Hogs and Chickens

Being raised 16 miles from the nearest town and with both of my parents being in their 40’s when I was born I learned from an older generation which I’m very grateful for. Two of my sisters were there when I was young, but since my parents worked all the time on our little farm/ranch and my sisters had their own things to do  I learned from an early age to entertain myself. My main playmates besides the dog and the outside cats were the pigs and the chickens.

Grandpa Bud with some of his pigs

My favorite game with the pigs was this. I would hide behind a shed or a pig feeder and when the victims came along I would jump out yelling at the top of my lungs and scare the bejezus out of them.. Oh this is magnificent fun… If you have never seen a frightened pig who runs about 15 to 25 yards woofing like a dog then stops suddenly and wheels around still woofing to see what the hell scared them you haven’t lived.. I repeat you have not lived.

We had a breed of pig when I was that  age called a Landrace pig. They are a white pig that had large ears that laid over their little eyes. When the ran woofing and their ears flopping it was a hilarious sight. Many hours were spent tormenting said pigs. My mother and dad would have given me quite a spanking if they had known I was running the fat off our pigs.

A little fellow planning some mischief

My next favorite activity was to chase the chickens and shoot my small bow and arrow with the blunt tips at them. Chickens were fun to torment but the roosters were hateful. They did the chasing of me.. I would run from the evil white red-combed devils and get up on the sloped roof of the chicken coop and heave rocks at the evildoers.. My fun with chickens ended one day when I hit one chicken directly in the eye with my blunt arrow.. I ran screaming to the house my mother quickly killed the poor old hen and dressed it out, then the spanking occurred.. The end of fun for another day of entertainment on the old Prairie.

Much later thinking about the fun I had in this barnyard