Supermoonly!

Yes, we have to make up a word for the gorgeous moon outside tonight!  I made Hayleigh and Chris come out on the porch (and Nathan, for one minute) to see it in it's beauty!  Even now I can see it when looking out the window here by my desk, hanging in the sky over the cottonwoods along Troy's pond.

My pictures can't do it justice.

Here, though, is a picture of real cuteness:

and now:  Cute Overload!

Remember... they live to be 25 years old!  It always prevented me from buying a pot belly.

I can't tell you how many I have seen tucked away in nasty pens, bought when they were babies, and then put out of sight and out of mind as adults.  I know two that have become mean and taken a dislike to men.  (even potbellies must be neutered).  Now I see "micro mini" pigs being advertised on Craigslist.  THINK, people!

The kids worked today with Keith in the horrible heat and humidity loading and moving the pile of saplings in the garden and putting them in the bottom of the pasture on our brush pile.  We had intended all along to chip these, and make our own mulch.  We decided, finally (I decided) that they had to go... they were constantly in the way of mowing, and of moving the hose around in the garden.  Thank heavens, even though it was hot (92 degrees Fahrenheit) and VERY humid (we expect rain tomorrow), the kids stayed at it and got it done.  Hurrah!

I don't have pictures of it, because I was cutting in the pasture while they were doing it.  We have not cut the south end of the pasture in the last five years, as the llamas only went over there in the heat of the day to lay under the trees.  However, Keith asked me to now start cutting it, or cutting paths through it, for the little animals and the chickens.  So I started today... whew!  The grass was at least eight inches high and I didn't know what was under there, so I took it slow.  I did disturb a small box turtle, but he seemed to be none the worse for wear, and I put him on Troy's side of the fence.  I disturbed a huge garter snake, one of the biggest I've seen, but he slithered away, unscathed.

At the foot of the pasture, just beyond our fence in the southeast corner, is a morass of vines, trees and bushes.  These old roses are climbing up in the trees there.  I can actually see them from the porch but it was nice to see them close up.  Mr. Spehar's garden is just beyond the fence to the left... how orderly and neat (and huge!) it is.  He has a solar panel to run a pump from his big pond to water his garden.  Cool!  I'll try to get a picture of it when I'm cutting tomorrow, if it doesn't storm.

There are three areas of blackberries down there, too... and I took care to not drag my leg along them as I cut.  They are starting to bloom.

I ran the kids down to a theater to see a movie, and on the way back, stopped at the new Orscheln's Farm and Home Store in Basehor.  They were having their Grand Opening weekend, and their store was nice...  a good assortment of stuff and pretty reasonable prices... but there, in a corner of the store was THE BOMB.

Oh my goodness.  This is EXACTLY what I envisioned when I asked Keith to build a brooder for me earlier this spring.  Not as HUGE as this, certainly, but what I wanted.

Here is a view of the one closest to the camera in the above pic:

As you can see, the above is set higher, where you can literally look right in and take care of the chicks.  All of them have removable trays to clean under the wire the chicks are on.  Oh, my... in my dreams this is what I've always imagined, and kudos to Orscheln's for not putting them in horse troughs like everyone else. 

I was in lala land walking around looking at these and dreaming about having one.  Wow!

(The above pictures of the pigs were taken at a petting zoo which had set up alongside the Orscheln's for the Grand Opening weekend).