Other things

Friday 17th Of August.

Two things happened yesterday which are worth mentioning, firstly Mark accidentally let the pigs out of the paddock, which is no big deal other than they dig up the turf with their rooting and make a terrible mess of the garden and secondly we were woken up in the night by the howling of Coyotes.

We decided to allow Wilbur and Angela our pet pigs to run with chickens and dogs yesterday as they do love the freedom to do as they please. They are used to this in the winter when the ground is frozen as they do less damage to the grass. Last night they settled with the chickens in their shed and again we were happy to let them do this thinking we could could put them back in the paddock this morning.

During the night we were suddenly awakened by the howl of coyotes and believe me they sounded as if they were underneath our bedroom window and I was petrified. To the native upstater maybe the sound of coyotes is pretty much the norm, but in the 2 years that we have been here we have never heard them and we have always put this down to our dogs marking their territory also a reason for our chickens free ranging with no problems. Last night, as I lay in bed listening to the most primitive of dog sounds, I was relieved that Angela and Wilbur were safely locked up with the chickens. They usually have the barn and around 8 acres of pasture within an electric fenced in area but last night I felt nobody was safe from those Coyotes. What was also interesting is , not one of the dogs barked, Mark insists this was because the Coyotes were on our neighbours property and only sounded as If they were beneath us, all I know is i was very frightened.

This morning, as we got ready for our walk with the dogs,the pigs made it quite clear that they wanted to join us. They have accompanied us in the past but they were only babies, now they are fully mature. Wilbur, who, in his maturity looks very much like a wild boar, but so very gentle and loving and Angela who looks more rotund by the day were really quite excited. So we set off for the woods with 5 Ridgebacks and 2 pigs and what a lovely sight it was. Motsi was left behind as I did not want her over doing it on the exercise front as she tends to go mad when she is out with the big dogs.

Mark has updated the site with pics from today and yesterday and as ever the pups are adorable. They are all with their mum as I type on a duvet downstairs, the older ones choosing to be in the utility room.