Though I live in the country and have had a nice garden the last couple of years, I got my first exposure to "life on the farm" last weekend.

My next door neighbor is very self-sufficient, handy, etc. and after we all decided to "cook a pig" for the Fourth, I actually participated (sort of) in the porcine preparations.

I imagine some on this forum are like my neighbor; I suspect many are more like me. Killing, skinning and butchering a hog is not really a pleasant experience. It's bloody, nasty and it smells. Yuck!

My point, I guess, is the good old country life has its down-and-dirty moments, and if TS truly HTF, reality won't always be pleasant. But we all know that, don't we?

The meat, BTW, was good and it was accompanied by some pretty good stuff from the garden.

-- Vic (Rdrunner@internetwork.net), July 06, 1999

Answers

Vic, yup, it's all of that. Have cleaned game up to whitetail size, raised rabbits, shoveled manure, lots of fun stuff.

But, hey, it certainly beats heck out of some of the alternatives.

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 06, 1999.

Then there are those of us who actually *prefer* country living.

I'll take hog butchering (with all the attendant unpleasantness) any day over setting the same abount of time on a six-lane freeway in congested traffic trying to get to some meeting where not much is accomplished except passing around the newest buzzwords.

Unfortunately, sometimes, one has to do the necessary to get to do the enjoyable.

.

As a friend once said when he called: The good news - I just got a moose. The bad news - now WE got to dress him out. 1200 lbs of animal laying no where near a tree or other means of lifting *anything*. Liver larger and heavier than a lot of small animals. Work -you betecha! Oh yeah, and don't forget watching over your shoulder for bears. One very true meaning of "check six."

-Greybear

-- Got gloves?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), July 06, 1999.

Oh, I much prefer country living, Greybear. Beats living in Mesquite and driving past downtown Dallas to work every day, which I did for several years. Grew up in Big D, too.

I gotta' tell you, though, going out yesterday morning and picking a mess of peas, shucking them and having them for supper last night just beats the heck outta sirens and gunshots and wrecks and traffic and smog and ...

-- Vic (Rdrunner@internetwork.net), July 06, 1999.

Vic,

I really enjoy butchering, mostly because I enjoy eating. After having done or participated in everything from a groundhog (not bad at all) to a steer, I would have to say a hog is the least pleasant in my book. So it is all downhill for ya from here on out!

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), July 09, 1999.