Mar 30 - Piggies!!

  I went to sleep very late last night, knowing that my nephew was being dropped off around 8am.  When the knock at the door came I opened my eyes and thought, 'No, it can't be, I've only just shut my eyes', but of course it was.  I opened the door bleary eyed and took my nephew inside to the couch.  Dad was awake, so the three of us huddled up on the couch under blankies and watched Over The Hedge.
  We eventually all awoke, breakfasted and got ready for the day.  The plans for what we were going to do today changed about a dozen times before people finally decided which was a little frustrating for me as I tried to finish up yesterday's blog.  In the end we headed off to Chesterfield Farm, which ended up being a rather fun way to spend the afternoon.
  We arrived just in time to see the sheep dog demonstration.  A beautiful white border collie named Finn was our dog for the day.  A gorgeous animal with a charming demeanor, he let all the kids pat him and sat patiently for photos.  Later in the day we also saw a cow milking demonstration and they let all the kids have a go at milking Honey the cow before hooking her up to a milking machine.  My nephew was one of the few kids who managed to get a decent squirt out of her!
  We also saw other dogs, rabbits, ducks, geese, deer, cows, guinea pigs, snakes, Shetland ponies, ostrich, emu, sheep, goats, chickens, a clutch of eggs layed in a pile of wool, and llama (one of which spat on Gub in the special condescending way that only llama can).  But for me of course, as a lifelong lover of all things porcine, the stars of the show were the piggies!!

This beautiful lady's name is Ginger.

Me patting Domino and Winston.  I had found Winston's 'sweet spot'

Winston trying to suckle on my knuckle.

Momma pig enjoying a good hard scritch behind her bristly ear.

  I was in hog heaven!  Pig's are such lovely creatures, and very intelligent.  When I got in with the two little piglets they were a little skittish at first but then I found their sweet spot!  Soon both Domino (a white and black female) and Winston (a ginger and black male) were cuddling up to me like they never wanted me to leave.

  The sweet spot is much the same on pigs as it is on dogs, you start scritching there and they just lay right down to let you get into it.  It's almost involuntary but they definitely enjoy it.  At one point I had the two of them laying side by side.  After I had a good long play I reluctantly left the pen.  They stood on their little back legs and grunted at me.  I put my knuckles through the wire to give them another little pat and they pushed at them with wet piggy noses and then starting to suckle on them.  I ended up with little piglet bite marks on both hands.  They were so cute!

  Over in some other pens we Gub and I noticed that one, a dark grey sow, had been segregated.  We weren't exactly sure why until Gub, a vet, administered the back pressure test.  The pigs reaction to gentle but firm pressure on her back was to arch into it indicating she was in heat, a very good reason to segregate her from the others!

  After the trip to the farm we went separate ways to run errands and do our own things for a little while.  Mr Smart joined the fray shortly before dinner and we all met up at TGI Fridays at Westfield Southland for dinner.  The service was a bit slow, drink service in particular, but the food was good and my nephew was kept amused with free crayons and colouring-in sheets.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a toasted hot cross bun with butter and two Koko Black speckled chocolate quail eggs.
• Lunch was two slices of toasted Bürgen wholemeal and seeds bread spread lightly with butter, with a 300g spicy mexican chipotle tomato and black bean soup.
• Afternoon snack was four more Koko Black speckled chocolate quail eggs, two small solid Cadbury Dairy Milk Easter eggs, two Ferrero Rocher and one 17g Cadbury Dairy Milk hollow Easter egg.
• For dinner, my wonderful generous Dad took us all out for dinner at TGI Fridays at Westfield Southland.  Thank you Dad!  During dinner I had two lemon, lime and bitters soft drinks and...
• For entree I had three 'loaded potato skins', potato skins with cheese and bacon and sour cream, and two of Mr Smart's buffalo wings with a celery stick and dipping sauce.
• For main course I had the 'championship BBQ pork cutlet'.  It's a pork cutlet (a nice thick juicy one as it happened) grilled with Cajun seasoning, served with onion rings, BBQ sauce and cheesy mashed potatoes.  I also had some of Mr Smart's chips.
• For dessert I had the unexpectedly huge 'popcorn brownie sundae'.  It is warm brownie chunks with hot fudge and caramel sauce, vanilla ice-cream, sticky toffee popcorn and whipped cream.  I spooned off almost all of the whipped cream before tackling it.

  Another indulgent day.  It's very hard not to be when everyone is around and celebrating.  Easter only comes once a year I know, but that doesn't mean I have to spend all three days on a bender.  I have had a few reasonable meals in amongst all the Easter eggs but I'll be glad when they're all eaten, preferably by other people!
  Jess