Piggies

A few weeks ago Karen F. and I were talking. "Paul and I are going to be raising pigs again this year," she mentioned. "I want one!" I said. Paul and Karen built the fence last weekend, while we were away. "What can I do to help?" I asked. Karen asked me to buy some puppy food, which is higher in protein than adult dog food. She is looking into a source of organic hog chow, and we are trying to get food waste from restaurants and grocery stores. We asked at Peking, when we were eating lunch there with my Dad, and they are supposed to call us after they check with the health inspector.

Saturday night, I wrote a check for $50. Sunday afternoon, Karen called. "We'll be there in 20 minutes," she said. We finished up what we were doing and headed over to her house, where the pigs will live. There were three little coal-black piglets in the back of Paul's red truck, with a lot of straw. His truck has a cap on it. Shannon, Karen's daughter, and her husband, Steve, came from next door to help us. Steve crawled into the mucky straw to catch the pigs. They squealed like they were already being butchered and ran from him, but he caught them one by one and handed them out the back. Paul took one, then Ray, then I took the last one. They screamed, but didn't bite or kick, just squirmed. We held on for dear life, walking over the rough farmyard to set them down inside the electric fence Paul had strung, making sure not to get shocked as it was "live." The three terrified pigs ran around and right through the electrified fence! Potential disaster and much excitement. Karen's style of farming appears a little haphazard, but there was another fenced area around the pigs' enclosure. They crawled under that fence and into another fenced area. Ray and Steve and Paul waved sticks at them and tried to keep them from getting out into the woods. They would not be coming back, with plenty to eat and no desire for human companionship. And probably something would catch and eat them. So long, $50!

Paul is the pig whisperer; Ray carries a big stick

goats looking on

Paul and Shannon worked quickly to put up another wire, while Steve and Shannon and Karen and I carried logs to block some of the places they had crawled through, and Ray herded them back toward the pen. We encouraged them back into the pen with the additional string of wire and turned the power back on. We tried to be calm, so they would calm down. When they were riled up, they would run right through the electrified fence, but once quiet, they would notice the charge and avoid it. We watched for a long time. Karen brought the dog food we had bought and a pan of water as well. They stayed in the corner farthest away from us, contentedly rooting and learning about the fence. Yay! Hopefully they will stay in. As they get bigger, the fence will be more effective. But mostly, once they learn to avoid it, they will not try to get out. And we will bring them food and water and keep them happy.

The pigs are a combination of three heritage breeds, not the pink commercial pigs you think of. One is mulefoot, one is black something-or-other...

That was the most exciting part of my day, which also included pancakes and a walk in the woods, followed by singing at church. For supper, I made pork with peppers and onions and mashed potatoes (without any milk!). I thought about the baby piggies as I sliced the pig meat...

Enjoyed it and some TV before bed, as well as knitting.

This is one of my favorite days of the year, because I get an extra hour! In theory, I could sleep an extra hour, but that isn't what usually happens. I stayed up as late as I could last night, so I wouldn't wake up too early, but it was still 5 am. Better than four!

Ray and I went to pilates yesterday morning. I had to wake him up, but we were in time. Then we stopped at the farmers' market, where there wasn't much to buy. I got a few little onions. We did a couple more errands and went home. It was sunny, but breezy and cool, in the 50s. I talked with the girls some about the wedding and made chili.

We still have no egg production--I have threatened the chickens, but to no avail. I finally bought a dozen eggs from Miles, our neighbor who is about 7 years old, so I could make pancakes this morning.

In addition to the chili last night, we ate a perfect broccoli. I picked it just an hour or so before and it was cooked just enough. It was sweet.

For  TV, we watched the usual shows, then some more in an effort to stay up later: a little bit of Wizard of Oz, and some of The Best of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. I wish I had thought to record it from the beginning, but I have a little bit preserved for posterity. It was very funny, from the 60s, and very risque, and incredibly political. You should watch it if you can. Such phrases as, "you bet your bippy" and "sock it to me" originated with the show. You can see how later shows built on its success, and how it followed the things that came before.

The most fun I've had in ages was at lunch yesterday. An old friend from when our children were small came to Athens and called Becky. Her name is Sue Koehler. There were seven of us at lunch and we had so much fun. She seems like such a kindred spirit, I wish I had been in touch with her all along. She and her husband live in Texas. They are retired! She talked about books she had read and her son's wedding in New York last summer and how much fun it was.

In the morning, my father and I went to an OLLI class on the Biology of Aging. We learned some interesting and helpful things. Like loneliness is really bad for you. My Dad asked, so is it better for you to spend time with people who really annoy you? and Dr. Harris (age 85) said absolutely. I pointed out to my Dad that you are doing them a favor by annoying them too. (lol)

We spent almost 3 hours at lunch (no parking ticket, yay!) and then I was home for about an hour before my Dad arrived. He picked some lettuce and a carrot for his salad and checked his email. He was talking about going to the basketball game last night, but I don't know if he did. This weekend is homecoming and Athens is full of traffic and people everywhere.

I picked Ray up, but had him take a bus and walk to where I couldn't drive any further because of the homecoming parade. It was after 6 and I hadn't made supper so we stopped at a South American restaurant on Prince. It was deserted. Too early for Mexican Americans to eat and not the kind of place the students and alumni want to go for homecoming? I had fish tacos, one of my favorite things. I was sad they didn't have sangria, but ordered a jarrito. Ray had lomos saltado, which I like too. Mostly it features French fries and white rice, with a little meat and greasy gravy. This was not the best version of it.

Then we watched TV and went to bed. Pretty much all I did was eat and talk all day. Pretty fun!

It was not a good day.

Ray slept in and wasn't ready to go by 9:30, when I was supposed to be at the GED classes. I got there about 10, but M. did not come. I picked up the wine I had ordered (Christmas present for the Captain--sh) and went to the credit union to try to figure out how to get on line. I deposited $500 in that account, so I could pay some of my bills using their online system, but there is a 10-day hold on checks, so there is nothing that is not due before then. Tomorrow is the day for closing your accounts, but I am not going to be ready.

I went home and watered the garden and ate another sandwich on tiny flat bread. I did some bookkeeping for Kenney Ridge at Sky's house. At 2:00, I had an appointment with a sleep doctor. He asked me some questions and looked in my mouth and said, "yes, you have sleep apnea. I can tell." It's quite interesting, because some people feel sleepy and tired during the day, because their sleep has been interrupted, and I do not. Other symptoms I do have: dry mouth, headaches, waking up coughing or choking. Snoring, obviously. So now we do a sleep study, where I spend the night there, connected to machines. I asked for an appointment after Thanksgiving. And then another, a week later, with a CPAP machine, a mask over my face, to see if that treatment will work for me. And if so, then I spend every night with it. I guess my insurance will cover it. I just starting take blood pressure medicine, as well as the cholesterol medicine I'm taking. Now I am starting to feel like a person with a lot of medical problems.

I picked up some books at Avid and went to the eye doctor, about 30 minutes early. I really like Dr. Forche (Nadine). She often has student doctors and interns, which I admire. My eyes are fine and I don't need to change my prescription, although I should get new lenses because mine are so scratched. She gave me free samples of solution for my lenses, since I told her what a bad year it has been for me.

I went home and it started to rain. This is great, except for the fact I had watered earlier and Ray had hung the laundry out, so I tried to get that in before it got very wet. Pretty soon it was time to go to the Kenney Ridge potluck supper with my leftover pasta bean salad from the night before. I enjoyed Eva and Solomon, but had to go to a Finance Committee meeting at 7:30. I urged their Mom to let them come to my house to play.

Ray got home a little after I did. It was still raining, so that is awesome. He brought me cake from the Last Resort. He does that every time he has dinner there, as a sort of consolation, and kind of in my Mom's memory. We watched a little TV, and went to bed.

Yesterday, I stayed here while Ray went to work. I spent some time on my computer and made some bread. Unfortunately, I think I had the water too hot for the yeast, because it did not rise at all. I needed the breaf for lunch, so I baked it anyway. Tastes delicious, but it's about 1 inch high. Really.

My Dad came about 11:45. I had been expecting him at 10. When I asked what was up, he said he didn't have anything to look forward to. I was not much help. But he felt better after he worked on the gutters on the north side of the tractor shed and drove Matilda around, cutting the grass in the circle and behind the house. Since I didn't have anything to offer for lunch, he went home. I made pasta bean salad for potluck and worked on wedding plans with the girls via Skype. Molli was off yesterday for Day of the Dead.

We went to potluck and choir and came home and watched some TV.

Broccoli doesn't mind frost

Yesterday morning it was just above freezing. We took a quick walk and then Ray headed out. I drove myself to the doctor. She checked my blood pressure again and asked me about the medicine she had prescribed. I haven't gotten the prescription filled yet. I was hoping it was a temporary thing and my blood pressure would have gone down some, but no such luck. The cholesterol medicine seems to be improving that. And I am still pre-diabetic (which is good in the sense that it has not gotten worse). It is mildly frustrating for me, because I feel like I am being really careful with what I eat and we walk every morning, sometimes more than others. But it could be worse. I need to find that prescription, start taking it and then get my blood work done again. Sigh. She did say there is no evidence that eating eggs is bad for your cholesterol and I should eat as many as I want to.

But zucchini does

Then I spent about an hour at the Arch. Adam and another guy were there at first, but they left and no one else came. I was meeting Janna and Becky for lunch, so I left, although I felt bad. We ate at Earth Fare, not my favorite fun place, but Janna needed to meet in Five Points and is being careful about what she eats. They are excited about Molli's wedding.

Captain carved a jack o'lantern

About 1:30, I remembered that yesterday was the last meeting of the writing workshop, until January, and I was supposed to bring something to eat. So I grabbed some chocolate-covered pretzel Christmas trees and took them with me. When I walked in, one of the women asked if I was going to read more of my story. It was nice, it was like having grandchildren or some other enthusiastic audience. Several other people read first, and then I read another chunk, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. They were very supportive and think it should be published. My friend Deb said it was scary and one or two others agreed it was very timely. They like that it is a future history written from a woman's point of view. I haven't really written about any violence, and I am not sure I can make anything really bad happen to my characters. It isn't finished, but I have written more than I read. I need an agent or mentor to advise me on what to do with it. Make it more dramatic? Include more descriptive detail? Should I have a publisher before I finish writing it, so I know my audience? Anyway, it really made me feel good. Somebody said, "we'll be able to say, 'we knew her when...' when your name is up in lights." I don't think authors, even very successful ones, often have their name up in lights. But it was nice.

Ray met me at the class and we drove home. My Dad was there and he hung out for a little while...actually he hung out my laundry for me and read the paper and we chatted a bit. He told me about the rehearsal schedule for Christmas Carol, starting Nov. 7. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday--I think. He has a small part, but is really looking forward to it.

I made a frittata with about all the eggs we had, chard, zucchini, bell pepper...it was delicious and filling. We had baked potatoes, too. I talked to Molli and Amelia some more about the wedding and then we watched a bunch of TV, while I unknitted the poncho I had started. It is on circular needles and I had gotten it twisted when I started, but it was hard to tell until I had knit about an inch. Now it should be right and I can knit it again. Ray wound the purple yarn into a big ball.

I slept through until 4:45 and then when back to sleep for an hour or so. That's good. I did remember my dream, but it's gone now.

I was at the GED classes about 9:35, but M. didn't show up until 10. We reviewed from last time, looked at scientific notation, and went on with adding decimals. She has trouble with carrying in subtracting. At 11:30, I went home. There wasn't much to eat. I hat a gluten-free tortilla with salami and cheese. It was pretty cold and I didn't want to go out and get lettuce.

I spent most of the afternoon chatting with Molli and Amelia on Skype about the wedding, particularly bridesmaid dresses. We talked some about food, too. The heat came on about 3, so I lit the fire in the stove. It worked beautifully, no smoke leaking from the chimney, no need to open the bottom. By supper, it was pleasantly warm in the house.

Ray was giving a makeup exam and didn't get  home until almost 6:30. I had made supper and eaten it. He brought my Dad, too. The three of us went to hear David Sedaris. John Olive met us there, with Sloane (the guide dog in training). The show was very funny. Captain talked to David beforehand, while he was signing books.