A Farmer's Amazing Race

Well, not really.  It involves me, a sneaky hog and a gaggle of geese.  With some onlookers....an energetic dog, a snooty horse and a crazy calf. 

I live on the edge.


First of all, lets start by talking about the picture above.  It's a nice summer day in the photo, but it's 1 below windchill this morning.  What gives?  Well, I went to use the camera a couple days ago and it didn't work...the little girls were throwing it on the floor and it broke. 

A Facebook friend said, "Put it around your neck on a string". 

Honey, if I put everything worth any value around my neck I'd have choked myself by now since our kids are into everything.  Case in point; they stole Ron's glasses from his hiding spot (guess it's not a secret anymore) they broke them and hid them in our closet.  Right now they have their baby sister in a laundry basket with blankets stuffed around her, pulling her with their little ride on cars and scarves as tow ropes. 

Quite the imagination.  if only I had a camera to take pictures to show you. 

=)

Okay enough.  Back to my story.  So for the last week, each morning I go into my sheep/goose/duck/chicken/calf/horse barn and it looks completely ransacked.  Everything is messed up and thrown around.  Heat lights broke, feed everywhere, I don't know if they were trying to tie the geese up or what...there was twine everywhere. 

Now I actually debated scanning in a map of my barn to show you what the layout is since I have no camera, but then thought for the sake of looking like a complete dork, I better not. 

I know, I need no help to show off my dimwitted side.

Anyway, I blamed these shenanigans on the dog.  "That stupid dog is wreaking havoc in my barn," I said to Ron after chores a few mornings ago. 

"I'm sure it's her stealing the eggs too."  He said.  "I always see her going out of there."

The next morning I walk outside already knowing the mess I'm going to find; the chicken water dumped upside down and froze onto the cement floor, the geese's gate knocked down and their feed scattered all over, again - the twine....

As I walked out, I heard the geese squawking like someone was threatening them with a Christmas dinner menu.  But.wait.a.second...the dog was right by the steps.  More clanging ensued and the geese' squawking was so loud that you'd have thought the devil himself was in there.  I started running, thinking that it's got to be some wild critter in there or something that was wrecking the place.  As I ran I pictured something killing the geese as loud as they were. 

I opened the door and I saw....

One pig, about this size.  He had knocked down the goose gate, the geese were in the corner screaming and he was blissfully eating all their feed.  The dog had a look on her face like, 'SEE!!?!' I was wondering how nine ducks and geese could go through a five gallon pail of feed every two days.

So I shoo the pig back out I find where he was getting out, he was smart, going through his pen pushed a panel down between the horse pen and his, went into the barn, underneath the mangers and into the goose pen.  Pretty smart. 

Smarter yet was the fact that by the time I cleaned up everything, told Ron and went to go fix the panel, he was back in there and the geese were telling on him again.  But the second time was the charm, and I got him out of there once and for all. 

Apparently the corn is more yellow on the other side of the fence? 

Sincerely,
Fairchild Farmgirl