March 1st

March 1 already!!!! Time for wearin of the green......

days are gettin longer...

daffodils are poppin up!!












And, today is Pig Day! One of my favorite animals.

Well, Whooooo-ey or rather Sooooo-ey. Ohio is the pork state and the city of Cincinnati was known as Porkopolis for ever. Kahns Meats started here.....Queen City Sausage started here too. Being an Ohio girl, of German and Irish decent, there were pork producers in the family.Now, I am a city girl, but growing up we always visited relatives on weekends in Northern Ohio and they had pigs. Huge pigs, the breeder pair, as tall as the tractor tires..with tusks!....that stayed in the back fields and and wetland area...they always came to the fence for a pat. My Uncle'd laugh cause I would stand at the fence calling here piggy piggy and here they'd lumber up, snort, then saunter away.

In 2nd grade the teacher told us to draw our favorite place to visit in the Summer to hang in the classroom for decorations for Parent/Teacher meetings...of course I drew a sun filled scene with the pig barn entitled, Pigs at the Barn....the teacher called me to her desk and asked if my picture was finished. I looked at it, handed it back and said yes. Um, she said, I think you forgot to draw the pigs......no, I replied, they're right there behind the barn where they always are.....She smiled and said okay. When Mom came for the meeting  they called me in and Mom asked where the pigs were in my picture....I couldn't understand why Mom or the Teacher didn't remember they were behind the barn..they are always behind the barn. Mom tells that story on me quite frequently and still has the drawing!
Finally one day one of my wishes came true.....I was at the pig barn and no one was watching and I slipped between the fence rails into the area with Momma Pig and her Babies...she even let me pick one up. Momma laid down and continued feeding the other piggies and I squatted down on the clean concrete just talking away and petting. that is until my Dad and Uncle got to the other end of the barn at the door and Dad called my name. Momma got a little perturbed they were bothering us. She got up and came between me and the fence...guess she didn't like their tone..hehe..I put little piggy down and climbed back thru the fence, said bye and skipped down to where they were. Dad quickly picked me up and Uncle then explained why they sounded so funny, Momma was not a pet, she had never been held, she was brought in to deliver the piglets, ween them, and go back out to the field..free range they call it now....a wild pig can hurt you badly
especially if try to pick up their young. I promised to never do it again To this day I remember that pigs eyes, she had no intention of doing anything...she looked a little sad really..this wasn't her first litter, so I guess she knew what was to come. From that day on I always knew I couldn't be a real farm girl...I would get way too attached to the farm commodities. I had a new respect for my Cousins and their 4H  projects....they were much stronger than I could be.

Years later Mom found this cute little piggy resting in a burlap sack.....
you can just see his tiny pink ear and nose sticking up...it reminded me so of that day in the barn.






I thought I'd link over to ColoradoLady with this vintage memory on Vintage Thingie Thursday. Come on with me and let's see all the other vintage thingies!