The last time I posted, I bragged a bit on my piggie Daisy.  My father did me one better.  He decided to write a few paragraphs to send to Grit magazine (the sister publication of Mother Earth News).  Not only did they like what he had to say, they wanted pictures.  I sent them seven, and they used three.  The URL to the page in the next issue (not out yet) where the article can be seen is:
http://www.grit.com/community/people/mail-call-wild-pigs-in-florida-zm0z12jazreg.aspx.  One of the pics is a tad cute.  We are, after all, talking about a wild pig who has decided to stay with us.  I’ve decided to add a couple of more pics here to give you an idea of just how big she’s getting.

She just keeps right on growing and growing…

I’ve cut back on both her food and her snacks.  The last thing I want is an unhealthy hog, as I’m hoping she’ll find herself a boyfriend soon.  She may be off-limits for eating, but her progeny will have a much different future than hers.

On to a different topic…one must be very careful when driving out here in the woods.  You just never know what you’re going to find on the trail, or in this case, laying eggs in it.  A couple of weeks ago, after a heavy storm with strong winds, I saw what I thought was just debris in the trail as I was driving out to the store.  I’m glad I’ve developed the habit of looking closely at anything that doesn’t belong on the trail.  That awkward limb sticking up in the tire track turned out to be a slider turtle laying her eggs very much where they didn’t belong.  I called my folks, but by the time they got there with  the excavating tools, she’d finished and gone on her way.  She laid several eggs which we relocated for the sakes of the babes.

I’m not sure where she managed to store all of these eggs inside her shell.

The big brain teaser is how she got them all inside of this tiny hole!

We’re very much hoping no more sliders get the bad idea to do that.  Not only will the cooters not survive, the nest holes can become rather large potholes in an otherwise smooth trail.

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Now for the Opinion part of this tiny blog.  As of late, there seem to be more and more Heathens chest thumping and declaring their ways to be more Heathen than thou is Heathen.  Really?  Is this necessary?  How about those who are declaring themselves to be “real” warriors versus what others practice or those who view themselves as Spiritual Warriors?  What’s with all of this  ‘holier than thou’, “You’re doing it wrong!” crap?  Stop acting like Christians!  None of us in this age can be sure we are honoring our Gods and Goddesses the way our ancestors did.  As a matter of fact, it’s pretty much a sure bet none of us are doing it exactly the way they did.  All we have to go by are bits of Lore not tainted by Christians and larger bits of Lore definitely tainted by Christians.  We all are honoring our Gods, Goddesses and Ancestors the best way we can.

By the way, being a muscle-bound, bad ass with a history of violence certainly doesn’t make one a warrior, especially when we have Heathen soldiers in our country’s armed forces fighting for the freedom of other peoples in far away lands.  I’m not at all going to poo poo the Spiritual Warriors of Heathenism because one must conquer one’s own self, body and mind, before becoming a true warrior can be possible.  If you don’t, you’re just another person playing Viking or justifying being violent with a self-delusion of grandeur.  Then there are those who choose to follow some form of seidr as part of their path.  Who cares?  In the time of Ragnarök, even though we already know our Gods and Goddesses are going to lose, we’re going to need every tool at our disposal.

Please, people.  Let’s stop the bigotry in our own ranks.  As Heathens, we already have an uphill battle to be recognized as people of morality and good character with a sense of family and community.