Piggies On The Loose

The piglets jumped the fence yesterday.

I was at my daughter's track meet in Smethport (about 45 minutes away) and called my son, who was at home with my mother, to tell him to put more hay in the corner of the piglet's shelter.  The temperature had dropped by ten degrees and it was promising to be a very chilly night and I wanted the piggies to have a little extra hay to dig down into.

A few minutes later my son called me to tell me the piglets were out!  He was just putting in the hay and they jumped the fence, he said.  Somehow, I'm a little bit skeptical that they "just jumped the fence."  Sometimes, I think, the combination of 10-year-old boy and skittish piglets that might need to be held or petted can create a situation.  How can a boy resist when the cute factor of baby pigs is so high?

I jumped in the car and drove home as quickly as I could (my daughter was taking the team bus home).  The whole way home I had visions of the piglets getting into the forest and running loose to become coyote dinner.

When I arrived, my mother and John were in the yard calmly following around the piglets and keeping them away from the forest.  They took the very best course of action they could have.  I called the piglets  and they started coming my way - they know who feeds them!

We were able, with the help of some pig feed, a friend's help, and gentle coaxing, to get them into their pen.  Today I'll adjust the fences so there's a smaller gap between the wires and they can't get through it too easily.  Disaster averted!


“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. 
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.”
                                           ~A. A. Milne