Here’s the first of three (or maybe four) videos from our last trip to Rooterville Pig Sanctuary. There’s another one uploaded at youtube but it’s the last one – the stuff in the middle still needs to be edited or separated into two videos and uploaded. It’s too big for youtube as it is now.
RJ and I arrived at Rooterville about an hour before feeding time and the pigs were much happier to see us than on previous visits. Was that because it was a bright sunny day rather than a dull dreary rainy day or was it because it was close to feeding time? Probably a combination of the two and we enjoyed petting pigs for a bit before we set to work raking manure out of a pen.
Then, the fun really started. Those pigs like their fruits and veggies! Here are some more pictures from today’s trip to Rooterville. Video will come once we’ve had a chance to upload and edit.
It’s stuff like this that makes me very glad I never worked in the restaurant industry. I also am reminded of how lucky my kids have been to have not had more injuries at work. Of course Chris had that really “odd thing” happen and that was even worse, in a lot of ways, than this burn of Michelle’s. But that’s just weirdness and if you have no idea what I’m talking about – you obviously don’t read all of my blogs.
Anyway, Michelle got this burn on Thursday. I picked her up from work and was on the phone in a conference call and she was trying to show me her arm and I was only barely paying attention because, I was on the phone – and driving. Later that night, she asked for some ointment for it or something and I saw it was a little pink. This photo is what it looks like today.
It didn’t stop her from enjoying her Friday evening but I wonder how in the world she’s going to manage to work tomorrow. It’s really hard to bend her arm because of the location of the burn.
Work Related Injury Read More »
Were you here, four years ago, when Michelle came home for school? If you were, then you might have been reading one of our homeschool blogs and realize that Michelle likes Shakespeare. You might also realize that once a year TW, Michelle and I go to see a performance of one of Shakespeare’s plays.
1.Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. Hamlet
3. Romeo & Juliet
4. Julius Caesar
That’s right, we attended our yearly Shakespeare event on Tuesday by attending the Aquila Theatre performance at the Phillips Center (one of the ten good things about living in this town.)
I like Julius Caesar. It’s one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I don’t think either Michelle or TW would consider this one of their top five plays – but since the yearly Shakespeare is a tradition, they went along.
I will admit that I had considerable difficulty with the WW1 costuming. I liked Cassius as a woman. Marc Antony was excellent. I just plain like Julius Caesar.
I wonder what sort of Shakespeare production we will see next year. The yearly Shakespeare is a tradition that should be maintained long after Michelle has left high school and homeschool behind.
Our Yearly Shakespeare Read More »
The kids always get at least one new game each at Christmas, which means for the first several weeks after Christmas we’re playing new games over the weekend. And, because I’ve mentioned two in passing, in other places, I am thinking some game reviews are in order.
First, “Last Word“, the perfect game for me to WIN because I always have the last word. Or else! And sure enough, I won. But that’s not really the point of a game review is it? The players were the three little kids, me and TW. RJ, she’s 12, did not enjoy the game. At all. But then, she often doesn’t enjoy games that she’s not immediately good at or games where many other players are better (or luckier) than she is. Liz did enjoy the game but I did not enjoy playing it with her. She’s an enthusiastic, cheerful game player, which I like, but I prefer enthusiastic, cheerful game playing that is actually errr game playing, not playing around.
The way Last Word works is each player has a “topic card” – something like “animals you might see in a zoo” or “things you see in a craft store”. A “letter” card is turned over and your job is to decide if you can think if things that start with that letter and fit into your topic. If you think you can, you turn over your topic card, shout out a word that fits, start a timer and then everyone is able to shout out words that start with that letter and fit the topic. The person who had the “last word” moves a space. Sounds easy, doesn’t it. It isn’t all that easy. And it really isn’t all that easy when the letter “N” is turned over and the enthusiastic, cheerful player turns over her “Words that describe Australia” topic card, yells out “NOTHING!” and starts the timer. I’m sorry. No, I do not accept that.
Anyway, it was amusing for four of us but not anyone’s favorite game, as far as I could tell.
The next game from the new stash was “Don’t Quote Me“. Guess who won? (blushing, why yes, I did!) Guess who did not enjoy the game. At all. (Yes, that would be the 12 year old.) Guess who was the most enthusiastic, cheerful player. (Yes, that would be the 9 year old.) I think most of us liked this one better, maybe. It has the potential to be a darn good game, if you lose the sour puss who doesn’t like it when her sister gets the EASIST questions and she gets the HARDEST questions every single time.
The object of the game is to move around the board by figuring out the person or character who said the quote. If you can guess correctly without any hints, you move three spaces. If you can guess after two tiny hints, you move two spaces. If you guess correctly after hearing three choices, you move one space. Yes I’m proud of my wrestling knowledge and also proud that I know diddley squat about race car drivers. I was sorely disappointed in some people’s knowledge of Star War’s quotes and equally disappointed, though not surprised, by some people’s knowledge of Star Trek quotes.
If someone asked me to play this game again, I’d be game.
Family Game Day Reviews Read More »
RJ needs to do community service as part of the Lyceum program at her school. We’ve been thinking about where she might want to put in some hours and I thought – “Hey, the pig sanctuary.” Sure enough, Rooterville welcomes children volunteers and the very nice Elaine responded to my email and graciously invited us out for a visit.
We went out yesterday and wandered around the sanctuary, meeting the pigs and talking about what type of help we might be able to offer. Then, we went out again today and spent a couple of hours cleaning food and water bowls and pools, brushing pigs, and adding hay to the pens to help keep the pigs warm tonight when the temperatures are expected to drop.
If you live in the Gainesville area and are interested in helping the folks at Rooterville take care of displaced pigs, please drop Elaine a note, she can use some help.
More pig sanctuary photos here.
*Updated: You can sponsor a pig!
