And It's Goodbye to two Pigs, and Hello to Bacon and Ham

We farewelled Pharoah and Phyllis mid January. They had a very brief introduction to Vic and were both chowing down on bread when the big bangs came. Hard to find a homekiller these days who is prepared to kill pigs, as it involves setting up a large steel bath and heating water from drums on the truck by gas in order to immerse the (dead - throat has been cut by now) pig and start scraping off the bristles.

Dear readers, we thought some of you may be upset with us if we published photos of Vic's schedule, but Denise reckons it will be 'fine' and 'interesting' so we'll get some photos of the process when Penelope and Poppy go off for pork chops and roasts in a couple of weeks' time.

Pharoah and Phyllis' last supper before slaughter. Phyllis at far left, Pharoah at back with head facing

We have now received back the hams and bacon packs from the butcher, and we are mightily pleased. The bacon is thick cut and the ham is delicious, as was the roll roast of pork we have also had. Just so nice NOT to see water coming out of the ham and bacon cooking. Pharoah is but a distant memory to Denise, who still has bruising showing on the back of her calf.

Other progress has occurred. We have met Brian, father of our dairy farmer over and down the road (Jamie). Brian is supposed to be retired, but just loves to play with his toys - tractor, bulldozer and the like. Brian has worked miracles and removed rubbish and old tree trunks and roots and filled in an awful area in our far paddock; he's bulldozed a couple of large hills we had in our home paddock behind the implement shed, and pushed the dirt into the above-the-gumboots-height wet area we had most of last winter; and best of all - he's dug a trench for the second water tank that has been sitting at our front gate for eight months and moved it into the hole. Not exactly where we had envisaged it, but the poor chap had to have three goes at digging a suitable hole without hitting the pipes leading from the existing water tank. This second tank will take the roof rainwater from our implement shed. Brian has dug the required trench, and now we are waiting for the plumber to bring the pipes and connect it all up.

After two attempts to find a clear space to place the second water tank without finding existing pipes. The second tank is still out at the gate

We'eve been having some lovely nights but they are few and far between. Everyone is jolly sick and tired of these never-ending north-wester gales. We have not had rain for some weeks.

A late BBQ steak one evening. Reminiscent of our first early days here at Fossils Retreat when we didn't have a kitchen