Run, Dave, RUN!

This post (written by Margie) is to give you a different perspective on the farm.  Growing up in the big city on the other side of the state, my husband must have seen a challenge and decided to reform me from a city girl to a country woman.  He brought me to Tidioute when the weather was beautiful, the sky a deep shade of blue, the sounds of nature surrounding you.  Of course he forgot to mention the many feet of snow that is considered a dusting around here, the BIG wildlife that do not always stay in the woods, and the ever popular and my personal favorite, "mud season."  His plan worked, I fell in love and we moved up here.  Looking back I can't believe how much my life has changed, all for the better.  Though I love going back east and visiting my family that I miss so much, I never look forward to going back to the hectic way of life (and traffic).  My outlook on the farm is often different from my husband's, as this is a new experience and obviously my upbringing was much different.  For example, I thought all cows were black and white!  So all of this brings me back to the present and recalling an event that happened on Saturday. 

We decided it was time to wean the piglets (they are out on pasture), and of course we knew mom wouldn't be happy about it.  It was a grab-and-go scenario in which we put them in a trailer (after Dave grabbed them and carried them for only about 3 feet) and we drove the trailer to the barn to put them in their temporary stall.  After transporting 4 of them we decided mom was unhappy enough and we weren't going to push our luck.  After lunch I was playing with our little guy and heard an AWFUL pig squeal.  Thinking one of the two remaining piglets was in trouble, I told my precious little boy to get his boots on and that we had to see what was happening.  I opened the mud room door and saw Dave running with a squealing 30 pound piglet the length of the pasture, desperately trying to hold on to the wiggling piglet while momma pig raced after him (he was thankfully on the other side of the fence from momma).  Seeing the piglet was right next to the fence, Dave (deciding to seize the moment) thought it would be a perfect opportunity to grab the piglet and run.  In that moment of insanity, he forgot he was about an acre away from the end of the pasture and then about an additional 75 feet away from the barn.  Realizing this is a situation I did not want to be involved in (as I understand how I would react as a mother if someone was running off with my little one), I ushered our son back into the house, told him that daddy was going to have to fend for himself with this one and that we would listen (through the safety of the door) to hear what happened.  In the end, Momma did stop once she reached the other side of the fence (like we were told she would), Dave got more than a workout trying to hold onto the piglet while being chased and thankfully decided never to do that again.  Needless to say, 4 days later, there's still another piglet left to be moved from momma and, well, Dave decided to modify his plan for removing the last piglet.  I'm sure we'll put the new and improved plan to use this weekend.