Departure

 

It all happened so fast there was no time to take a picture.  I had set up a fenced-in path for the pigs to follow.  I opened their gate, bucket of grain in hand, and they followed me the roughly 50 feet down the path, up the ramp, and into the trailer.  No hesitation.  And that was it; the final chapter in a two and a half year story was over in about one minute.  They followed me for two reasons:  I had a bucket of grain, and they trusted me.  Years ago I led three pigs into a livestock trailer, and they followed me without hesitation as well.  But in that case I betrayed their trust, and I felt terrible about it.  I wrote about it in this post in July of 2017: https://www.yardpig.com/2017/07/23/the-last-time/

In the hour before they left, my neighbor, Cindy, showed up with an apple pie cut into six pieces.  I did what I could to equitably distribute the six wedges of pie, but if there’s anything that’s true about pigs, it’s that sharing is not one of their strong points.  Everyone got at least some pie.  Thanks, Cindy.  All that’s left is to tell the folks at Peace Ridge about their new charges.  There’s Mona, the boss and largest male and the first to win my affection.  Silver has a white tip on her left ear.  Gloria is the least social and always looks like she just rolled out of bed.  Mr. Squeals, the other male, has always got something to say.  Pantalones was named for her habit of pulling on your pants with her teeth to get your attention.  And, finally, there’s Shelly; all she wants to do is snuggle.

Until next time…