Well, here I sit outside with the dawn rising and the rain clouds moving in. I’ve been trying for 4 days to burn the same damn oak log, but every night it piddles just enough to wet the log for it not to burn. At this very moment, I have just made a fast break for the feed barn, and I’m sitting on a bale of hay. I must admit it is both a comfy and a nicely fragrant place to sit. On the down side, that damn log isn’t going to burn today, either. Oops…I seem to have squashed a spider. I hope it doesn’t have any aggressive relatives. Please pardon any wandering thoughts from nowhere. I’ve not been properly caring for myself, in that I was up all night on that wonderful social site called Facebook. Also, please pardon any odd punctuation that may appear as I am on my mini laptop, and I can’t can’t find all the appropriate buttons, at least not on the first try, in the dark of the barn.

Currently, I have a disgruntled Daisy hoovering acorns from the ground outside the barn. I take that back, she has now decided to join me in the barn. She knows I have some special apple flavored treats for her, but she may not have them right now. They are rather large, so in an further attempt to save money, I am taking a hammer to them to break them in half. She really doesn’t care about the size of the treat, just so long as she gets one. Since these are apple flavored, and heavily scented (They really do smell yummy, and no, I have not tried one.), she finds them in her food bowl quite unerringly.

Daisy’s manners when accepting treats have improved dramatically. One no longer has to worry about losing finger tips in her zeal to sample delights formerly unknown. She is quite the dainty lady in accepting her tidbits to g’nosh, but do not get between her and her food bowl. That’s a whole different story. Of course, that’s only when the oak trees aren’t dropping acorn like mad. Last year we didn’t have enough rain for them. This year we’ve had just enough rain to have a plethora of acorns. Daisy is quite the Hoover when it comes to those. Between her preference for the acorns and the squirrels eating the acorns, I am actually saving a fair amount on hog pellets and whole corn. Unfortunately, that means the hawks are quite healthy this season, as well. I’m definitely keeping a sharp eye out.

Ironically, I have not lost any of my birds to flying predators. I’ve lost a baby turkey, a bantam chicken, a female duck and our only drake to our Sheltie, Duke. Poor, dumb dog, he was abused by at least two owners before her reached me, his fourth owner, and his herding instinct had become a killing one. As Dad says, if he were on a real working farm, he’d be dead. Because of his history, he just isn’t allowed outside on his own when the birds are out doing their ‘free range’ thing.

Because of intentions, Daisy was named Bacon when she first arrived with Petunia, and then Petunia had a misadventure with a neighbor’s garden…she became ham, and Bacon became Daisy.

Right now, my biggest concern is Daisy. She’s gotten of a size that any hunter out for food is going to go after her if she leaves our property. I’m trying to figure out how to put a collar on her without her going truly ballistic. Not only would her size be a hazard, she’s of an age where she may be starting to develop tusks, if not those, then a couple of large teeth that you’d best be wearing jeans if she smacks you with the side of her head.

For the most part, she really is a lovely girl, and I’m not just referring to her looks. Having been raised by us, she simply doesn’t know she’s a pig.

My baby girl is now every bit as big as Petunia was when she first arrived as Bacon. Now how to keep her from running afoul of hunters or neighbors as Petunia did?

In my heart, I know that leaving her vulnerable is just the wrong thing to do, but I really don’t know the best way to go about protecting her now.  And I know that I have failed her terribly.