to live on the Farmy!
Apparently!
It’s a special place!
No more cats ah? Ha ha. I also put washing out today for the first time, l get excited by it every year! Happy travels, look forward to your postings.
Right? I should not have made that announcement out loud!!
Yes, Happy Travels & Happy Landings. I too hope all will be well at The Farmy without you. I always worry when you are gone far away. But everyone taking care is very capable, if they don’t forget anything & there is a lot to remember. I too am so sorry about the pond life. Maybe you will take sunshine with you to California.
I am only gone a week this time – it is more of a trial run!
It should be warm enough to hang out here by the end of the week. Unfortunately, last fall one of my clothes line poles took a digger along with my freshly laundered sheets hanging on the line – enough to p*@# off the pope! I have the makings for a new set up but apparently no one is going to put it together for me. It’s on my list for one of these days!
Oh no!!’ Horrible. Hopefully you get help with that job soon – being without a clothesline is just awful.
I didn’t know that about cardboard nor that you didn’t have a tumble dryer. I’m trying (and failing) to imagine how I would manage. Love the photos of the ducks and the peacock/pig “conference.” One day I was leaving my housing development for work and two peacocks crossed the road. I told everyone about it and they thought I was crazy. (I wasn’t, not in this case anyway) They had escaped from somewhere and were adopted by someone out in the country, away from too many cars and houses.
That must have felt like you had been visited by angels! Seeing two peacocks wandering through town! To dry clothes in the winter I use racks. I stack them with clothes and set them by the heater outlets. Or in the glasshouse. This winter has been hard with so few sunny days.
But my clothes last years without using a dryer.