My Dad arrived at 7; I was, unlikely as it seems, still in bed, having gone back to sleep. This was due mainly to reading the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy, catching fire. I jumped up and threw on some clothes and came down.

I made fried eggs for us, after cooking some proto-bacon. The meat that comes from the sides of the pigs is about half fat. We sliced it and cooked it; it doesn't really taste like bacon, more like fatty pork chops. With a little salt and pepper, it's still very good--and no nitrates! With home-raised eggs, and home-made bread toasted, it was a fine breakfast.

We headed next door to Paul's a little after 9. Mike was there; they were setting up the grinder. He had the recipe he had printed off from the internet: Alton Brown's sausage recipe. For two pounds of sausage, add 1 1/2 tsp fennel seed, toasted in a small frying pan and ground in a mortar, 2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1 T chopped fresh parsley. I set to work on cooking the fennel and my Dad ground it. He also ground fresh pepper for us. I measured out the spices and mixed them together. Meanwhile, Mike had opened the first pack of meat,
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Yesterday was rainy off and on, great weather for the garden. I didn't have any cooking to do, really, and it wasn't that cool. I slept in anyway, because I had been up the night before reading The Hunger Games.

After lunch, Ray dropped me at the Writing Workshop and went to his office. Deb read a nice piece about riding the subway in Brooklyn when she was a child.

At home, I picked some lettuce (in the rain) and Ray washed it. I made a dressing and tore it up, plus the last of the spinach from the fridge, a big tomato, and some pieces of cheese and a can of beans. Took it to potluck. Enjoyed choir.

TV, bed, reading Catching Fire.

I woke up to lovely rain about 6:30. Yay! for the garden...and I know my Dad will not be arriving soon for breakfast. I stayed up too late reading the Hunger Games...so I find I can go back to sleep, waking to rain now and then, and getting up finally about 8:30.

Monday I went to my Small Group--it was okay, not my favorite meeting. Ray and i had a quick lunch at Gryo Wrap before he had to report to jury duty. I went to pick up his meds and then to my sleep apnea doctor, who once again scolded me about not using my mask. He gave me a new kind to try. He is quite nice, but somewhat patronizing. I picked up Soli at school and we went home to play Save the Whales. Lately, he loses interest, not surprisingly, since it is quite a long and often dull game. Just another week of school, so he seemed a litle more distracted that usual. It started to rain and he went out and played in the mud, building dams on Paul's drive. I sat on the porch and looked at cookbooks while he did that.

When his mother came to get him, I drove to pick Ray up at the gas station at the end of the bus line. For dinner, we joined Janna and what Ron calls "the usual suspects" at Five and Ten. It was Janna's birthday and they are leaving for Europe today or tomorrow. We had a lovely time. I had a drink called a Bourbon Smash to start with. I thought about ordering oysters, or maybe just one, for my Mom. There were some on the menu from the Bras d'Or. But I had a clam special appetizer instead and it was really good. John and Deb had some too and they raved about it. I went wild and had the steak, with asparagus and mashed potatoes. We had a bottle of white and a bottle of red for the table, so I could have white with my clams and red with my steak! It was very fun.

Yesterday morning, Captain came early, before 7. Ray was still asleep; he had been up in the night. We had breakfast and then headed off to Cedartown, Georgia, where my Dad had paid for a skydive. Why he chose this place, I don't know. I suspect there was some sort of discount, but as Ray pointed out, if he saved $50 and has to drive 2 1/2 hours each way, that's not much of a deal. From the road, my Dad called to check on the weather. It was 8:30 before he could do that, and, sure enough, the weather was too iffy. We turned around and came home, arriving a little after 9. My friend Kent had expressed interest, so we are trying to arrange a time to go there on a Friday night and they can both do it the next morning.

My Dad worked in the garden. I went to do some Kenney Ridge banking business, involving closing out our bank accounts and opening credit union ones. This involved some waiting and when I got back, my Dad was a little upset. Our friends and neighbors had brought the pork from the processor and put it in our freezer. I was sorry I missed it and let them do the work for us. Ray was giving an exam. But now we have a freezer full of pork chops, fresh hams, and roasts. I haven't actually looked yet. The organ meat is in the fridge; Karen will get it to feed to her dogs, I think. Then there are two packages of something that could be turned into bacon, if I was willing and able. At the moment, it is more like pork belly. I can freeze it, but not sure why. It's great, even better than money in the bank. Although we must be on guard against power failures...not likely to happen, at least for long periods, in this day and age.

I picked Ray up again and we had a quiet late afternoon and early evening, eating peas and salad with lentils or garbanzos. I am giving lettuce away left and right in an attempt to eat it all before it bolts. My Dad harvested 44 heads of garlic, so as long as I don't eat more than one every two weeks, we have a lifetime supply. We are running the ac very little, as it is cool enough overnight to opent he windows, even though it was rather humid last night. The rain has kept it cool so far today.

Saturday, I did some gardening early in the day with my Dad, after eggs for breakfast. I picked peas and froze about half a pound, with Ray's help. I had my bath and got dressed and was ready to go when Deb and Janna arrived. It was Janna's birthday and I drove us to the Mall of Georgia.

The thing that I really wanted to do was return a couple dresses to Nordstrom and a broken wedding present to Williams-Sonoma. First we had a ladies' lunch at a chain called Mimi's, sort of faux French bistro. Janna said we ate there with my Mom when we were looking to buy a couch, but I didn't remember the restaurant. It was fine. We had salads.

There is something to be said for shopping at expensive stores. At Nordstrom, they scanned the tags on my dresses, found them in the computer, and credited back my credit card in no time. at any sales terminal, with no waiting. At Williams-Sonoma, it took a little longer, but they replaced the item. She told me the company would have sent a replacement if I had called; I probably wouldn't have had to send the old one back. After I had done those errands, Deb and I were there mainly to keep Janna company, while she picked out and tried on clothes for her trip to Barcelona this week. She lost a lot of weight with her illness and surgery and most of her clothes are too big. she bought 3 pair of pants, a skirt, 3 or 4 tops, a jacket...Deb bought several things too. I was pretty restrained (Nordstrom is expensive). The only things I bought were on sale: 2 t-shirts for $9.90 each, a fun casual skirt for $17, some pajama pants about $20. I didn't really need anything, but there's the psychology of having money to spend because I returned some things. We had three big dressing rooms in a row and no one else around, and a young woman running back and forth checking on us and getting new sizes.

Driving home, there was some traffic. Fortunately, we had some chicken curry we had taken out of the freezer. Ray heated it up and cooked some rice, plus we had a salad. Must eat lettuce before it all bolts, can't freeze lettuce! We have to eat things from the freezer to make room for the pig that is coming tomorrow or the next day.

Sunday I sang a solo and read a short speech about becoming a lay minister, so it was a little bit stressful. I had a little frog in my throat when I started to sing, unfortunately, but otherwise it went well. There were six of us that were "installed," so the service went long, which is something I gnerally object to, but my part was about 4 minutes, as instructed. My Dad came to the service and afterward the three of us went to DePalma's for lunch. I had shrimp and asparagus and bacon with risotto. It was good and Ray and I split a chocolate dessert.

After lunch, I pretty much goofed off. We watched a movie that we had seen before, Moscow on Hudson with Robin Williams. One of the fun things about it was that I can still understand a lot of the Russian. Kind of sad, though, that I never used it at all for any job.

At 6:30, there was a dinner at the Community Center, made by other people than me! I did bring some cookies, but I didn't have to. They were dedicating the stained glass window that Jim S. made and there was a good turnout. They paid a sitter, so I didn't have much young company.

We had to stay up kind of late, because I forgot I had started bread. This time of year I like to bake it at night, so the house can cool off overnight. But if I start it rising and then get sleepy watching TV, I often find myself having to stay up really late to get it baked!

I did manage to sleep six hours with my mask on, so that's good.

Too wet and muddy in the morning to do any outside work. Went with Ray at 11 and spent time at the credit union, arranging to open an account for KR. Picked Ray up at his office and we went to lunch at Stuffed Burger. Surprisingly lively, with lots of customers and loud music. Burgers were good, milkshakes were very good, tater tots were a tad overdone for Ray. No salads on the menu that I saw. I spoke to the manager about desserts and he said they would be moving to a bigger space and might be interested. He gave me his card. He seemed very young, but they are clearly doing something right. Lots of staff. Not used to eating that much and that kind of food, felt pretty sleepy in the afternoon. Researched places to go for the weekend in North Carolina, mainly on homeaway.com.

Cooked, peeled, and ate beets and beet greens in a salad, as well as an old winter squash and a bowl of kielbasa soup. Picked a head of lettuce and some potato beetles. Garden looks good. TV, bed. Started The Hunger Games, but stopped and went to sleep.

I woke up to rain about 30 minutes ago, which made me very happy. I went around and closed the windows (upstairs, anyway) and by then it had stopped, sadly, so I don't think there was a measurable amount.

I am doing well. My ankle was wrapped most of the day. It is kind of achy now, and I can't wait to get back to my regular walking. No exercise for over a week!

My Dad arrived before 7:30 and had breakfast, so we got some gardening in while it was cool and pleasant. I picked a lot of peas again.

Ray and I left. He dropped me off at a long OLLI class on choices for living at the end of life: Talmage Terrace, St. Mary's alzheimer's unit, Skilled Nursing care, and how to pay for them: Long Term Care insurance, Medicare, and VA benefits. Lots of good information, although not particularly entertaining. Free lunch and two notepads and a key ring. I have the latest rates for Talmage Terrace and have a clearer understanding of Medicaid and VA benefits, as they might applly to my Dad.

At home, I shelled the peas and ate them and some asparagus, as well as the leftover shrimp and potatoes and spinach. I think we have finished the spinach now. Lettuce is bolting too.

Ray went to the Democratic Committee board meeting and I left for a 7:00 meeting at the Fellowship. Six of us are being "installed" Sunday as lay ministers, but we aren't sure what that involves because it is a new program here. We have to make a statement about why we chose to become lay ministers. At the moment, mine starts with, "I have no earthly idea. Honestly..."

It was about 9:30 when I got home and we watched one TV show and went to bed, but it took me a while to fall asleep.

Happy and unsuspecting (but hungry) pigs in their yard

Big pig waiting for food

It was a very entertaining morning; I wouldn't have missed it for anything. There were 7 of us: 3 women and 4 men. Paul was kind of in charge. He had built the trailer and he and Karen had done it last year.

The women found it hard not to feel a little sad; no sign of that among the men. The pigs had been raised by us to become food. We gave them a good life. Several of us solicited scraps from restaurants in town and brought them to the farm every week. They loved the cheese grits from Sunday brunch and some of the leftovers looked good enough for us to eat: asparagus, baby arugula...

I know you brought me something good.

Now it was time for them to go to the "processor." (my favorite new eupemism). No reason for me to feel bad: I would be as guilty if I went to the grocery store and bought pork chops, and I wouldn't know how they had lived and died. In this case, I knew a lot about these pigs.

It was quite entertaining when Paul brought them home in the back of his small pickup truck, with the cap on and lots of hay. They were very cute, small and black, heritage breeds, not the pink ones raised commercially. We carried them and they squealed blue murder the whole time. Paul had prepared a spacious yard fenced with electric wire. We just had to set them down inside it. One of the pigs immediately escaped. It took several people, but we were able to catch it eventually and Paul quickly added another strand of wire to the fence. They were small enough to slip through at that point, but they got bigger and bigger.

Last bath

Paul and the Captain, ready for pigs

We had to drive a ways to buy the special mix of feed that Karen decided on: hog chow, calf manna, rice, oats, and several other kinds of feed. Not to mention all the garbage that any of us produced in our homes or picked up from restaurants. She specified no peppers, eggplants, or tomatoes, and no onions, so sometimes we had to paw through the restaurant donations to remove the stuff they shouldn't eat. After a few weeks, we discovered that they would eat around it anyway.

Is it big enough?

Ray was in charge of food, for some reason.

Now it was their last day. We arrived at the farm before 9 in the morning. Paul backed the trailer down as far as he dared, but there was still a field we had to coax them through to get to it. We spent a lot of time trying to rig a ramp for them, with an old door and some stones to brace it.

No one had fed them the day before; we had held onto some leftover cake from the last restaurant run to lure them into the trailer. Unfortunately, Karen's dogs had gotten it. So, when the pigs saw us, the biggest one broke through the electric fence and waited at the next fence for us to give her something to eat. Meanwhile, all the guys worked to get the ramp ready. Paul is not particularly good at delegating. He mostly just figured it out and then did it. When he had it arranged, it was time to get food to lure them into the trailer. I went down to the field to get the bowls we use, that would be familiar to them. Karen brought what she could scrounge up--garbage and dog food and things they might like. We put those in the trailer and encouraged the pigs to come in, but they had trouble with the ramp. Their little hooves slipped on it. It didn't seem very steep to me, but I guess it was enough to make it hard for them. They don't see very well at all, and there were a lot of people around and a tiny box with no way out. Occasionally, we would try to push one of them. They weighed a lot! That just made them go away for a minute.

Paul got more stuff: a tarp, some fencing, Karen even brought her yoga mat! Ray kept sprinkling food along in front of them and even got into the trailer trying to lure them. Everyone was giving opinions. Sometimes the pigs were wandering away and threatening to get outside the fence, in which case we could lose our entire investment!

Karen's yoga mat didn't work

They wanted to climb up the side of the ramp, but couldn't.

plan B: steps

moving the door to close them in!

Paul decided to build steps instead of a ramp, piling up pallets with plywood on them. I have no idea how we finally did it, but we got all three pigs inside that trailer and the guys closed it up and cinched up the straps to hold it. Now they should be on their way to the processor. I didn't have any interest in going, but Ray and my Dad did, as well as Paul and Mike and Rebecca, Karen's daughter. I very much enjoyed reviewing the videos from this experience this morning. It's appropriate to be a little sad and appreciative.

View from above: 3 happy pigs in a box.