Piggies!

Day 331: At the end of last year's Washington State Fair (aka the Puyallup Fair), I decided that the driving involved in taking two shifts per week was a bit more than I could handle, so this year, I just signed up for Fridays. Yesterday I had the early shift and as usual, came in through the green gate so I could stop at the Pig Palace before I went to my duty station in the Park's information booth. There were two sets of piglets on display, the little white guys (lower left) only a day old. Later in the day as I walked around the rest of the fair, I found more piggies in another barn.

So what is the univeral appeal which pigs seem to command? I think it's because they always look like they're smiling. A pig in clean straw is a paradigm of contentment, and the proverbial "hog in mud" seems happy enough to have generated a catch phrase. Even when they're squabbling over whose turn it is at the teat, a nestful of squealing, wriggling piglets is a sight to brighten any case of the blues.

Piggy-Wiggy Wigglies

Day 339: Working at the Fair has substantial bonuses. Best of all, I get a free pass for each day I have a shift in the Park booth and am allowed to enter the fairgrounds before the gates open. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the piggies in the Pig Palace, even with attendance as low as it seems to be this year. These little critters are impossible to photograph without flash when they're awake, all squirm and squeal and wiggles, but nothing is as cute as a contented and sleeping piglet, at least not in my book. What's not to love about those long eyelashes and wrinkly noses and enormous ears? Is it any wonder that the pig barn is the most popular animal venue at the Fair?

Nothing Cuter Than Piggies

Day 343: What is it about little piggies that makes them so endearing? I don't know, but I am one of the thousands of people who think piglets are an essential part of any county or state fair. Yep, it's time to "do the Puyallup" again, and because I'm working in the Park booth, I get in early and can get up close to the pig pens before the mobs arrive. Piggy popularity has been so high that Fair officials have installed a closed-circuit TV to provide viewing for people who lack the sharp elbows and steel-toed boots otherwise necessary to get a position at the fence, and more squealing and grunting comes from the crush of visitors than from the pigs themselves.

1952 FarmAll Super C

Day 214: I hadn't intended to go out today, but I was bored...bored, and I needed to return a product I'd purchased without realizing that some scum-sucking lowlife had opened the package to remove the battery before I bought it. I sat around the house trying to convince myself I should stay home, but around 11 AM, boredom won out over gas budget and off I went. As long as I was going to be out, I thought I might try to pick up a few of the "items" for a photo scavenger hunt, figuring I may be one of very few people who could complete it with a real pig instead of a plastic one. However, I hadn't factored rain into the equation.

I remembered a couple of spots where I'd seen pigs, and in any event, I like driving back roads where I can straddle the yellow line. Alas, my pig hunt left me porkless, but for having seen one old sow's back turned to the weather as she slept inside her shelter. Pigs are smart animals, unlike photographers who simply will go out in the rain. In one last-ditch attempt to find swine, I set off down a five-mile long dead end road, eyes scanning both sides of the route. Just seconds from the end of the road, I spotted this beauty.

My dad drove a FarmAll, so I'm...well, "biased" would be a fair assessment. And I have a friend who restores these red machines. I had to get a picture, but the tractor was parked adjacent to a rather nice home, rather than out in a convenient field. I did something I wouldn't ordinarily do: I went up and rang the doorbell. After a long few minutes and no response, I was ready to leave, but a woman came 'round from behind the house and said rather sharply, "Can I help you with something?" I replied, "Oh, yes!" and launched into a spiel about my dad. She graciously allowed me access to the tractor, and as we talked, I learned that her husband had only recently finished its restoration.

Still pigless, I decided I was done for the day, but as it happens, "tractor" was also on the scavenger hunt list for the month. Who says you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...even when you can't find the sow!

Piggy Music

Day 346: You can't deny it. Piglets are adorable and the "Pig Palace" at the Washington State Fair has been moved and improved to provide better viewing opportunities for visitors. They had two litters on display today and in both pens, it was a free-for-all. The runt (the little red guy behind the black and white one) was having no trouble holding his own, and was responsible for the loudest squealing you'll hear in the video.