Lost and found, fuel costs, pigs and traps

See if this sounds familiar, one of the ladies at work was telling a story about some lost paperwork. She had sorted through their informational files and gathered together all the birth certificates in preparation for the coming school year. Once she got all of the papers together she put them someplace she was sure she would not forget.

Several weeks later she needed to retrieve the birth certificated and could not remember where she had put them. After searching for several weeks without success she had to go to the local courthouse and get duplicate copies so she could present them for evidence at some agency that was requesting them.

When she got back home with the duplicated she sat in frustration with the circumstance and with herself and began to think about where she could put the copies so she was sure to never forget where she had placed them. Having made that decision, she opened the drawer she had chosen and discovered the originals – where she had put them months ago. It sounds pretty familiar to me only with me it is usually finding a tool I know I just had with me.

Yesterday, Grandpa and Mama went a bought ninety gallons of diesel to be used on the farm. I commissioned the purchase yesterday because I saw the price of crude oil go up by over four dollars by late morning. It was up by over seven dollars by the time the market closed – on the index I watch. Gas and diesel prices will be up today as a result. The timing seemed right even though the expense was not budgeted.

On the way to work this morning I almost hit the big red hog we have been seeing around. I was turning onto the state road at the junction of our county road and as I began to accelerate the hog ran into the outer reaches of my headlights; just a shadow and a flash at first. I barely braked enough to miss hitting it dead on but I got a real good look at in the few seconds it was escaping direct contact with the Uplander.

It is a red color but not the deep red of the Durocs. It is probably under three hundred pounds but not by much. It stood about even with the top of the headlight assembly on the Uplander. I have to assume it is one of the major sources of the piglets we have scrambling through our pastures – like last night. I am relieved I did not kill it with my car. It would have caused some pretty significant damage.

After Mama and I did our homework last night I went for a walk down our road. Just outside of our fence line I saw one of the two groups of little shoats we have been seeing meandering about. I had my .22 revolver with me so I took a shot at one. It was pretty far away for a pistol. I do not think I hit it but they all knew to head for the brush when they heard the sound of firearms.

I hope we will set the trap tonight. I know where I would like to set it but it is in the pasture where Daisy May roams about and I know she will dump the trap over to get the corn we would use as bait. How do I know? Yesterday evening I closed up a gate Grandpa had left open. He got to feeling poorly in the afternoon. When I closed and locked the gate I noticed the tractor was out so I went to put it away.

Daisy May was just on the other side of the cattle panel we are using as a gate between the two fenced areas so I opened the gate only enough to get through so she would not be tempted to squeeze past the tractor and get out. Having done that I closed the opening with the cow panel and opened the gates to the barn so I could part the tractor.

Grandpa had put a bag of deer corn in the bucket of the tractor and I knew it was there but before I could get back to the tractor – about fifty feet away – she had pulled the bag of corn onto the ground and was doing her best to rip it open.

Proof enough that she would never leave the hog trap alone.