Never a dull moment

What a lot of goodies to choose from.....

After a blissful long break (since Christmas) we were back in full market mode yesterday at Market Rasen. It was a bit of a shock to the system after a two month absence but fortunately there was dawn till dusk sunshine and everyone was in carefree mood. We had a good day and were home with the sun still shining. After unloading and counting and clearing stuff away we were feeling just a little weary so we planned a quiet evening by the fire with just something quick and simple for dinner. Whilst the Big Boss settled down with a glass of white I took the Bestest Gundog and Pilot for a quick run and then took The Understudy to Playschool for 20 minutes. By which time it was dusk and shutting-up-chickens hour.

Oh dear, oh dear - this hole wasn't here last time I looked...

Jaunty was being very grown up and helping me all on his own. As we did the rounds I suddenly became aware of angry pig noises. Peering into the dusk it gradually dawned on me where they were coming from. I made my way anxiously to the source of the disturbance near Mangal's pen where my heart sank as I realised my fears were well-founded. There in the dusk was Truffle, having clearly escaped from the barn where she'd continued to live since being weaned from her piglets earlier in the week.... rampaging up and down; she'd tipped over a feed bin outside the other girls' pen which really upset them. Her being in season got Mangal all excited .... and Ginger was just a little displeased that Her mate was paying more attention to the young flibbettyjib than was decent....
"Hmph" I thought to myself grabbing my mobile phone to ring The Boss before realising it would be a hell of a lot quicker to run to the house and talk to him than to phone..... Dragging poor Jaunty behind me I got as much of a wiggle on as I could, arriving breathless in the snug - still in wellies and overcoat --- "We have a situation" I said as calmly (I thought) as I could. With one look at my face, The Boss made his way purposefully towards the outdoors somehow managing to don his shoes en route and we devised A Plan as we walked. It was a little more complicated since, by now, it was well dark and there are no lights in the fields! Our aim was to contain the rampaging sow in the field for the night (since there was no hope of loading her into the trailer in the dark with just the two of us!) and prevent her moving in with Mangal!. We also needed to return the four loose ladies, that Truffle had persuaded to climb through their fence (remember the tipped up feed bin?), back into their pen.

What's this barrier doing here.....?

By the light of a single small torch we spent the next couple of hours hithering and thithering. Several yards of baler twine and all the loose hurdles we could lay our hands on made as secure a pen for Truffle as was possible  - we had a bit of a laugh about not being able to see her in the dark (if it hadn't been for the fact that she kept grumping at us, she could have been on the other side!) We separated Ginger from Mangal to ensure she had a peaceful night and gave everyone a much needed drink. They then all overturned their water containers in typical pig fashion! Clearly they weren't as pleased with the new arrangments as we were. 
I finished shutting up the chickens, we switched all the lights off in the barns and wearily retired to the fireside for the much delayed, well-earned drink!
At dawn this morning, when I took a quick peek whilst taking the dogs for their early morning p's & poos, Truffle was fast asleep in her make-shift pen with Mangal standing guard over her from the other side of the reinforced raised fence!  So I imagine she had a more peaceful night than I did! Relating the story to Linda when she arrived this afternoon, we agreed that, having been weaned from her piglets on Wednesday, Trufffle had now come into season and, in a hormonal rage, had gone in search of  a boar.... So, not her fault at all.....and she'd cleverly picked her moment - after Linda had left and before I shut up the chickens.....    "Never a dull moment!" said Linda going about her chores....