Lessons from Prissy the Pig- just another day on the farm

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6 years ago

I enjoy writing about my animals. I can't help it. With the haters in the news and the complainers on social media, life could get darn depressing without the quiet wisdom of natures comedians.

Nature often reminds us that:

Nothing lasts forever. The material possessions and people we have in our life may not be here tomorrow so take time today to be GRATEFUL for those things.

Beauty and possibilities surround us everywhere. We just have to stop and take time to look.

Nothing is impossible and miracles do happen. It just may be that a little work and patience and yes some failure may have to happen first.

No matter how we try to control our life, there is still a force beyond us that makes the ultimate call. Sometimes we don't like that call. It isnt always fair.

Love should have no strings attached. It is what its is and it varies from creature to creature. You can't make someone or something love you the way you want. The only one you can change is you. So enjoy the ride while you have the vehicle.

My Prissy is a Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig. She is not a micro-mini (I don't think those really exist) and she is really at the upper end of her size for being the mini version swine.

I got Prissy when she was just 5 days old. She literally fit into my purse at that age. She looked like a tiny pig with a natural shirt and pants because her black bottom half and white upper torso. Everyone loved Prissy.

I worked at a grainery. We took in the farmers harvests and bought and sold the commodities or stored them in big tanks. I worked both in an office and up front when needed. The bosses wife was an avid animal lover so I was allowed to bring Prissy while she was just learning to eat and then be weaned to feed rather than bottle. The farmers adored her because she was such a smart little character.

As time went on, the farmers learned what Prissy liked to eat. Prissy learned which farmers were her favorites! Prissy grew bigger than planned. Pretty soon she was too "porky" to fit in my small car.

She was raised around cats and dogs and even barked like my Maltese for quite some time. She didn't like my other pigs. She couldn't understand why I bothered to put her in with "those things". They were ugly. So Prissy was a back porch piggy.

Pigs are truly neat animals. They are cleaner and quieter than other pets. They can be destructive when bored and act much like a naughty puppies at times. Prissy used a litter box like a cat. She was very fastidious about it. It stayed in the corner way away from her bedding and she never tracked debris. As Prissy grew, she also outgrew the litter boxes. Eventually she learned from my Maltese how to potty outside. As time marched on, she preferred the house outside-except when it stormed.

Prissy is a great example of easy going adaptability. I often wish I could take life as easily as she has. She loves her big pen outside and her large hut under the shade tree.

Prissy teaches me lessons about tenacity, will-power, intelligence and sheer ingenuity daily. I often think how easily her triumphs and failures translate to mine.

It has been really hot here in Texas. Pigs don't sweat and they can't pant to cool down. The hot Texas weather can be lethal to them. Like our dogs, I provide plastic kiddy pools filled with water for each of them to cool off in. Poor Priss finally broke through hers a week or so ago and all the stores had already put them away. Try as I might I couldnt find her another one. I would shower Priss twice daily to help her out and she seemed happy about it. But I noticed that she had been moving a few things around in her pen. Prissy is neat about her house so the odds and ends she had stacked mysteriously seems obvious and weird. I thought maybe she was making herself a bed under the stars or something.

It turned out that it wasn't a bed at all. Prissy knew that our dry spell was about to come to an end. Using her own weather radar she worked night when it was cool and when the first round of deluges came little miss smart piggy had herself the prettiest piggy pool right in her yard and just her size. She dozed fitfully in the water and let the rain pour down on her. She was in hog heaven!

As I have often said, there is a lesson in everything. We as writers and bloggers have miserable dry spells too. There are time when it seems no hope is in site. But as Prissy shows us, sometimes we just have to keep working at it. Write anything that comes to mind. Make lists of possible blogs and posts. Don't stop and have faith that if you keep building on it, a rain of ideas and just the right content will eventually flow filling your empty space with exactly what you need when you need it.

It's always your choice. You can choose to "wallow" in your I can't or build on whatever you have in store and eventually achieve your goals.

That's it for now and Prissy says- eat chicken;0)