Well, I knew it was probably going to happen sooner or later, considering we haven't had much of a winter. Sure, we've had the cold temperatures outside, but no real snow storms. Whenever something big was forecast, it either went north or south of us. However, we've had a rather dandy one now but I can't tell you how much snow...other than around eight to ten inches. All I know is that it's pretty (and yes, I had to drive in it late last night which wasn't all that fun, but at least with nearly a full moon, I could pretty much figure out where the roads were supposed to be).

In weather like this, the pigs tend to find all their blankets (and they have more blankets than I do) in order to curl up and fall asleep for the afternoon.

There is a funny thing that also happens at night if one of them decides to get up and "visit" with a human. So far, Tyler and Louise are the only pigs in this home that do so with any regularity. They all sleep in a big "pig pile" in their corner. If there happens to be an interesting noise in the kitchen or dining room, Tyler and/or Louise will extract him/herself in order to check out what is going on. Well, this happened last night during a card game (we humans were playing cards, not the pigs). First Louise wanted in the kitchen and she's really subtle...she jumped up on the gate and made very loud pig sounds. Funny thing was that we weren't eating anything, just playing cards (canasta). Then Tyler thought maybe there was something very interesting and he wanted in to see.

Funny thing...Lily actually woke up and decided to join in the possible event (this means there could have been a treat or a food potential). There we were...humans doing no more than playing canasta, suddenly surrounded by three pigs who thought there was something in the food department for them. I couldn't stand it and gave everyone a carrot. I must tell you that I had to hand-deliver Garbo's carrot to her, as she was still stuffed in the middle of the pile of blankets, totally unaware that anything was happening.

Garbo does tend to sleep through things. It's almost as if she "hibernates" a bit in the winter, for she's the one I need to "remind" to come get her dinner. While Tyler feigns starvation, Garbo sleeps. The contrast in these two pigs is very humorous.

Getting back to the funniest part of the winter blanket pig pile-up... Louise will very often come out of the middle of the pile to investigate human noises. Once she's left the pile, the remaining three pigs scrunch together more, which keeps them all warmer. However, when Louise wants to return to the Porcine Pile-Up, there is a great deal of noise and the sounds of the remaining three (who were very much asleep) being extremely DISGRUNTLED. Does Louise gently try to worm her way back into the pile? NO! She rather heaps herself up on top (usually on top of Garbo who actually complains rather loudly) and then snuggles in for the night.

If Tyler is the one to leave the pile-up, then he relegates himself to sleeping on the outside of the pile. The only pig he will disturb is Garbo and she doesn't mind him bugging her nearly as much as if Louise gets on her.

In studying the psychology of this winter pile-up, I have realized that none of the pigs really wants to be on the outside of this warm and cozy pile. Lily packs herself next to the wall, which is warm, then Louise is right next to her, followed by Garbo and Tyler (these younger two sleep in no particular order). I don't know the dynamics of the warmth of the pile well enough, nor do I know how they communicate to each other regarding their sleeping habits, but I do really think it's amazing when one of them decides to leave the pile, only to return and awaken the other three. The rearragements that they all go through to accommodate each other is fantastic.

What is also neat is watching the pigs as the light in the evenings is lasting longer. It doesn't get totally dark here now till around seven, so they tend to stay awake longer, but aren't thrilled because it's not warm outside. In fact, if I have the nerve to open the front door and Tyler is in the hallway, he complains to me that I got cold air on him.

I can't wait for Spring this year, for the pigs are going to get a totally new area all fenced in (actually double-fenced in!) and they will be given a new area to explore. This will give them a lot of fun, for I will make sure and have plenty of those wild blackberries in their pen.

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