There comes a time

in the year that winter has to come.  The leaves are pretty much gone and cold sleet hangs on the trees.



The next thing you know you have snow.  Thankfully it was short lived.  We are making up for the precipitation with rain.



Lots of rain.  You can see it all around the pig pen.  They have become quite large.  Estimation is about 195 pounds.  It has become time for them to go so Tom took an afternoon and put together a walkway for them to come out of the pen.  While the girls and I were at church he and a friend took one pig at a time and brought them over to the friends house to be processed.



Because of some "special" viewers, I  ommitted much of the ordeal, but as you can see, the end result was quite a bit of pork.  Tom and Mr. Friend  all the cuts, but we still had to take the ham and bacon to be smoked.  At .60 a pound, they both agreed they would like to build their own smoke houses next year.



Total pork:

31# bacon    10# ribs   53# sausage   5# tenderloin  13# "T" bone cut chops    58# ham  30#  regular chops   15# roasts

We also reserved the lard and leaf fat in which I want to try and make my own shortening.   They whole idea is to make the most of everything on the pig.

When Benny came to trim the horses this last time,  I didn't have to take him home.  I took him to the neighbors kiddy corner to us.  I had called them when Ash went AWOL.    He ask me if I ever found him.   When I said, "no,"  he suggested coyotes.  Of course, I didn't want to hear of that.   Well, mysteriously, the next day,  FAT ASH was found by Tom.  I had taken Becky into town and while I was gone Tom said he was lookng out the front window and a cat caught his eye.  Not unuasual  for what we have here.  Upon going outside and coaxing him out, discovered it was ASH!  Of course, he is no longer Fat Ash, but Svelt Ash.  He looks good!   I am glad!

 

Ken has been a out a few times to squirrel hunt.  He brought a surprise for me the last time he was out.  A new stable for the nativity set I have!  He had made one quite a few years ago when he was younger, but this one is really nice.  He covered the roof in rough bark and it is tall enough to fit Joseph now.   I will post a picture when I get  the nativity set up.