Sunday Selections: the love edition

Our Sunday Selections host Kim’s daughter got married yesterday. She has some lovely photos and a memorable wedding story on her blog Frogpondsrock.

So I thought it would be nice to choose my Sunday Selections for this day, based on LOVE.

 

Sarah (the cat, sadly no longer with us) loved Phoebe (now 14 years old).

Lovedoves.

Hubs loves his horse Willem.

They all love each other.

It’s getting a bit crowded with so much love going on.

Cute love.

I loved this little cat, Lapje, but sadly she’s one of the fourleggers who’s no longer with us.

Well, who wouldn’t love Nufnuf’s smiling face.

Or that of his non-related brother Tumtum, who isn’t as smiley, but definitely very loveable.

There is so much love going on in our house, that I have enough photos for several Sunday Selections. More of the same will be in next week’s Sunday Selections.

This, that and the other

First I’d like to thank you all for thinking of Hans and me and sending us good thoughts, prayers, positive energy etc. It really helps to know that so many people care. We’re Teflon coated by positivity now, so everything bad just has to slide off immediately.

THIS
Hubs’ case nurse, Jitty (who seems to be quite relaxed, even though her name suggests otherwise), turns out to be a little gem. She managed to twist some arms so hubs will have his MRI scan this Friday after all. In stead of a week later. So we will hear the good news (provided his Teflon coating works) Tuesday next week. The best news would be that the cancer hasn’t spread and that they’ll only have to remove a small portion of his colon to get rid of the tumour.

We’ll see.

THAT
And now for something totally different: salads. I had a salad on the menu for tonight. With some Nasturtium flowers from my vegetable patch I thought. And then this morning, or it could have been this afternoon, I visited Jabblog who had a post about a beautiful looking, and no doubt very tasty, summer salad. With Nasturtium flowers! And Pansy flowers too. Some people just exaggerate things. Anyway, I told her that we would be having a similar salad tonight and that I’d post some photos of it. So…

Salad leaves, toasted pine nuts and walnuts, Nasturtium flowers and a dressing made of extra virgin olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, mustard and honey. Doesn’t only look good, tastes nice too.

THE OTHER
Or should I say: the others. Some of the others anyway. This is part of our private zoo:

Tumtum, in half winter/half summer coat (summer coat = bald) is looking at us, Nufnuf is just in front of him inspecting the box hedge. Naloma is in the first stable, Evie in the second (from your left).

And next to Evie is Willem.

No you’re not drunk, or maybe you are, but if you were sober you’d also see the wall leaning. It’s not the wall. It’s the camera. Or actually; it’s not the camera either and I wasn’t drunk when I took the photo. I can honestly say I’m never drunk. But this is far too much information. I could have just Photoshopped the photo straight, but it is 30 degrees Celsius and I couldn’t be bothered. In real life the wall is straight. There. That’s what I wanted to say.

And look, we have a little chick. Its (we don’t know yet if it is a he or a she) mom is one of our brown chickens and she’s in there with him, just not in the photo. We’ve put the both of them into a run and their (con)temporary home is a travel box for the cats. They like it in there. Chick is too small to go up and down the ladder in the big coop yet. But when he'/she is a little bigger, we’ll put the both of them back with the rest of the family and keep them all locked up for a while in their coop and run. Hopefully it is a ‘she’, so she can stay with us. Otherwise I’m afraid he’ll end up in someone’s soup ;-(

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections is hosted by Kim from Frogpondsrock and is the perfect opportunity to post those photos that are otherwise hanging around aimlessly in folders on your computer.

HEADS UP

So, last week I posted their bottoms, and today I’m posting their other ends. Their heads. Well, I tried, but some just didn’t want to look at the little birdie.

Like that middle cow. Stubborn thing.

 

And this is the other end of Mozes. He’s probably looking at another little birdie.

 

Mozes and Biggles putting their heads together.

 

The Biggles Face

 

You’re not photographing my bum again are you?

 

Yeah (snigger), but I’m also making some shots of your beautiful head.

 

Hullo?! What’s that big bum doing there? The chickens are fascinated by this particular posterior too (Too? What do I mean: ‘too’. I’m not. No, honestly. I’m not!)

Now I have to post a photo of his head too.

And of that of his little ‘brother’. Ugly, but nice. (Tumtum is the one in front, Nufnuf is… well… looking at Tumtum’s bum. Are we all posterior-obsessed here?)

THE FRONT END

Here piggy piggy

The couple who owned the stables where my horse lived before we had our own stables ready, had a couple of pigs. These pigs, Nufnuf and Tumtum, lived in a small wooden shelter with a muddy patch in front of it. Occasionally I gave the pigs a little treat, a piece of carrot or apple or whatever else I’d brought with me to spoil my horse, which they always accepted with a soft oink oink noise that clearly expressed their gratefulness. I liked the pigs. Everybody else there, except the owners, ignored them.

Then the couple who owned the stables sold the livery and were not able to take the pigs with them to their new home. Not enough space and too many people around who probably wouldn’t like the distinctive odour pig poo brings to the air. The new owners of the stables didn’t want the pigs. Nobody wanted the pigs.

Tumtum 

So I said to hubs: “we’re getting two pigs.” Hubs said: “what?” and “why?” and “where?” and I said: “they are called Nufnuf and Tumtum” and “because they don’t have anywhere else to go and I don’t want them to end up on someone’s barbecue” and “I thought the big shed at the back of the garden, where we always said we could keep a couple of goats, but the goats turn out to be pigs.”
Hubs sighed.
I said: “have you never even seen the pigs at the stables? (Hubs occasionally went with me to the stables, he didn’t ride, let alone own a horse then.) Next time you come with me, you should take a moment to meet them. They are really cute!”
Hubs mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “I don’t even want pigs. What’s the fun of having pigs”, but I ignored that.
The next time he went with me to the stables I grabbed him by the elbow and introduced him to Nufnuf and Tumtum. They oinked at hubs and his heart melted and when we got home he started to make the shed pig-ready and the piece of garden I had thought we could build a fence around so they had their own patch of mud, became about twice as big, because: “those pigs need a bigger space!”

Nufnuf

Then Operation Move-That-Pig started. The stable-owner constructed a big crate that should be sturdy enough to hold Tumtum, the biggest of the two. We then had to convince Tumtum to go into that crate, which wasn’t easy at all. Tumtum thought: “what?” and "why?” and “whereto?” and however much we assured him that he was going to a better place, he didn’t believe us at all. “Better place!”, he oinked. “HA! That’s what they told Mummy and Daddy and Auntie Bess too and I never saw them again, but I thought I recognized Auntie Bess’s fat little legs on the BBQ that evening!” 

So it took five people a whole afternoon to get Tumtum (not the smallest pig in the world) to go into the crate. Then the crate had to be lifted onto our trailer. Take into account that Tumtum weighed about what… 100-150 kilograms? at that time (he has grown bigger since), and the crate was really heavy too, and you can imagine the red faces and the huffing and puffing and groaning and moaning that operation was soundtracked by.

We drove the crate with Tumtum in it to our home, followed by a car with the strongest men we could find, hooked the trailer up to our little tractor and drove him to the back of our garden, where the strong men lifted the crate off the trailer and released Tumtum into his new abode.  I stayed with him to try and calm him down while hubs and the other strong men returned to the stables to get Nufnuf.

It took a long time before the big-guys-club returned with Nufnuf in the crate, because the whole Tumtum-chase and then being left alone had stressed him out completely and he had spent the whole time planning his escape, so as soon as the guys opened the gate to the pig shelter, Nufnuf (who is a smaller pig) slipped through and ran away.
It must have been a fun sight, a potbellied pig at top speed chased by 5 big guys at their top speed, but finally they managed to corner him. They then persuaded him to go into the crate. And while they closed one end of the crate, Nufnuf broke through the other end, 5 out of breath big guys who started to dislike pigs more and more again in close pursuit. Meanwhile the stable-owner repaired the crate using a hideous amount of nails and screws and extra wood, so when the guys had finally cornered Nufnuf again and managed to move him into the crate, the chance of him escaping again had been brought to a minimum.

Fortunately when they returned home with Nufnuf and released him to join Tumtum it didn’t take them long to decide that this new place wasn’t bad at all.

And that, Mr Rhymeswithplague, is how we came about them pigs ;-)

Just an ordinary day at the Brinkbeest household...

Yesterday a friend was here with his little dog Ruby. Ruby loves chasing a ball and can play that game for hours on end. So friend threw the ball into the paddock where the horses were. Willem and Evie were very interested in the ball too. Willem is sniffing the ball while Ruby is on her way to fetch it... ...oops... ...Willem is not going to give up the ball without a good chase first. Run Ruby! Run! Meanwhile Nufnuf has made a new friend. It's a crow that I've noticed in our garden before. He (or she, but I'm sticking with 'he') is easily recognizable because he has one manky foot and can't walk properly.

Perhaps you can see that his left foot isn't quite as it's supposed to be. He observed Nufnuf attentively...

...while our chickens kept a close eye on Tumtum's behind. Our chickens are very interested in recycling and they know that what goes into a pig at the front... ...comes out at the other end and is a culinary feast for a chicken, not to be missed. But Tumtum's intestines were still busy processing, so they eventually lost interest and gave up the pursuit. Tumtum and Willem had a very intersting conversation about... ...oh I don't know what about. It was a private conversation.

Camera Critters 60, Evie is growing up

April 10, two days old. First time out and staying very close to mommy.

May 12, growing up fast.

And when you are part of the Brinkbeest-household, you get to meet all sorts of critters.

Meeting Holle, one of our labradors, for the first time.

No, this is not one of the other labradors. This is Nufnuf, one of our pigs.

Our other horse Willem, having a little talk with Tumtum, our other pig. Willem used to be REALLY scared of the pigs. He wouldn't even come near us if we had just touched a pig. The smell made him tremble. But Tumtum is a patient and very friendly pig who likes horses. So now Willem is pigproof.

Camera Critters is a fun meme, hosted by Misty Dawn. Check out the other entries here!

Camera Critters, not a boar....

.....but a barrow! And not boring at all! His name is Nufnuf and he lives with his 'brother' Tumtum in our critterfilled garden.

Nice enough photos of Nufnuf. Sure.

But the pièce the résistance.....

Isn't he sweet?

Camera Critters is hosted by the lovely Misty Dawn.

Promises....

Oh I'm so addicted to this bloggingthing. I know...I already told you, but really....I'm surprised by the effect it has on me. My heart makes a little jump for joy when I see that the 'comment'-counter went up with one or maybe even more. Not to mention the 'followers'-counter. I cannot tell you what that does to me... If this goes any further I may need therapy, an intervention of some kind or a straightjacket. Anyway...I promise not to go on about this any more. And I also promised a fellow blogger that I would put up some photos of our two pigs Nufnuf and Tumtum. Really stupid of me of course that I did not liven up my post that mentioned them with their ugly little faces, but there's no time like the present to set this right. Please, brace yourselves, for they really are not the most beautiful looking creatures, but they are very friendly and they love a good bellyrub. Nufnuf is the small one (the first photos), Tumtum is the other one (well you could have figured that out yourself):

And they love roaming around our garden. Spot the pig......