This is day sixty four and this is a sow. I am exhausted and I put off painting till the evening to get ready for the event I am doing tomorrow. I'm so tired now that I am having a very difficult time trying to stay awake .. So my pig sow here is finished to the point that I could no longer keep going. It's been a long week and seems to just be getting longer. I want to sleep right now but I'm here posting this blog so that I can put up my day's face.
The story of the sow pig is one that my mother told many times. When she was a little girl she was visiting her grandmother on her farm. . I think she and her siblings were all dressed to go to church and since they were with their grandma they wanted to go outside to play and for some reason they found that the watering hole that was nearby was a good place to hang out. Their mom told them not to get dirty. Can't imagine that it would be easy near a pig pen. But anyway they were out standing on the trough and it was kind of like a pool for the animals but too high for them to get into. It had a fairly substantial ledge on it. I don't know if you know what a sow looks like but they are big mommies of the pigs .. they are very big so that they can feed all those babies. They have minds of their own. They are huge really. There is good reason to be fearful of a huge momma pig that is almost the size of a small car and they make loud scary grunting sounds. My mother's brother thought of a neat idea as they all stood there on that ledge overlooking the water. He simply yelled out "sow's coming" and the girls all jumped into the water. They were scared to death of the sow. Their brother, my uncle Justin laughed and laughed and the girls quickly got out when they saw that there was no sow .. but they were clearly wet and about to be in big trouble. My aunts and my mother always retold the story with a great deal of affection and boisterous laughter. It's one I will never forget.
If you would like to own today's portrait... email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. It's $64. Painted on sewn papers and an enveolope. See you tomorrow .. i'm going to bed!!!!
One thing you rapidly learn about sows is not to get between them and their babies. I grew up on a farm and my dad used to make a 'fence' of sorts in one of the corners of the pen and then he would hang a heat lamp over that area to keep the baby piggies warm. I would spend hours in that part of the pen petting the little pigs, but I certainly knew better than to go where mama was!
ReplyDeleteYes I think that is why they knew to be afraid of the sow. My cousins had pig farms in Nebraska so I've seen a few piglets but sure not like you .. i'm sure it was fun to see the babies grow up. They can be so cute.
Deletegreat story
ReplyDeleteThank you Els ..: )
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