Rural Living

[kevin_standlee]

One of the neighbors out here has at least one pig. I think it's meant to be a pet, although I'm not certain. This morning, looking out Lisa's father's living room sliding-glass door, I saw the pig making its slow way across his lawn. Now one doesn't want to mess around with pigs. They are large and can be aggressive. However, I also know Lisa doesn't like the neighbors' animals, be they dogs or pigs, wandering into her father's property, because it sets a bad precedent. So I made my careful way out onto the porch, prepared to retreat should the pig prove to be more boar-like than piggy.

"Shoo!" I called, and the pig looked startled and jumped a bit. "Git!" I yelled, and waved at him. He turned and trotted away a few steps. I slowly walked toward him. "Come on, go home, pig! This isn't your yard!"

Slowly -- that pig is so fat I don't see it doing anything quickly -- he trotted toward the road, with me keeping pace behind him. If I stopped, he stopped. Once he went through a hole in the hedge and out onto the road, I decided my work was done and went back inside. I do wish I'd remembered to take a picture of this incident, however.

Comments

[rebecca817.livejournal.com]

When we were in 4H, we raised pigs. One year, coming back from the county fair, one of the pigs nosed the gate on the pen on the trailer up and managed to get out. My dad chased it down and grabbed it's back legs. He said it was like hanging on to a rototiller. Then one of my brothers helped him get it back into the trailer.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Pigs are pretty intelligent animals, and the neighbor's pig-pen is not at all secure. That pig doesn't really have to work very hard to go walkabout. I'm just glad he's good-natured enough to go home when I tell him to do so.