this morning i woke to a strange thumping . . . i sleepily thought, "i didn't know lola could make that much noise in her kennel. funny that she isn't whining to get out . . . " and fell back to sleep.
when my alarm went off, i got up and let the dogs out. i dished up their breakfast to the sound of zoe barking outside . . . "funny. i wonder what's out there?" i thought.
i opened the door to let the dogs in and was greeted by this sight:
well, actually, he was sitting right next to the house, he moved when i came out with my camera.
that thumping i heard? wilbur rooting around under my table and chairs - they were bumping the house wall. zoe's barking? at wilbur. "what the heck is he doing up here??" she was wondering. "hello, people, there's a pig up here!"
so, ben grabbed a bucket of pig chow and i grabbed a stick, and ben led wilbur down the hill and around the bend, back toward his pen. i touched him with the stick every now and again to keep him heading in the right direction. lots of, "good pig. c'mon pig. there's a good pig." sorts of comments from ben. and we got down so close to his pen . . . but he didn't want to go back in . . . so ben grabbed him by the back legs, and tossed him through the fence. we checked for weeds and things that might be shorting the fence, then when ben was reasonably sure that the fence was electrified again, we headed back up to the house. we were putting buckets and things away, when i turned around, and there, coming up the hill, in the sunshine, was wilbur.
"shoot him," i said. "right now."
"let's try this again," said ben.
so, once again, down the hill, ben, pig and E. back to the pen (which took longer than it seems by how i wrote this, but not nearly as long as it could have). ben grabbed wilbur by the back legs and tossed him through the fence again. the funce was obviously not working. so, ben stayed down by the pen, while i went up the the house to grab the weed whipper so we could make sure there were no weeds and such touching the fence. when i returned, ben fired up the whip and started in. he was most of the way around the pen, when the whip hit the fence and snapped it.
now it was my turn to stay down by the pen while ben went up to get fence repair supplies. i stood guard, so wilbur wouldn't make a break for it again, and wished i had brought my camera with me. there were so many birds in all the trees. even a goldfinch! and ducks flying. and the sound of birdsong and the river rushing along. i was thinking about how beautiful it all was, with the sun shining fresh in the morning air. then zoe was coming through the brush, and stopped with her ears and tail up, like whe was onto something. i looked behind me, and about 50 yards away (1/2 a football field, you know) there were three does, just standing, watching me. three of them! that close! yeah. i was really wishing for my camera!
suddenly, they all turned and bounded away. ben was coming down the path. but they didn't go very far. they stopped where ben could see them, and watched us for a long time.
ben finished the weed-whipping, and fixed the fence. he had his fence tester and tested it all the way around. it is definitely working again.
so, we left wilbur happily munching his breakfast, and headed up to the house, back to our day.
maddie told me, "mom, that was God's way of having you go and enjoy the beautiful morning."
yep. it was. i think tommorrow i'd rather choose to go enjoy it, though, without having to chase the pig back home.