If you ever encounter Miss piggy....

Nothing makes you think more about your own mortality than watching a poor helpless duckling get near pecked to death by a swarm of hungry chickens. As I pulled thistle weed after thistle weed--just grubbing along with my grubber, the "pecking of the duckling," was already fast underway. I started to panic and before I could even process what was going on Owen, or my very own superman as I like to think of him (minus the whole cape, chiseled abs, spandex and widows peak,) swooped down from the upper chicken coop and in one fluid motion rescued the now shaking, ruffled feather black duckling. I am happy to report the little guy is back to his normal mischevious self which entails regularly getting caught sneaking into the hand dug sewers and proudly romping around in the new duck pond.
The mornings here bring mixed emotions for me--the barking of the new zealand cattle dogs at the signs of first light begin my slow wake from my nightly slumber. At around 7, the first sound of volunteer alarms go off, followed by a continual pushing of the snooze button, doors creaking open and the scamper or more like thud of hiking boots against the wooden floors as one after another books it to the bathroom and finally the opening and closing of cabinets and the soft morning mumblings of hellos all around. Now the mixed emotion comes from the fact that with the excitement of what new task each day will bring also comes the dread of what new muscle in my body I will discover for the first time as daily ache and pain have become a typical part of the experience.
I forgot to mention somehow I have been pegged with the nickname Jen of Hope, light and joy whereas the other Jen, a 25 year old self proclaimed asexual hermit, anime enthusiast is Jen of Doom and Darkness. SO you can imagine my surprise when I was first greeted at the bus depot some two weeks ago by that title and yes the first thing that came to my head was dear god what hippie retreat have I accidentally gotten myself into and second boy are these people in for a shocker if they actually think I am to live up to this title.
Another random anecdote took place yesterday while driving back from Hamilton in the Little Miss Sunshine van, sandwiched between Dagmar, the crazy german driver and Jen, the trekie. So, began a discussion of what this whole hush hush pest control project looming in the near future would entail. What I found out can only be described as not so dreamy. The whole setting up traps to catch stoads, rats,possums, etc. I get because these invasive species are causing more damage on the land than good, but what I don't get was Dagmar's response to my followup question of what do you do if while collecting/setting up traps you stumble upon a wild boar. To this she replied the typical make yourself as big as you can--put your hands in the air and start barking like a dog response--but then was quick to say how her last two dogs had been killed and eaten by the pigs--so somehow I don't think I will be howling into the moonlight if I come face to face with miss piggy and all her friends. The last bit of advice this sage of a woman imparted upon me was to run like hell and climb a tree, but most likely there wouldn't be any trees I could climb--so basically long story short not only will I not be having bacon for the next 6 months, but I will be more than likely eaten by a pig--oh joy! stay tuned...