Tuesday, March 1, 2011

March Comes in Like a ... Pig?


There are those who might think living in the middle of nowhere - as I've been accused of doing many, many times - would be a boring thing. It's very quiet, except when the great horned owl decides to spend the night in the tree outside our bedroom window or the frogs in the neighbor's pond are singing in the spring.

We don't just run and get coffee with a friend at the drop of a hat, because that would mean a 20-minute drive just to get to the coffee shop. This also means that some planning has to go into the buying of gas for the car or making sure we don't need milk or bread before we leave town, where the grocery and gas stations are.

I look out my window and because it's flat as a pancake and nothing but farmland as far as I can see, I can watch things going on in the next state. When Ft. Wayne (IN) has their fireworks on the 4th of July, we can sit on our front porch and watch them from 30 miles away. But I can't see Alaska from here.


We don't have any mountains, not even a hill. I'm so used to the flatness that my ears pop just riding an elevator to the second floor. Because it's so flat, the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, and wind farms are popping up all around us.

Our entire county lies in what used to be The Great Black Swamp, and that made this the last part of Ohio to be settled. Those who had that highly undesirable job lost many family members due to malaria from so many mosquitoes and if the hard work of clearing and draining the land wasn't bad enough, many of those doing it died, too.


For this reason, as well as it being good farmland, it's remained sparsely populated and if you're not related to every third person who lives here, you likely have heard of them or went to school with their parents. This might sound like a bad thing, but just let some adversity come your way and so will your friends and neighbors, to give you a helping hand or fix your supper.

If all this still makes you think that it really is a boring place to live, here's what came calling at our front door this afternoon:



"Look honey, it's a pig!"

We'll just add it to the list.
  1. Donkey
  2. Goat
  3. Turkeys
  4. Peahen
  5. Pig
Isn't it kind of ironic that this pork chop showed up on National Pig Day??? And it kind of gives new meaning to The Edible Front Yard, doesn't it, Ivette? Never a dull moment, let me tell ya.


EDIT: We found out that "Barney" belongs to the neighbors across the road. My sincere apologies for any subtle reference to bacon in the above post.



15 comments:

Candice Suter.....Sweetstuff said...

Very fun, Barney was visiting the neighbors. It sounds like an interesting place to live. The family aspect sounds really great and handy in a crisis. I will have to click on the link about your area. Sounds interesting.

Darla said...

Very enjoyable read this morning with my first cup of coffee.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

This is such a hoot Kylee. I bet that pig was wondering who you were too. They are such smart creatures. Just this weekend I watched one of those shows on a nature program about feral pigs. They are becoming a nusiance, almost a hazard in the south. Then you put up this picture. Ha... Never a dull moment indeed.

F Cameron said...

LOL! Barney looks like a sweetie pie! :-) It's probably a good thing that you found his owners.

BTW -- on the Samsung camera -- if I use the SCENE mode; select LANDSCAPE and then zoom, I can get incredible clear and close-up flower photos that I prefer over a macro shot. I tried this from 5 to 10 feet from the plants. My knees are happier, too since I don't have to get down on the ground.

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Kylee, that is the funniest visitor I have seen for a while. My kids had a friend in middle school who had a pet pot bellied pig-- named him Porkchop.

FilipBlog said...

That is special, a pig in your garden.

Lona said...

LOL! He came to check out the rumors of a new warm solarium to wallow in. LOL! He is kind of cute now Kylee.

Layanee said...

He looks like a proper pig coming to the walkway like that. Just one of life's little excitements.

meemsnyc said...

Oh my goodness that is the cutest pig ever! Adorable. I wish a pig like that would show up at our lawn. LOL.

Shawna Lee Coronado said...

Kylee,

My 10 year old and I are rolling on the floor laughing our fannies off.

Love this!

Shawna

Ohiofarmgirl said...

i laughed alot about this. i have a friend who actually had a lost piglet show up. she grew him out to over 350lbs and he is now resting comfortably in her freezer. talk about mana from heaven! i'm going outside right now to wish a pig magically shows up.
;-)

Alexandra said...

I'll take a pig in a country front yard over the coyote I surprised in my very urban backyard last year!

Joyce Pinson @friendsdriftinn said...

How funny! I too live in a rural area, but Appalachia is anything but flat. As for "special visitors" I have seen my seventy year old neighbor chase a bear out her garden with a broom and I have been known to beat pan bottoms to scare the elk from my daylily patch. Giggles

Thanks for sharing this smile on such a snowy Sunday!

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Kylee, This pig looks like a special breed...

We've been watching a female fox in our backyard... think she's got a little family back there - again! :-)

Commonweeder said...

Pigs are easier to catch than weasels! I think.

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