(Unwilling) Showtime on the Farm

Sometimes, in the course of dealing with critters I potentially give my neighbors quite a show. 

A few years ago I had a bumblebee fall down my shirt and start stinging me.  Bumblebees can sting more than once!  It would have made a great "Funniest Home Videos" to watch me run around like a maniac as I peered down my shirt and finally ripped it off (yes, I had a bra on!).  

Then, this spring, we had the great pig chase.  Our piglet shot through the fence the second we put it in it's new home and we spent over three hours pelting around chasing it around the forest.  One farmer, who was working down the lane, said he would see the pig run across the road, then he would see a pile of people chasing after it.  A few minutes later the pig would go back across the road the other way and here would come the chasers again!

The other day, I looked out and the pigs had drunk enough water from the 50-gallon drum we use for their water to make it light enough for them to lift.  They had pushed it around until it was lying across and pushing down their fence.  Yikes!  I envisioned a three hour chase of giant pigs through the woods!  So, I started trying to get the drum back in place so that I could refill it with water.  The drum is tethered to a fence post and sits on concrete blocks.  I move the concrete blocks back in place.  Pigs, who are insanely strong and curious pushed them over like they were styrofoam.  So I'm telling the pigs to "leave it alone!"  They don't listen.  So I get some food and throw it at the other end of their pasture.  I quickly try to get the drum set on the blocks and start filling it with water.  Here come the pigs again and they start pushing on the drum - which try as hard as I can, will not be held in place by me.  Then they chew on the tethers and start pushing around the blocks.  Trek out to the barn for more food.  Finally, after a few more sessions of this the drum gets put in place and filled with enough water that they can't move it - not exactly the way I want it - but it will have to do!

Yesterday, as I was cleaning our around my asparagus patch, an angry bee (they always seem to get so angry this time of year) starts buzzing around my head.  When you work with bees you learn their "give me the chance and I'll sting you buzz".  I have a slight allergy to bees (hives- great for a beekeeper, right?) and didn't want to deal with the Benadryl and sleepiness period after a beesting, so I took off at a dead run for the house.  Every time the I slowed down the bee kept angrily dive bombing me, until I got inside.  There's nothing like an angry bee to turn you into an Olympic caliber sprinter!   

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