 |
This week
brought many changes to our house. Most notably is the increase
in the amount of mouths that need fed. Here is one of our
cats. This cat just increased 6 fold. I am guessing that in
about 5-6 weeks we will be trying to rid our house of additional
cats. If you would like one, feel free to speak up. If you are choosy and don't like any of these, all indications are that we will have about another 5-6 to choose from in a few days. |
| With
spring break for the kids, we all decided to head in to Tucson and try
our hand at roller skating. Truth be told, when Mia, Sabrina
& Brittney were all down, we went to skate country, but there were
so many people that not many embarked in the art of wheeled
shoes. So we made another trip in after I got out of work and
tried it again. I was surprised at how much I had remembered from when I last tired it a10-15 years ago. I was able to just put on skates and start moving. I was not super fast, nor super steady, but I never fell down. Neither did Terra. Ethen, Kyle, Rachel, Landen and Janelle all had there fair share of time spent on their backs looking at the ceiling and wondered what just happened. |
 |
 |
Both
Landen and Janelle used these little trainers to try and stay
upright. They certiantly helped, but even with them on, they
still managed to fall. I think everyone had a good time. The kids would like to do this activity more often. I think that if you were very good at it, then it would prove to be a good exercise. With the wind blowing in your face when you are moving it is actually enjoyable. I have found that while trying the sport, I can move fast and navigate the turns well, but I have trouble stopping. It will take a few more sessions before I am able to stop while on wheels. Learning to roller skate is much like walking. It is a different way to walk. I suspect that water skiing or snow skiing is very similar as you need to learn different ways to maintain your balance. |
| In other
news, I took this Saturday off. I probably should have been at
work, but frankly I was a bit tired of showing up to the same place
every day and I took a break. Terra found someone local who was looking to raise some hogs. He actually wanted someone to raise two, and he would pay all of the bills associated with the pigs. He is older and doesn't want to take care of them. He wants to pay for two, pay for the feed for two, and then when they are done, he will give one to the caretakers. Since the kids are great caretakers, we signed up for the deal. I spent the morning figuring out how to transport swine from Tucson to Benson (all the local swine producers seemed to be out). I decided to just build a box on the trailer, strap it down and see if that would contain the pigs. It was about 1:00 pm before were ready to embark on the journey to acquire a couple of pigs. |
 |
 |
 |
Above,
this is us at a gas station just after picking up the pigs. We
found the pigs off Valencia next to the Tucson Mountains on the west
side of Tucson. I am not too sure the neighbors of the guy we
purchased these from were keen on the raising of swine. The pigs seemed to ride pretty well in the back of the trailer. I couldn't see them from the driver seat when we were moving in a straight line, but when I went around corners they seemed happy enough. While we were moving down the freeway, we were that car where other people keep slowing down to get a closer look at. On multiple occasions we were photographed by other vehicles passing us with their phones. I am pretty sure that we found our way onto someones social media account today. A few even sped up to the window and waved and showed us their photos. |
| I guess
we are finally operating one of the "look what I saw today" cars.
Or maybe I operate those types of cars often, but it was obvious today.
One lady even rolled down her window and offered to buy them from us. When we finally arrived home, I backed the trailer up to the pen and attempted to unload the pigs. All of the kids were missing shoes, and as such were unfit to help. As I am fairly un-patient when I am in the middle of something, decided that Terra and I could handle it. I started to slide the cage out toward the pen and just as the first pig was going down the ramp Bella came in one side and the pig shot out the other. Terra tried to track down the rouge pig and I gave the dog to the kids and put the other one in the pen. Then I went to help Terra. We spent the next 90 minutes trying to capture the escapee. It went into our neighbors yard and became friendly with their horse. The pig started to tire and we were able to rope one of its legs. After that we grabbed its legs and carried it back to the trailer and then put it back into its pen. |
 |
 |
Once there both pigs seemed quite happy to eat the plentiful weeds that grow in the pen. The rouge pig still hasn't warmed up to being petted by anyone, but the cooperative pig seems friendly enough. It took a few hours to teach them to properly use the pig drinking fountain. I still haven't seen the rouge pig use it, but the other has on a few different occasions. I assume the rouge pig will learn from its pen mate. I estimate these pigs to weigh about 60-80 pounds each. It is surprising how hard it is to catch a 60-80 pound pig as it goes running by. Three of our neighbors were out there helping us as well. I suspect that we should make some cinnamon rolls and take them over as a peace offering. They had some areas of their yard that were roped off and in which new grass was growing. This pig seemed happy to go over to the grass on three different occasions and put his snout down and just start walking and plowed up a few sections of about 8 feet long. I guess that means that we are also now "those neighbors" as well. |
Return to Start Page